The economic slowdown has taken a toll on a lot of industries. Companies are looking for different ways to reduce costs to meet their budgetary limitations and to save on their fiscal resources.
Construction companies are no different. Owning and managing a construction business is a costly investment. Construction company owners continuously find ways to streamline their operations to cut on unnecessary costs so that they can stay afloat even during times of economic slowdown. One way that construction companies can cut down costs is to rent heavy types of machinery, such as a crane for hire, instead of purchasing them.
If you own a construction company, you have probably encountered projects that require the use of heavy lifting equipment such as cranes and lifts. Purchasing machinery to do the heavy lifting is a costly investment which may not be worthwhile in the long run. A lot of construction companies are opting to rent lifting types of machinery instead of purchasing them for the following reasons.
No Need to Pay Up-Front Costs
Massive pieces of machinery, such as cranes and lifts, are costly. Depending on their sizes and types, the prices of lifting machines can easily reach millions of dollars. If your company invests in purchasing lifting equipment, you will wait a very long time to see any returns on your investment.
On the other hand, if you opt to hire a crane, your rental cost will only be a fraction (approximately 1 per cent) of what it will cost to purchase the equipment. Depending on your arrangements with a crane hire company, your rental fee may already include the transportation and operation of the crane.
Maintenance and Upkeep
Not only are cranes and lifts very expensive to buy; they are also costly to maintain. Although high-quality lifting machinery can last for a very long time, their durability will depend on how often you maintain and repair them. Cranes and lifts will also undergo periodic inspections and certification to allow them to be used continuously.
If your pieces of machinery fail to pass the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) 1910.179 standards, your machinery will not be allowed for use until you address all the problems that were reported. Your company will also incur expensive fines when you fail to meet the standards.
When you opt for a crane for hire service, you need not worry about passing inspection standards since the rental company will handle all of these. It is essential, however, to ask crane hire companies for a copy of the latest certification reports of OSHA to make sure that the crane you are renting is certified and legal to be used.
Workforce
When you have your own crane, you will need to maintain a licensed crane operator in your payroll. This may add to your costs, especially if you do not get a lot of contracts that require heavy lifting. However, when you rent a crane for a project, the price you have to pay will most likely include a fully-trained and certified crane operator for the duration of your crane hire.
Avoid Liability
If you have your crane and something goes wrong during its use, you will be liable for all the damages done to property or persons. Even if you have insurance against these situations, taking care of all the paperwork for an insurance claim will become very time consuming on your part. In the meantime, if you rent your cranes and lifts from reputable crane rental companies, they will be fully insured to pay for any damages that may happen.
So when you need to have heavy lifting done in your next construction project, hiring a crane will give you more savings and fewer worries.
