If you want the right equipment for your job, how do you know whether you should hire it or buy it? We take a look at 5 things to consider.

In most cases, it makes sense to hire the equipment you need. Unless you’re going to need a piece of equipment regularly and your business growth is guaranteed, the benefits of hiring rather than buying can usually add up. Here’s a few of the key benefits to consider when you’re making a decision on whether to hire or buy.

1: Where will you store your equipment?

The great benefit of hiring equipment is that you don’t need to provide long term storage. Storage for many types of equipment needs to be dry, and it always needs to be secure. It’s also important to consider the location of your storage as you will need to control transportation costs and make sure you can access your equipment easily.

If you’re considering buying equipment rather than hiring it then bear in mind that there’s going to be a storage requirement too.

2: How are you going to maintain your equipment - and what will that cost?

Hire equipment takes the hassle out of maintenance. Your hire company will take responsibility for maintenance and servicing, so all you need to do is pick up your equipment and drive your hire to the job. That means you don’t need to suffer the cost or the downtime from getting things fixed or serviced.

Hiring takes the effort out of accessing well-maintained, serviced equipment whenever you want. Worth bearing in mind if you’re considering purchasing your own equipment.

3: Do you like the latest piece of equipment when you’re on a job?

Allways Hire invests in the latest equipment so you never need to drive a piece of old kit out onto a job. Unfortunately if you invest in your own equipment you will have to deal with it becoming older, and knowing that there are newer, more improved models on the market that you’re not going to get to enjoy for a while. And of course as machinery ages, the cost of maintenance always increases too.

If there are benefits to your business of using the latest machines, you might prefer to hire rather than buy.

4: Remember that assets depreciate in value

If you’re putting your cash into an expensive asset like machinery, it’s important to remember that the value of that equipment can depreciate rapidly - especially if it’s getting lots of use and suffering from wear and tear.

Hiring is a good way of managing your expenditure without discovering you have an asset on your hands that no one wants to buy at the end of the job. And remember that in most instances, hire expenses can be claimed as a tax deduction.

5: Do you like to control your equipment costs?

When you buy equipment it’s on your books until you decide to part company. That means that your accountant - and the tax man - will want to know about your investment in equipment and you’ll be managing the cost every day. In contrast, hiring gives you complete control over your equipment costs. You only pay for the equipment you need and if you don’t need it any more you take it back and the cost stops.

Keeping control of your costs is also important in an uncertain economy or if you’re not sure how stable the pipeline of work ahead of you may be. If you suddenly discover the nature of your work changes or there’s not as much demand as you thought there would be - hiring can ensure that you won’t be stuck with a piece of equipment you don’t need.

To hire or to buy - which works best?

Ultimately, it will depend on your circumstances whether it works out as a smarter decision to hire or buy the equipment you need. If you do need to hire, Allways Hire can be relied upon to provide you with equipment that’s part of a young fleet of machines and is well serviced and maintained.

Call us today on 06 872 6774 and we can help you find the right equipment for your next job and the best way to get it to your worksite.