Hiring equipment: dry hire, wet hire and the fees people forget

What equipment hire involves

Hire is priced per day, and the fleet runs from hand tools and trailers up to earthmoving machinery. The key distinction is dry hire versus wet hire. Dry hire means you collect the machine and operate it yourself — cheapest, but the skill and the licensing burden are yours. Wet hire includes an experienced operator, costs roughly double, and removes both the skill and the liability from your side.

For anything bigger than hand tools, you'll deal with delivery. Machines need a float truck each way — a real fee, not a rounding error — and you'll also budget for fuel, attachments and a damage waiver. Together those extras commonly add twenty to forty per cent over the headline daily rate.

Rates aren't linear with time. A weekly rate typically works out at three to four times the daily rate, not seven, so the longer the job, the more sense a weekly booking makes.

How the cost works

Small tools and trailers sit at the low end per day, a mini excavator on dry hire lands in the mid hundreds excluding the float and fuel, and the same machine with an operator on wet hire runs into four figures a day. These are indicative rates; the estimate on this page adjusts for duration, hire type and delivery.

The levers are equipment size, dry versus wet hire, and duration. If the job will take more than about three days, ask for the weekly rate — it's usually far better value. And if you've never run an excavator, wet hire often works out cheaper overall than a slow, rough DIY job that takes twice as long and leaves a mess to fix.

Choosing the right hire company

Equipment hire isn't a licensed trade, but operating some machinery requires competency or a licence — so if you're going dry hire, be honest about whether you can actually run the machine safely. For wet hire, you're relying on the operator's skill, so ask about their experience with the specific machine and task.

The practical protections are about condition and fees. Photograph the equipment at pickup and return so damage disputes have evidence on both sides, and get the quote to itemise delivery, fuel, attachments and the damage waiver rather than hiding them. A company that spells those out upfront is one you can budget against.

Mistakes to avoid

Hire mistakes are mostly about the fees you didn't count and the machine you couldn't really run.

• Budgeting on the day rate alone and forgetting the float, fuel and damage waiver
• Paying seven daily rates for a week's work instead of asking for the weekly rate
• Dry-hiring a machine you don't actually know how to operate safely
• Not photographing the equipment at pickup and return, then arguing about damage
• Underestimating duration and paying extra days at the full daily rate
• Assuming delivery is included when machines almost always need a float each way