Factors Affecting Your Crane Truck Services Quote

Whether it’s your first time hiring crane truck services or it’s been a long time since you called a provider, it can be quite challenging to get an accurate gauge of how companies calculate your quote.

Chances are, you’re probably scratching your head, as your estimate might be more than you expected. 

This article will shed light on the factors influencing these costs, and provide several reasons as to why your chosen crane truck services might charge premium prices on your project.

The Factors That Are Affecting Your Quote

Overhead Costs

While you’re mostly paying for the operator’s skill, crane truck rental companies have to account for overhead costs– also called levies. You may find that companies may charge you so much because they need to cover other expenses aside from wages. 

For example, operators have to be trained, insured and certified before they get a chance to show their skills. Trucks also eat a lot of revenue, needing to be gassed up, registered, properly maintained, have proper parking spaces and – when needed – replaced outright with better models. 

This is to ensure both the operator and crane truck are in the best working condition to efficiently conduct work, while reducing accident risks on site.

Project Scale and Complexity

Another factor that could significantly influence your quote is your project’s scale and how hard it will strain the crane truck rental company’s resources.

For example, you only need a crane to lift and transport light materials over favourable ground conditions. This will facilitate a need for a smaller crane truck with reasonable payload and lifting capacities.

Conversely, should you need to lift and transport heavier loads under the same conditions, this will facilitate a need for a larger model with better payload and lifting capacities.

This ultimately drives up the price, as heavier trucks consume more fuel while carrying heavier cargo on unfavourable ground compared to their smaller counterparts.

More on terrain, this factor plays a big part in driving up your quotes as hard-to-access areas require ample time and resources to operate safely.

For example, if you’re transporting steel beams and the site is inside or near an urban area, your company will need to expend more resources in hiring additional support such as spotters, doggers, and riggers to safely get the job done.

Flat Fees

If by chance you’ve rented a crane truck for four hours, but noticed you’d gotten the job done in just under three, you may notice that companies may still charge you the full amount regardless of time spent.

While this may sound a bit unfair, companies need to charge a ‘minimum hours’ fee, as it’s closely connected to covering overhead costs. Companies need to account for this fee in every job they take on, as it takes time, money, and effort to mobilise a crane truck and get a skilled operator behind the wheel.

This ‘fixed rate’ incentivises operators to do a quick, yet quality job to maximise the workday or break even on a slow day, to cover their overhead while maintaining a margin for profit.

Moreover, it’s common for crane truck rentals to charge a flat fee when it comes to ‘depot-to-depot’ jobs.

In our industry, depot-to-depot jobs refer to projects in which truck rental comes for a standardised fee from point A to B, so long as the cargo is under a specific tonnage range.

Truck rental companies generally do this in order to maximise petrol usage and expenses, as crane trucks– especially large ones– guzzle a lot of fuel.

Get A Free Quote Today – Ultimate Crane Trucks

To sum it up, your quote is based on the size and type of the crane truck model, the service you need, the expected overhead costs, and profit margins of the crane truck rental company.

However, every job is unique, and so are the factors needed in order to give a safe, efficient, and stellar service. With this in mind, the best way to get an accurate estimate is to contact crane truck services like us and ring us up.

Ultimate Crane Trucks is the premier in crane truck services, offering 24/7, same-day service to anywhere in Victoria. Contact us through email at info@ultimatecranetrucks.com.au or phone at 0434 296 900 for a free quote.