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Stopped renting a lift for lobby ceiling runs and switched to rolling scaffold, saved $1,900 on one job
I do mostly tenant fit-outs in Columbus and for small ceiling runs in lobbies I used to just call the rental place for a towable lift every time. On a 3,400 sq ft office redo on High Street I decided to price it both ways before committing. The lift came out to about $2,300 for the rental plus delivery and fuel, and it needed a certified operator on site which ate up two guys I could have used elsewhere. Rolling scaffold from a local supplier ran me $400 for the whole month, and my two apprentices could move it and work off it with no extra ticket needed. The catch is it doesn't reach past about 12 ft, so anything taller still gets the lift or a baker setup. For low ceilings in lobbies and hallways, scaffold has been the easy winner three jobs running now. What's your cutoff height where you stop fighting with scaffold and just pay for the machine?
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daniel59320d ago
I used to be the guy who said just rent the lift and be done with it, mainly because I figured scaffold was slow to move around and my guys would waste half a day dragging it. Then I actually watched two apprentices roll a section down a hallway and set up in under ten minutes, and my whole view changed. Now I keep the scaffold for anything under 12 ft and I don't even price the lift anymore on those jobs, since the certified operator thing alone costs me more than the rental. Past 12 ft though I'm with you, that's where the machine earns its money and I stop trying to be cheap about it. The real number isn't height for me, it's how many moves the job needs and whether the ceiling is wide open or chopped up.
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