If your work entails working at heights, especially construction work, you might need the services of a crane to help you lift heavy materials. Buying a crane is not economically efficient, and that is why most companies hire them. Here's what you need to know about crane hire:

Identify Your Crane Needs

What exactly do you need the crane for? You need to review your construction project and see where the crane will be used and how. You also need to assess the terrain of the site. Once you identify this, you can hire the correct crane; that is, a crane that is stable on the site terrain and one that can lift the weight of your loads to the desired height.

Choosing A Crane Hire Company

Try and look for crane hire companies located near your work site. This makes a lot of things easier; for example, transporting the crane to the site, quick emergency responses from the crane hire company, higher trust levels between you and the crane hire company, a faster and less rigorous crane hire process, etc.

Check the crane fleet and see whether the company has cranes that meet all your needs. Don't compromise on any need! If the cranes available do not meet every need you have, try another company. Why is this? You might hire that crane and regret it afterward when your project stalls. You might either lack a way to meet the particular need the crane doesn't or be tempted to meet the need with the hired crane and end up damaging it (for example, lifting a heavier weight it shouldn't).

Read and Understand the Crane Hire Agreement

This is a crucial thing because the agreement highlights how you should treat the crane; that is what you should and shouldn't do. If you fail to follow the guidelines stipulated in the crane hire agreement, you can end up damaging the crane or getting heavily fined. These are things that can stall your project and make crane hire companies to shy away from you.

A Wet Hire or A Dry Hire?

Wet crane hire is when you hire a crane that comes with an operator while a dry hire is when you hire a crane without an operator. Which option do you choose?

A wet hire is more expensive than a dry hire, and you might be required to train the operator. This means that you have to take some time and educate the crane operator about your project. The good thing is that you won't have any crane problems because the operator is used to working with that particular crane and knows it inside out.

Dry hire is cheaper than wet hire. You must have a qualified and competent crane operator who is also going to be screened by the crane hire company. Your operator has to get acquainted with the crane and get used to it. If the crane has problems, time can get wasted during diagnosis.