The day rate is about half of what a hire costs. The other half is on this page.

Delivery, and collection, as two charges — Priced each way by distance and by the vehicle the machine needs. A single "transport" figure in a quote is worth querying, because it is usually one leg
Fuel and fluids — Out full, back full, or refuelled by us at a rate per litre that is deliberately worse than a filling station. Bring it back full — that is the whole advice
Attachments and buckets — Breakers, augers, grading beams and anything not the standard bucket are hired separately. Say what you are digging when you book and we will tell you what you actually need
An operator, if the machine needs one — Operated hire is a different service at a different rate, with the operator's hours and travel in it. Self-drive means the ticket is yours — see the section further down
The damage waiver — A daily percentage of the hire, optional, and not insurance. It has its own section on this page because the word "waiver" does more damage than the excess does
Out-of-hours or weekend collection — Possible and charged. A machine sitting on a closed site over a weekend is still on hire, so the collection charge is usually the cheaper of the two
Cleaning, if it comes back dirty — Charged at cost with photographs. Concrete, clay and slurry left to set is the expensive version, and half an hour with a jet wash on site avoids it
Damage, loss and the excess — Tyres, glass, misfuelling and forks are the four that come back most often. Report anything the day it happens — a fault we find at inspection costs more to argue about than to fix
Late return — Charged at the day rate until it is back or collected, with no discount for the extra days. Ask for a week rate before you extend rather than after

It starts when the machine leaves us — Not when it reaches you and not when you first use it. If a delivery slot is going to leave a machine idle for a day, book it for the next day instead and we will say so
Weekends are charged unless the rate says otherwise — State your own position here and state it plainly. A five-day week rate that quietly bills seven days is the commonest complaint in this trade
Rain does not stop it, and neither does your site — Weather, access, a late groundworker or a delayed delivery are all real and none of them pauses a hire. Off-hire the machine instead — that costs a phone call
A breakdown does stop it, from when you tell us — Not from when it broke. Ring the depot the moment it happens: we will get it running or swap it, and the clock stops at the call rather than at the diagnosis
Off-hire is not a message, it is a number — Ask for an off-hire reference and write it down. Until a machine is booked off it is on hire, and "I told someone on site" has never once won that argument for anybody
A machine is on hire until we can collect it — Which means a site that closes on Friday and reopens on Monday is a weekend of hire. Book the collection when you book the delivery
Week and month rates are much cheaper per day — If you are past four days, ask. We would rather move you onto a week rate unprompted than take the difference quietly, and you should expect that of any depot

Mini excavator, 1 to 3 tonne — $95 a day · $340 a week — rubber tracks, expanding undercarriage, fits through a standard gateway
Excavator, 5 to 8 tonne — $180 a day · $640 a week — the size most groundworks actually need, and the one most people under-order
Telehandler — $210 a day · $780 a week — reach and lift capacity both matter, so tell us the height and the weight, not just "a telehandler"
Dumper, 1 to 6 tonne — $110 a day · $400 a week — swivel skip on request, and worth pairing with the excavator on one delivery charge
Compaction and breakers — $45 a day · $160 a week — plates, rollers and breakers, hired with or without the machine they hang off
Access platforms — $140 a day · $520 a week — working height, not machine height, is the number that matters. Bring the ceiling measurement

The waiver caps your exposure, it does not remove it — It limits what you owe on a damaged machine to an excess. It is a limitation of liability, sold daily as a percentage of the hire, and calling it insurance is the single most common misunderstanding at a hire counter
What a waiver almost never covers — Tyres and tracks, glass, misfuelling, overhead strikes, submersion, and theft without signs of forced entry. Read your own document for the list — those six are the usual ones and every one of them is expensive
The excess is a real number and you should know it — Ask for it before you sign, not after an incident. A waiver with an excess larger than the machine's likely damage bill is a charge rather than a protection
Your own insurance may already cover hired-in plant — Many contractors' policies do, for a stated value. Check the limit and check it covers plant away from your own premises, then decline the waiver knowingly instead of buying it twice
Theft is the one that ends businesses — Plant theft is organised and fast. Immobilisers, trackers, a locked compound and a machine parked so it cannot be lifted are worth more than any waiver, and a site with none of those may not be insurable at all
Report damage the day it happens — With photographs, before it leaves the ground. A fault discovered at inspection costs more in argument than in repair, and a hirer who rings the same day is a hirer we keep
We will tell you what a repair actually cost — With the invoice attached. Nobody should be billed a round number for a machine they cannot inspect

Self-drive hire needs a competent, certificated operator — Name the scheme that covers your machine classes and the categories inside it. Never paraphrase a card you do not administer — the scheme decides what it covers, and its own register is the place to check
The category matters as much as the card — A card for one machine class is not a card for the next size up or for a different attachment. It is worth reading the back of the card before the machine is booked rather than at the gate
We will ask to see it, every time — Including on a repeat hire and including when you are in a hurry. A depot that checks the first time and never again is not checking
Site rules can be stricter than the law — A principal contractor can require more, and often does. Their requirement wins on their site, and we cannot overrule it for you
The operator has to be named on the agreement — Because the agreement is what your insurer and ours will both read. Somebody else using the machine is a problem on the day it goes wrong, not before
If the answer is no, ask about operated hire — A machine with our operator, at an hourly rate, is often cheaper than a course and always faster. It is a real option rather than a consolation