Starting New - which machines to get

[newbierich]

Hi

I am thinking of starting up a small plant hire or even just a small excavator hire company local to Bristol.

I have a couple of questions which I thought people might be able to help me with instead of making mistakes (I know they will inevitably happen anyway).

My questions

1) What tends to get hired more - 0.8t mini diggers or 1.6 / 1.7t diggers?
2) is there a particular brand of digger in that size range that I should avoid or go for?
3) Who are the best people to go to for insurance if hiring the diggers out?
4) does anyone have any other useful advice to help me get started.

I would appreciate some help.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Lancs Lad]

Welcome but do us a favour and read this first

New start up - hire business

hello. I came onto this forum trying to find out information on starting a digger and dumper hire business and can only seem to find negative responses. I Have some minor experience (had a 1.7t kubota I hired out for a year as a member of the cpa) My plan for a start was 4 minis u10s/17 4...

www.planttalk.co.uk

And this

Hire business start uo

Hi, Does anybody have any information on how to get start up funds to start a hire business? Such as long term business loans etc? Tha ks in advance

www.planttalk.co.uk

 

[newbierich]

Welcome but do us a favour and read this first

Thank you - I appreciate that. I did have a bit of a browse but couldn’t find anything.

 

[6feetdown]

A brave person doing that at the moment unless money is no issue

 

[Storrsy]

I'll be honest I can't see how anyone can really make small time self op plant hire work. Prices of new machines are still high. Hire rates are dirt cheap from the big boys. People who hire the machines won't give a s**t about them. 3 ton dumper £150 for a week for example- I'd want more that that just to deliver and collect it, let alone actually make a profit of a £25k machine.

 

[6feetdown]

I'll be honest I can't see how anyone can really make small time self op plant hire work. Prices of new machines are still high. Hire rates are dirt cheap from the big boys. People who hire the machines won't give a s**t about them. 3 ton dumper £150 for a week for example- I'd want more that that just to deliver and collect it, let alone actually make a profit of a £25k machine.

13t £480 a week!

 

[DaveDCB]

Find a high interest bank account & put your money in it .

 

[Nick...]

With all due respect,I'd not bother.you will never compete with the jewsons,travis Perkins etc.you woukd get lots of machine damage that no one ever knows about and customers won't pay for and you will spend half your time chasing money.if you give it a go I wish you all the best
nick...

 

[Lancs Lad]

We may have scared him off...tbf we should all get a cut of the small fortune we've saved him

 

[newbierich]

Haha.

I love all this. I suspect you are all very much on the ball.

I have two companies that I run from home at the moment and which are very flexible with my time as they mainly involve just loads of emails so my main thing was to do it as a side job. My main idea was to buy a second hand machine (in good condition) and then send it out as and when someone wants. I could then also drive the machine when someone needs a driver.

I needed the information more as a sense of which machines are more popular so I can capitalise on making sure a get a machine that is going to be most popular to hire.

 

[Storrsy]

Haha.

I love all this. I suspect you are all very much on the ball.

I have two companies that I run from home at the moment and which are very flexible with my time as they mainly involve just loads of emails so my main thing was to do it as a side job. My main idea was to buy a second hand machine (in good condition) and then send it out as and when someone wants. I could then also drive the machine when someone needs a driver.

I needed the information more as a sense of which machines are more popular so I can capitalise on making sure a get a machine that is going to be most popular to hire.

Tbh I reckon most hiring will just care about the bottom line which is price. Buy a full spec premium machine which you send out for £120 a day Vs a bog basic hire spec or dare I say it one of the Chinese brands (Sany,liugong etc) for £80 and I guarantee the better machine will stay in the yard....
For what it's worth for what your looking for id probably go Hitachi. Reliable Japanese machine that will put up with self hire abuse but there are some good deals on them at the moment and they will hold their value as well as anything else which I'm not sure the Chinese stuff will- yet.

 

[doobin]

Haha.

I love all this. I suspect you are all very much on the ball.

I have two companies that I run from home at the moment and which are very flexible with my time as they mainly involve just loads of emails so my main thing was to do it as a side job. My main idea was to buy a second hand machine (in good condition) and then send it out as and when someone wants. I could then also drive the machine when someone needs a driver.

I needed the information more as a sense of which machines are more popular so I can capitalise on making sure a get a machine that is going to be most popular to hire.

I'd be looking for a secondhand LuiGong or Sany 1.7t machine. 2022/2023 model with sub 1000 hours at around £10k (don't pay more, you can get brand new Hitatchi for 16.5k) and making sure the remainder of the five year warranty can be transferred to you.

Those are the sort of figures where you might just turn a profit. You money will be made when you buy, and that's where the dip in prices will work for you. Fresh machines from brands which are not 'mainstream' but have enough presense in the UK market for you to take a chance on. That's LuiGong, Sany, and possibly Sunward. Nothing else from the Chinese stable.

Of course, to make any real money you'll need to buy dozens of them and keep them busy. But if you want to scratch that itch and keep most of your money, that's where I'd be looking. The problem with small scale hire is that the rates barely cover your time to deliver, collect and deal with fuckwits if you value your time a something sensible.

Spend more and you could be into a new Hitatchi 1.7t which you should be able to negotiate a five year warranty on... but have thick skin for when a brand new machine comes back covered in dents.


This here hasn't shifted in five weeks- £8.5k should get you a 650 hour machine that should run to 2-3k hours without much bother.

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[V8Druid]

This here hasn't shifted in five weeks-

missing a link @doobin ???

 

[Bucket on wheels]

13t £480 a week!

Local to me in Norway
per day. £295
Cheapest one in the area.
VOLVO ECR145E

14,5 tonn​

 

[Mick-the-fitter]

I don’t mind being associated with plant hire, as I’m on the repair side of things, it’s a great industry to be in

 

[Left hooker]

Don't forget the costs of having to move it

 

[Storrsy]

Don't forget the costs of having to move it

Yep. And as we all know this is where the time goes. Especially if only doing one machine at time. Plus washing it off after each hire when it's caked in mud. All well and good saying customer has to do it but if you've turned up with a trailer your not going to want to hang around or disputing with customer.

 

[6feetdown]

I looked into it a few years ago with a mate we reckoned a min of 8 machines that would cover costs and give a small profit a year.
Sums didn't add up for the outlay

 

[Furniss]

Haha.

I love all this. I suspect you are all very much on the ball.

I have two companies that I run from home at the moment and which are very flexible with my time as they mainly involve just loads of emails so my main thing was to do it as a side job. My main idea was to buy a second hand machine (in good condition) and then send it out as and when someone wants. I could then also drive the machine when someone needs a driver.

I needed the information more as a sense of which machines are more popular so I can capitalise on making sure a get a machine that is going to be most popular to hire.

I would heed the advice on here from people who know the crack, save yourself a whole load of grief for very little return.

 

[Monkeybusiness]

My local plant hire firm reckon they do really well hiring out their large tile cutter - it’s like this but a different make -

Rubi DC 250 1200 Wet Cut Bridge Saw: Electric Tile Cutter 110v (Weekly Hire) | The Paving Experts

Hire the Rubi DC 250 1200 Wet Cut Bridge Saw: Electric Tile Cutter 110v. Transformer included. Delivery from Tamworth, Staffs. Book online or call ☎️ 0330 122 1025

www.thepavingexperts.co.uk

I’ve had it a couple of times recently at around £60 per day - it looks a good return on a £3-4K machine (too expensive for most people to buy for one or two projects so it goes out a lot, but very cheap capital cost when you consider the outlay/return on items of plant).