Buying vs. Hiring –  What Makes Plant Hire the Smarter Long-Term Choice

For industries as varied as construction, landscaping, offshore renewable energy projects, infrastructure, warehousing, and engineering, there is a requirement to utilise heavy plant machinery. Depending on the size of your business and the number and scale of projects coming up, you might be in a position to consider purchasing plant or going through a plant hire service to furnish you with the equipment, machinery, and vehicles that you need for each project. This is a look at buying versus hiring, and why we believe that plant hire is the smarter long-term choice, no matter your industry. 

Access to the correct equipment makes a project successful. Choosing whether to purchase or rent heavy machinery is an important decision to make for a project manager. Purchasing for some people may seem like it’s a good investment, but in reality, hiring from a seasoned plant hire service makes much more sense financially over the long-term and could help you to boost your standards and reputation.

No expensive upfront cost – the first major difference between buying and hiring is that you are doing away with the large upfront cost when utilising a plant hire service. It can cost thousands, if not tens of thousands of pounds, to purchase plant outright, depending on the size and the model. This can cause huge strains on budgets or just not be possible for some smaller and growing businesses where cashflow is tight. Hiring frees up capital that can be spent elsewhere on your service.

No maintenance costs – another benefit of hiring over purchasing plant is that you do not have to worry about the time and cost associated with maintenance. A heavy plant hire service will conduct maintenance and any necessary repairs between each hire, ensuring that the equipment is in optimal condition at all times.

Task and project flexibility – every project, site, and task are unique. One of the problems with purchasing plant is that it ties you down to that specific machine for years to come. While this might work in some instances where there is a very strict and aligned process to work on at all times, for most companies this means that for certain tasks you are not quite getting the most out of the machinery. For seasonal businesses or those with different take requirements, hiring plant provides the perfect tool for each task and offers flexibility to construction and other industries..

Avoid depreciation and being left behind – as soon as you purchase anything it begins to depreciate in value. As an investment even, purchasing plant doesn’t make sense most of the time. As new models are released and standards improve, you are left with plant that has lost its value and doesn’t meet the performance standards of newer technology.

Whether you are searching for construction plant hire services or for assistance with hiring machinery for a range of other industries, hiring rather than buying makes a lot of sense. For many small and medium sized businesses, cashflow is a big issue. Purchasing heavy plant machinery can be costly, leaving you with an item that immediately depreciates in value and is there for you to use for years ahead. It lacks flexibility and foresight. Hiring from a plant hire service, however, gives you access to new and more efficient models every time you sign a new agreement. You’ll have better cashflow control, higher standards of safety, better productivity, and lower carbon emissions, when using a good plant hire service over a long period of time.