Today, water wise, was not a frugal day. I pressure washed most of the drive. I now have numb hands from the vibration so I'll finish the rest in the morning. You can see the size of the drive from the photo and there is no way I can scrub that lot. We don't own our own pressure washer as the cost of the electricity and water make it a very expensive thing to use. Instead, we hire one.
Over the years and in two previous 'fixer upper' houses, we've hired huge kango drills, cement mixers, heat guns and floor sanders. We've hired scaffold towers, whole house scaffolding, ladders and ladder platforms. We don't buy tools, we hire them. When we hire them, we always do so, first thing on a Saturday morning. You will only have to pay for one day's hire but can have it for Saturday and Sunday and take it back on Monday morning. We paid £24 inc. VAT for the hire of the pressure washer. It's much bigger than a domestic version. It came with all the hose pipes and connectors that we'd need.
To hire tools, you usually need to take proof of ID and address, such as a utility bill and they will give you safety instructions before you take it away. They will often lend you gloves and goggles too.
Over to you, have you ever hired tools and done the work yourself to save money? Was it worth it?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxx
15 comments:
Yes, hired often, from a carpet stapler-downer (or whatever they're called) for £2 a day, to a mini-digger for £50 a day, I had to borrow a pick-up with a draw bar to collect & return it, the mini-digger comes with a trailer but you need a vehicle to tow it.
Hire companies have top of the range heavy duty industrial standard equipment that needs to be able to stand a lot of hammer, so you get a tool that would be out of all proportion cost-wise to buy it for one job.
P.S. - I got a 30-second tutorial on how to drive a mini-digger.
Hi Cumbrian - just as I said, I've always been given demonstrations, shown them I can use the tolls, get given safety equipment and help to get it in the trailer or car!
Yes- hired a professional carpet shampooer [but when we got a dog, we saved up and purchased our own machine- which has lasted longer than the dog!] and often hired vans for transporting stuff/moving house.
Bob often hires audio gear when he is doing PA for Big Gigs.
Hiring is often the best option - cheaper than buying [you get a bigger/better bit of kit] and cheaper than paying a Bloke when you DIY.
The drive looks great btw xx
Yes! When the man I hired to refinish my deck never appeared, I went to a local Home Depot, attended a workshop on using a large floor sander and ultimately rented it to refinish the deck myself. Thankfully they loaded the beast into my car hatch and I just rolled it onto the deck. $60 to rent vs $200 I was going to pay the no-show hired man.
We have a debate whether to hire a skip (we're renovating our house) or do lots of tip trips (12 mile round trip). The trouble is we don't know how many trips we would need so we can't cost it properly. I like hiring stuff to save on storage space as well.
Have often hired carpet shampooers in the past - particularly when I lived in my mill workers' terrace where you walked straight in off the street. I need to hire another once all the renovations here are finished. My suite looks filthy because of all the muck and dust we've created over the months, not to mention being in the back of a dusty removal van. We always hire vans to move things ourselves - house moves, picking up the suite when we won it on ebay,and numerous removal trips to uni and back with elder daughter.
I WISH I could hire tools and equipment like you do. I don't think there are any companies who offer this in my area though - unless you're looking to clean your carpet.
Hi Tanya let me know where you are and I'll do some research for you xxxx
We have hired a floor sander regularly. We are lucky to have a tool hire shop literally around the corner from us, which is pretty fab.
I only hire carpet cleaners ( 4 dogs!!!!)) well worth the effort
Yes we have hired tools before, and its great. Saves heaps of cash, if we can't loan what we need from a friend we hire it!
We hired a stump grinder once great fun. Beloved works for jewsons so gets a discount on tool hire.x
We hired a stump grinder once great fun. Beloved works for jewsons so gets a discount on tool hire.x
Thank you you have just given me a great idea. We have a really high skylight and ceiling in our house we thought we were going to have to get somebody in to paint it. But with quotes of 300-1000 pounds looking at alternatives, think I will go and hire scaffolding and do it ourselves. We have hired lots of vans in the past to move etc.
Such a good idea. Have rented a floor sander. Great but really heavy. Rent these things while you are comparative young and be careful of injury.
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