What to send for a quotation
A quotation is only as accurate as the description behind it. The most useful things to send are drawings of the structure or a site address, the height and length the access has to reach, what will be on the platforms — people and tools, or stacked materials as well — and how long the scaffold will stand.
Mention anything unusual: an occupied building, a finished facade that must not be marked, limited space at the base, a roof or slab to stand on rather than ground, or work that will move as the job progresses.
With that information, quantities can be worked out from the job instead of estimated — either from the drawings or from a site inspection where the drawings do not tell the whole story.
Supply only or erected
There are two ways to hire. Supply only means the material is delivered and your own competent team erects, inspects and dismantles it. Erected hire means the supplier's team builds the scaffold to the agreed design, supervises it while it is in use and takes it down.
The choice depends on whether you have trained scaffolders and the time to use them on access rather than on the work itself. Erected hire also puts the design, the build and the handover in one place.
Say which you want in the enquiry, because it changes what is quoted — and ask for both if you are not sure.
Agreeing the hire period
Agree when the hire starts and how its length is measured, and base the period on the programme rather than a round number. A scaffold that is struck in stages can often be returned in stages too.
Be realistic about the duration — the comparison between hiring and buying depends on that length.
If there is a chance the work will be paused, ask how a pause is handled before it happens.
Delivery, collection and access to site
Agree where and when the material will be delivered, how it will be offloaded and where it will be stored on site until it is used. Large deliveries need clear access and a set-down area, and some sites restrict delivery times.
Agree collection in the same way: when the scaffold will be dismantled, who dismantles it, and when the material will be collected so it is not left standing on site after the work has finished.
Phased delivery and collection — material arriving shortly before it is needed and leaving as each area is struck — keeps the site clear and the hire focused on what is actually in use.
Damaged components and returns
Agree how missing or damaged components are handled before the hire starts, not after.
Counting material off and back on against the delivery note helps both sides. So does keeping hired material in one place on site rather than mixing it with other stock.
A good supplier checks hired material between hires and replaces damaged components, so what arrives on site is fit to use.
Extending or changing the hire
Programmes change. Ask how an extension is arranged and how additional material is ordered if the scope grows — and, for erected hire, how alterations to the scaffold are requested.
Any change to a scaffold that is in use goes through the scaffolding team and is inspected afterwards. That applies to extensions and adaptations as much as to the original build.
On this site, scaffolding systems are supplied for hire, for purchase or as a mix across a project from the warehouse in Ajman Industrial 2, with quantities worked out from your drawings or a site inspection, delivery to site and collection after dismantling — and hire and purchase are quoted side by side.
