When it comes to lifting heavy equipment, hiring a crane is one of the best options available to anyone nowadays. However, this kind of decisions is not something that we recommend to take lightly. Whether the project requires a crane for a long-term or just for a very short period of time, keep in mind that safety, efficiency, and cost are crucial. In order to choose the right crane for your project, here are some helpful and basic tips, you should know about.
#1. Crane Capacity: How Much Weight Do You Want To Lift?
As the name implies, a crane capacity refers to the maximum load that it can safely carry or lift. It is the maximum allowed weight for loading and offloading heavy items. There are several crane capacity in the market nowadays. From 1 ton to 200 tons even more for bigger projects. Before hiring a crane, one of the most important element to consider is the crane capacity. What is the weight of the load you want to lift? When you know the total weight of the item, then you will need a bigger crane lifting capacity. The higher the capacity is, the more expensive the crane hiring rate will be. For safety purposes, do not select a crane that has the same lifting capacity with the load you want to lift.
#2. Crane Boom length: How high the crane need to reach?
The loading is not the only criteria when it comes to hiring a crane for your project. Another factor to take into account is the boom length. It will determine the height that the load can reach. A longer boom requires a bigger crane capacity. For instance, if you want to lift a load on the top of a building of 25 meters, then you will need a bigger crane capacity that can reach this height even if your load is just a few kgs. Make sure that you know the lifting height before choosing a crane for your project. Also, these kinds of operations must be carried out only by reliable logistics companies. The most challenging and dangerous lifting operations are the ones where the load has to be lifted very high in the air. That’s why sometimes a special permission or permit from local authorities is required to perform such tasks.
#3. Accessibility of the Area
A common mistake that people make when hiring a crane is to fail to evaluate the area first. How easy is to access the area? It’s vital to identify potential obstacles around the site. Anything that can prevent this heavy equipment to operate properly such as a restricted area, rough terrain, nearby building, workmen, or power line etc must be specified to the contractors. So that they can suggest and plan for the right crane hire to perform the job. You can also send them some pictures on WhatsApp or via email to advise.
#4. Request For Survey
If you are not sure about your assessment, then the best way to go about it is to request a site survey. However, sometimes, some contractors might not be able to come for the survey or will just decline the job due to personal reasons (for instance if it’s a very small job and the site is extremely far). But when it’s possible, always request for the contractor to carry out a site survey before engaging them. That will save you some valuable time and resources.
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#5. Crane Hiring Cost
Hiring a crane is very expensive. Some companies charge per hour, per day or by project. Even the simple movement of the machine to and from (mobilization and demobilization) the site of operation has a cost. Therefore going for the cheapest deal might be attempting. However, based on the nature of the job, the risks involved, it is not advisable to opt for the lowest rate. When it comes to hiring a crane, the primary things to keep in mind are safety, experience, equipment quality and then the cost. Should you have some projects in Kenya, requiring heavy lifting operations, then you can get in touch with Famio Crane Rental to request a quote.
So to conclude, hiring the right crane for your projects, will mainly depend on how high you need the crane to reach, what weight you are planning to lift at that height, and how accessible and stable is the operation area. If you’re still not sure which crane is right for your projects in Kenya, you can contact the experts at Famio Services. We have the right team, expertise and a wide range of crane machines for hire.