Buying & Hire Advice
The honest version
If you use a tower most weeks, buying will work out cheaper. If you use one a few times a year, hiring wins comfortably. The interesting part is what happens in between, and it is not just the purchase price.
What buying actually costs
The tower. A twin-width tower to 6m working height is a meaningful outlay new.
Storage. Towers take up van or yard space permanently, not just on the days you use them.
Inspection. Work equipment has to be maintained and inspected. That is your job once you own it, and you need the records.
Repairs. Bent braces and cracked platforms are consumables on a working tower.
Transport. You move it, every time, in your own vehicle.
Depreciation and obsolescence. Standards change. EN 1004-1 superseded the older standard; a tower bought to an outdated spec loses value fast.
What hiring costs
The weekly rate, and nothing else. Delivery, collection, inspection, maintenance and storage are ours.
Our rate steps down with length — a four-week hire is around 25% cheaper per week than a one-week hire.
Rough guide
| Your usage | Probably |
|---|---|
| One or two jobs a year | Hire — clearly |
| One job a month | Hire — especially if heights vary |
| Most weeks, same height every time | Buy, and budget for inspection and storage |
| Most weeks, heights vary | Buy one, hire the rest |
| Site work needing AGR | Hire — spec changes by site |
The case for a mixed approach
Plenty of contractors own one general-purpose tower and hire the specialist ones — stairway towers, AGR towers, anything unusually tall. You avoid owning equipment you use twice a year while keeping your everyday tower to hand.
If you do buy
- Buy to EN 1004-1, not an older standard
- Buy a complete system from one manufacturer — never mix components
- Budget for guardrails, toeboards and stabilisers as part of the tower, not extras
- Set up an inspection regime and keep the records from day one
- Get someone PASMA trained before it arrives
Our position
We hire towers, so treat this page accordingly. But we would rather tell you to buy and keep you as an occasional customer for the specialist kit than sell you 40 weeks of hire on a tower you should own.
Call +44 7366 166 658 if you want to talk it through.
Related
Frequently asked questions
Should I hire or buy?
Buy if you will use it most weeks and have somewhere dry to keep it and someone to inspect it. Hire if the use is occasional, the heights vary between jobs, or you would rather not own the inspection and storage problem. Most trades end up owning a short tower and hiring the tall ones.
What does hiring actually cost over a year?
Work it out from the weeks you will genuinely use, not from a day rate — hire here is charged in whole weeks with a one-week minimum. Four separate one-week hires is four weeks of charge even if each job was two days. If that number is approaching a purchase price, buying starts to make sense.