Barricades are hired by the unit and by the day or week, and the price of each one is small beside the cost of getting a load to site and collected again. Lightweight Type I and Type II units commonly run about $3 to $8 each a day, and larger Type III panels several times that. What sets the type is the speed and volume of traffic passing the work, not the size of the hole.
The three types in one paragraph
A Type I barricade is a single rail on a light frame, used for footway work and low speed traffic. Type II carries two rails and stands up to more wind and passing vehicles. Type III is the full width panel with three rails that closes a lane or a road, and it is the one that needs ballast and usually lights.
The minimum order is what you are really buying
Very few yards will send out a handful of barricades. Expect a minimum order, a minimum period of a day or a week, and a delivery and collection charge that does not shrink much with quantity. Ordering the whole run at once, rather than in two deliveries as the work moves, is usually the cheaper shape.
Lights, signs and ballast are separate lines
Warning lights, their batteries, sandbags or water filled ballast, cones, and any sign panels are quoted apart from the barricade itself. Ask whether batteries are charged and included, and who replaces them on a job running more than a week. Missing ballast is the reason barricades end up in the traffic lane after a windy night.
The yard supplies hardware, not the plan
The layout, the taper length and the signing ahead of the work come from the traffic control plan attached to your permit, and the agency issuing that permit is who approves it. A rental counter will tell you what a plan of that shape normally needs in hardware; it does not sign off the plan or take responsibility for it.
Questions people ask about barricade rental
How many barricades do I need?
That comes from the permit drawing rather than from the length of the trench. A short footway closure may need four units and two signs, while a lane closure needs a taper of channelising devices ahead of the work as well as the barricades at the closure itself. Price the drawing, not the hole.
Can I keep rented barricades overnight?
Yes, and most work does. Overnight is where lights and ballast matter, because a barricade that has blown over is protecting nothing. If the closure runs several weeks, ask about a monthly rate rather than letting weekly renewals stack up.
Do rental barricades come with lights fitted?
Usually not by default. Lights are a separate line and sometimes come from a separate part of the yard. Say when you order that the closure is overnight, so the units arrive with brackets that take a light rather than plain rails.