The heavy duty trucks an equipment rental yard hires are working plant on a chassis: dump trucks, water trucks, boom and bucket trucks, mixer trucks and service bodies, at roughly $400 to $900 a day by class. If what you want is a box van for a house move or a pickup for the weekend, that is vehicle hire from a different counter, and this page is not about it.
What a plant yard means by a heavy truck
A single axle dump for spoil and aggregate, a tandem for bigger loads, a water truck for dust control and compaction, a boom or bucket truck for overhead work, a mixer for small pours and a mechanic service body. Each is a machine with a truck underneath it, hired the way an excavator is hired, by the day or the week.
Rates, and the lines that sit under them
Expect roughly $400 to $650 a day for a single axle dump or a water truck, more for a tandem or a boom truck, with weekly rates landing near three to four times the daily. Fuel comes back full. Mileage is sometimes capped and charged per mile beyond the cap, which is the line that surprises people on a long haul.
The driving licence question comes first
Anything over 26,000 pounds gross needs a commercial driving licence to move on public roads, and most tandem dumps and larger water trucks are over it. Branches ask before they release keys. Where nobody on the crew holds one, the route is a machine delivered on a lowboy, or a truck hired with its driver from a haulage firm.
When to hire the truck and when to hire haulage
A truck earns its rate when it works most of the day on your own site or on a short loop. For a handful of loads across town, haulage priced per load is usually cheaper and arrives with a driver and their insurance. Work out the loads per day first, because the answer falls out of that rather than the rate card.
Questions people ask about heavy duty trucks for rent
Can I rent a heavy duty truck to move house?
Not from an equipment yard. Moving vans, box trucks and pickups come from vehicle rental firms and the two trades barely overlap. A plant yard truck is a dump, water, boom or mixer unit built for site work, and none of them has a load deck you would put furniture on.
Do I need a CDL for a rented dump truck?
For anything above the 26,000 pound gross line, yes, and most tandem axle dumps sit above it. Some single axle trucks are specified to stay under it, so ask the branch for the gross rating of the exact unit. They will not release it to a driver who cannot show the licence.
Is a water truck worth hiring for dust?
On a dry site with haul roads it usually pays for itself in complaints avoided and in compaction that actually reaches density, because most fill needs moisture to get there. For a small pad, a trailer mounted tank or a hose will do. Size the tank to the distance from the fill point.