Hiring a scaffold: what to check in a quote?

Why scaffold hire quotes vary so much

Hire companies calculate in different ways. One quotes a day rate, another a weekly rate, and a third a rate per set-up or per metre of facade. On top of that, one company delivers and collects while another assumes you come and load it yourself. As long as those differences are not spelled out in the quote, you are comparing two figures that do not mean the same thing.

The second difference lies in what is supplied. A complete scaffold contains frames, braces, platforms with hatch, guard rails, toe boards and stabilisers. If the toe boards or the stabilisers are missing, the package is cheaper but incomplete, and on the day itself you stand with a scaffold you cannot assemble according to the manual. So always ask for a component list alongside the price.

The third difference is duration. For one supplier a week is a block of seven days, for another it is five working days with a surcharge for the weekend. If you do not know which definition applies, you cannot put two weekly prices side by side. What a hire period means with us is set out on prices. So ask for a price covering a concrete number of days with a start and end date in it, and that discussion disappears.

Key facts

VAT and from-prices in the small print

A price shown to a private customer should include VAT; a price for business customers is often quoted excluding it. That difference is large enough to make a quote look artificially attractive. So check in which form the amount is stated and whether VAT is added at the bottom of the quote. Our prices include VAT, so the amount you see is the amount you pay.

Watch the word from as well. A from-price usually refers to the smallest size, the shortest period or the most favourable delivery area. As soon as you enter a greater working height, a longer period or an address further away, the figure changes. That is not unreasonable in itself, but you only compare fairly when both quotes cover the same size and the same period.

So always ask for a price for your own situation: the working height you need, the days you want it and the address where it will stand. An itemised quote with those three details is the only one you can lay beside another. What the rate does per working height is shown on mobile scaffold hire costs. Look for surcharges that only appear in a footnote as well, for instance for a delivery address outside the standard area.

Delivery and collection: one item or two

Delivery is the item that most often falls outside the quote. Sometimes only the delivery is included and the collection is invoiced separately, sometimes a rate per kilometre applies whose total you only see afterwards. So ask explicitly whether both directions are included and whether the amount is fixed. With us delivery and collection sit together in a fixed amount per province.

Look at the unloading conditions as well. Is the scaffold left on the pavement or brought into the garden? Is there a time slot or a fixed time? Does somebody have to be present? Those points decide whether your working day starts as planned. The amounts per province are on delivery costs and how they are built up is explained in what delivery costs.

Collecting the scaffold yourself is the alternative and removes the delivery item altogether. With us that is free by appointment at Zeeburgerpad 89 in Amsterdam. Count on a van or trailer, since the platform parts are 245 cm long, and bear in mind that the deposit for collection is higher than for delivery. For anyone living nearby it is often the cheapest route.

Hire period: what an extra day really costs

The most underestimated item is duration. Jobs overrun because of rain, because of a nasty surprise in the wall or because the paint will not dry. A quote in which an extra day costs almost as much as the first day therefore turns out dearer than it looks. Always ask what day two, day five and day ten cost, not only what the first day costs.

With us you pay the full rate for the first hire day and 5 percent of that day rate for every following day. That keeps an overrun manageable and means you do not have to rush the scaffold back because the cost is mounting. The comparison between separate days and longer periods is on price per day and on price per week.

Set your period realistically. Count the days you will actually stand on the scaffold, then add room for the weather and for the day you assemble and dismantle. How many days that usually adds up to is covered in how many days to hire a scaffold. A period you judge too tightly costs you more than planning a few spare days up front.

The cost items in one overview

The table below lists the items that appear in virtually every quote, with the question you ask about each and how it is arranged with us. Run through it with the quote beside you and mark every item that is missing. What remains is exactly where the difference between two offers sits. Note the answers down briefly, because a verbal promise is harder to find at settlement time than a line in an email.

This row of questions works on the phone as well. A hire company that answers all eight in one go has its affairs in order; hesitation on an answer usually signals an item that arrives afterwards. For the full preparation of a hire period there is also the mobile scaffold hire checklist. Ask which of the items are estimates and which are fixed, since an estimate is exactly the item that grows between quote and invoice.

Deposit: amount, conditions and refund

A deposit is not a cost but it is an amount you have to be able to miss for a while, so it belongs in the quote. Ask how high it is, when it is charged and within what time you get it back. Ask as well what it can be withheld for and who judges whether there is damage. A hire company without a clear answer there is one to pass over.

With us the deposit depends on the model and on how the set reaches you, and it is back in your account within 1 working day after return. The amounts are listed below and in more detail on scaffold hire deposit. What you can do yourself to get it back without fuss is covered in getting your deposit back. Ask how the deposit is taken as well, and whether that is a reservation or an actual debit, because that makes a difference to your account.

• Delivery: RS51, RS52 and MiTower 500 euro deposit
• Delivery: room scaffold 150 euro deposit
• Collection in person: RS51 and RS52 1000 euro deposit
• Collection in person: MiTower 750 euro deposit
• Collection in person: room scaffold 150 euro deposit
• Refund within 1 working day after the set comes back

What is in the package

A scaffold is not a single product but a set of components, and the price says little if you do not know what you get. Ask for the composition: how many frames, how many platforms, which guard rails, are there toe boards and are the stabilisers included. Ask whether a manual is supplied and whether it belongs to the model you receive, because assembly sequences differ per type.

