Buy or rent scaffolding material?

Buy or rent scaffolding material - which option is best for your next scaffolding project?

Most likely you know Scafom-rux as a manufacturer and seller of premium quality scaffolding systems. But did you know that we also offer scaffold rental options at flexible conditions? Our global rental fleets include over 70k tons of scaffolding material to ensure we can always offer our customers the best, most attractive and flexible solutions.

Probably, when you are planning a scaffolding project, you can consider scaffold rental if you haven’t yet. However, there is no formula whether scaffold rental or purchase is the right choice for you, so professional advice is all the more important. Nevertheless, you can already establish some initial pointers that can help you to make a decision.

Duration of your scaffolding project

When deciding whether to rent or buy a scaffold for your project, it will help to define the estimated duration of your project. As a rule of thumb, if your project is expected to be finished within 12 weeks or less, you should take scaffold rental into consideration. In that case, the costs for renting a scaffold are often lower compared to buying one. But: if you expect to use the additional scaffolding equipment regularly, it makes sense to buy and reuse it for similar projects, of course.

Requirements of your scaffolding project

Think about the details of your building site: Which scaffold heights need to be reached? Does the object you will be working on have a straight or unusual e.g. curved shape? When you will be working in heights up to 6 metres and above, you will need a lot of material. In this case, scaffold rental could be the right solution for you, because you may only need a temporary addition to your existing stock. To avoid the one-off needed extra material lying around unused in your yard after the project is finished, it can be beneficial to simply return it to the rental supplier.

The same goes for working on unusually formed objects. Lots of the material used for such a project will only be needed this one time. Scaffold rental will provide you with the flexibility of not having to store material when you don’t need it anymore.

Know your own stock capacities

You may be familiar with the situation where your business is particularly good at certain times of the year. Your stock is perfectly adequate for the rest of the year, but when you have a lot of scaffolding projects coming up, you will need extra scaffolding material. It may happen that you will have enough decks, but there will be a shortage of frames and access ladders because they are still in use at another construction site. To cover seasonal peaks in your orders, it is sometimes better to rent additional scaffold material instead of buying it. Because another aspect that must not be underestimated is your storage capacity. Even the scaffold material with the most logistical advantages will require its space. Make sure that you have enough space in your yard when you are thinking about buying additional scaffolding equipment.

Consider the requirements of your scaffold supplier

Whether you buy or rent your scaffold material – choose your scaffold supplier wisely. Make sure that the quality and safety of the scaffolds are guaranteed (e.g. by product and production certificates the supplier received) and make yourself familiar especially with the rental conditions:

You should know whether there is a purchase obligation for several or certain items and whether all the material you need can be rented. It is also important to find out in advance how flexible the rental conditions are in case your scaffolding project is delayed or extended. You should also ask the rental supplier:

• Will there be an upfront deposit that you have to pay in advance?
• How high are the charges when scaffolding material gets broken?
• Will there be a cleaning fee for the scaffolding material in the end?

If you are still torn between rental or purchase of scaffold material make sure that you talk to a scaffold supplier that can do both to find the best option for you. Just fill in the contact form here and one of our scaffolding experts will be happy to advise you on the best solution for your individual situation.