Skip vs Grab Hire

A post-construction clean up operation is a task that befalls every project, no matter the size and no matter the success of the work. Whether you’ve had a new conservatory added to your home, or your office block has had some resurfacing work done in the car park, waste is an unavoidable by-product of construction, and it needs to be dealt with appropriately. There are a couple of ways that we can deal with our construction waste, but choosing the one that’s right for you can be difficult – should you hire a skip or is a grab lorry the best way to go?

Flexibility

Skips are available in a range of sizes to suit different needs – there’s no point ordering a huge skip if you’ve only had a small amount of work done – so it’s important you get the size right before ordering a skip. You’ll also need a permit if you are putting your skip on the road.

Skips are better for longer-term usage. No matter the size; whether you need a mini-skip or an industrial roll on-roll off skip, they can be situated outside your home for days or weeks if necessary.

Grab hire lorries are designed for quicker loading. If you’ve a short timeframe to operate in, or if you’d like waste removed from your site as quickly as possible, a grab lorry is ideal. The driver will turn up in the lorry, use the grab arm to load it with your waste materials, whereupon it can be disposed of. This also means that there’s no need for permits and there’s minimal disruption to road users – two things that are often associated with skip hire.

Speed

Loading a grab lorry is very quick, thanks to the use of the automated grab arm. With a skip, manual labour is required, which means it can be a time consuming operation. A wheelbarrow can make the back-and-forth trips easier.

Loading a grab lorry efficiently requires the waste to be sorted into a neat, unobstructed pile, but that is a minor requirement for an otherwise efficient loading process – it’ll only take around 15-20 minutes to load it.

Capacity

There are several types of skips available, suitable for jobs of different scales. The capacities vary from mini skips, with a volume of 2-3 cubic yards, to large roll-on-roll-off skips, which offer 20-40 cubic yards of space.

The roll-on-roll-off skip models allow for walk-in access, and are only used for the biggest of construction projects. They can accommodate the largest types of non-hazardous waste, from furniture to huge amounts of aggregate.

Grab hire lorries weigh about 16 tonnes when empty, and their maximum weight limit is 32 tonnes, so they can be filled with 16 tonnes of non-hazardous waste. This equates to 12-15 cubic metres, depending on how bulky the material is.

Cost

There’s no definitive price list for skips and grab hire lorries – it can depend on a number of things: the company you are hiring from, your location, the size of the skip or lorry you need and how long you need it for. However, the average price for builders’ skip (6-8 cubic yards) is around £300 including VAT.

For grab hire lorries, the price varies as you can hire them on a per load, per day or per hour basis, and some companies may offer lorries of varying sizes, but grab hires with similar capacities are often slightly cheaper than their equivalent skips.

EasyMix Concrete are proud to be a leading provider of grab hire services for customers throughout London. If you’d like to know more about the work we do, or for a grab hire pricing quote, please feel free to get in touch with us today.