Our equipment comes from Altrex and complies with EN 1004, with platforms in load class 3, meaning 200 kg per square metre. That standard assumes a scaffold assembled completely according to the manual: with braces, guard rails, toe boards and stabilisers. What the standard covers exactly is set out in EN 1004 explained. Ask whether the equipment is checked between hires and what to do if you spot something wrong during assembly.

Check on delivery that everything is there before you start. Discovering a missing brace halfway through the assembly is far more annoying than spending five minutes counting on arrival. Use the points below as you go. Photograph the set as it is delivered, so you have a starting point on return if there is any discussion about a missing or damaged part. Counting for five minutes on arrival also stops you stalling halfway through the build.

• Number of frames and platforms for the chosen working height
• Platforms with a hatch for climbing on the inside
• Diagonal braces and horizontal braces
• Guard rails and toe boards all round
• Stabilisers and base plates
• A manual that belongs to the model supplied

Assembly: who puts the scaffold up

This is the question that causes the most confusion afterwards. Some suppliers deliver assembled, others deliver a package you put together yourself, and the price difference is considerable. At Steigertaxi you assemble it yourself: we deliver the complete set and put it down at an agreed spot, and you build it with the manual and the instruction video. So we do not deliver assembled and we do not erect on site.

Count that time into your planning. Assembly needs no tools and goes more comfortably with two people than alone, and dismantling is quicker than building up. If you receive a quote that includes erection, ask who does it, whether dismantling is included and what happens if the scaffold has to be moved during the job. With an offer that includes erection, also ask who is liable for the erected scaffold and who inspects it before you go up.

If you specifically want a scaffold erected by a company, for a large project for instance, that is a different kind of offer with different items in it. What that involves is set out in scaffold hire including assembly, so you do not lay that quote beside a hire offer. The items there carry different names, often run per week and are tied to the scaffolder planning rather than to a delivery day. So compare such a quote only with another quote of the same type.

Lead time, planning and overruns

A good price for a scaffold that only arrives in two weeks does not help if your contractor starts on Monday. So ask when the scaffold will be there, whether that is a half day or a full day, and what happens if your job shifts. With us the rule is simple: order before 15:00 and the scaffold is delivered the next working day, anywhere in the Netherlands.

Ask how the collection is planned as well. A scaffold that stands for days after the job is finished is in the way and can even be a risk in wind. Clear agreements about the collection day belong in the quote, as does the question of whether you can extend if the job overruns and how you report that. Agree where the set has to be ready for collection too, so you are not carrying parts through the garden on the collection day itself.

For an urgent job the lead time weighs more heavily than the price. If you can drive yourself, collection by appointment is often the fastest route. What else comes with a short lead time is covered in the frequently asked questions, which also cover the practical points about delivery and return. For urgent work, always ask whether the working height you want is in stock, because an offer says nothing about the availability of that model on your day. A lower size that is available is sometimes the better answer.

Does the working height in the quote match your job

A quote is only usable if the size is right. Working height is platform height plus 2 metres, the reach of an adult standing on the platform. An offer for an 8 metre scaffold therefore means a platform at 6 metres. Check whether the quote is drawn up in working height or in platform height, because that is a whole size and with it part of the price.

Measure yourself, from the spot where the castors will stand up to the highest point you need to reach. If in doubt, take the size above: standing too low leads to stretching, and that is exactly where things go wrong. The range runs from 4.2 to 14.2 metres of working height; which size suits which job is set out on working height.

Check the width and platform length in the quote as well. The RS51 is 75 cm wide and the RS52 is 135 cm, both with a platform length of 245 cm. The width decides whether the scaffold clears your gate, and the length decides how much facade you finish per set-up. The models are listed at mobile scaffold hire. If the width is not stated in the quote, ask for it before you agree, because a scaffold that will not clear the gate is unusable.

Conditions you read before you sign

The price is part of the agreement, the conditions are the rest. Look at the cancellation period, liability for damage, what applies in case of theft and whether you may move the scaffold to another address. Look at whether you can extend the hire period and how far in advance you have to say so. Those are the points that only start to matter once something changes.

Run through the list below before you agree. Two minutes of reading prevents the discussions that otherwise arise on the return day, and it makes clear straight away whether you are dealing with a company that knows its own conditions. More about who we are and how we work is on about us. Keep the conditions with your confirmation, so that on the return day you can read back exactly what was agreed.

• Cancellation: until when and on what conditions
• Extension: how you report it and what it costs
• Damage and theft: who carries which risk
• Return: when it is collected and how you hand it back
• Moving to another address during the hire
• What happens if a component is missing on return

From quote to booking

Once you have two or three offers side by side, convert them to the same basis: the same working height, the same number of days, the same address, all including VAT and including delivery and collection. Only then do you see which offer is genuinely better. Often the gap turns out smaller than it looked, or the cheapest turns out to have left a few items out.

If you cannot work it out, put your situation to us: the height of the gutter, the days you want and the address. On WhatsApp you can add a photo, and through contact email works too. What a mobile scaffold costs in general is covered in what hiring a mobile scaffold costs, and ways to come out cheaper are in hiring a scaffold cheaply.