Staying efficient with new heavy contruction equipment

« Back to Home

2 tips for those who need to use rented forklifts for their building projects

Posted on

If you will need to use forklifts for your building project, and intend to rent this equipment from a forklift truck hire company, you should keep the following two tips in mind.

1. Don't just hire one forklift if you really need two

If your budget for your building project is quite small, you might be tempted to just rent one forklift, even though you really need two, so that you can save a bit of money. However, this is not a wise decision, as not having enough forklifts could actually create a whole host of problems during the building process.

It could, for example, result in it taking far longer for your workers to carry out the tasks that require the use of forklifts (such as transporting essential materials from one part of the building site to another). This, in turn, could lead to you failing to meet project-related deadlines.

Furthermore, it could also increase the risk of the equipment breaking down and causing accidents during your building project. The reason for this is as follows; if in a bid to avoid falling behind schedule, the operator of the one, lone forklift on your site attempts to transport too many heavy materials at once, its forks could bow under the weight of these goods.

In addition to this mistake inflicting damage on the forks (and thus potentially rendering the forklift unusable), it could also lead to these construction materials flying off the damaged forks and hitting workers who are standing near the equipment.

2. Ask for maintenance list

When you're arranging the rental of the forklifts, it's important to ask an employee from the rental company for a list of the maintenance tasks that need to be performed on the equipment, to keep it in good working order. The reason for this is as follows; if you don't have this list, there is a much greater chance that you will neglect to carry out an important form of maintenance and that, as a result of this, the forklift will break down.

Furthermore, if your failure to perform specific maintenance tasks results in the forklift sustaining serious damage, you may incur an additional fee when you eventually return the forklift to the rental company (to cover the cost of repairing this damage). As such, it is important to get this list at the beginning of your project and to ensure that the maintenance tasks on it are carried out regularly while the equipment is in your possession.


Share