An impact driver is the compact hex drive tool that runs screws and lag bolts, and counters hire it as a kit with batteries and a charger for roughly $20 to $35 a day or $60 to $110 a week. It is not the same tool as an impact wrench, which takes square drive sockets for nuts and bolts. Ask by name or the wrong one comes over the counter.
Hex drive is what makes it a driver
The chuck takes quarter inch hex bits, so it accepts driver bits, hex shank drills and lag adaptors and nothing else. That is the practical difference from a square drive wrench. If your fastener needs a socket you have asked for the wrong tool; if it takes a bit, this is the one that will not round the head off.
When a weekend job justifies the hire
For a deck, a fence, subfloor screws or a run of cabinet work, an impact driver saves wrists and stripped heads over a drill. For six screws it does not. Hire tends to pay when the count runs into the hundreds, when the fasteners are long lags, or when the work is overhead and the weight of a drill starts to matter.
Batteries are the part that runs out
A kit usually arrives with two batteries and a charger, and a heavy session of long lags empties both faster than the charger refills them. Ask for a third battery if the counter has one, keep the charger on site rather than in the truck, and start the day with everything at full charge.
Bits are consumables, not fittings
Impact rated bits are hardened for the hammering action and ordinary bits snap inside them. Counters sometimes include a set and sometimes bill it, so confirm before you leave. Take spares of the one size the job actually uses, because a snapped bit at the far end of a deck stops the work completely.
Questions people ask about impact driver rental
Impact driver or drill for a deck?
The driver runs the screws and the drill bores the pilot holes and the post holes, which is why many people hire both together. If you can take only one and the work is fasteners rather than holes, the driver is the tool that finishes the job.
Will an impact driver remove lug nuts?
It is the wrong tool. Lug nuts want a square drive impact wrench and impact sockets; a hex driver with an adaptor lacks the torque and chews the adaptor. Ask the counter for a half inch impact wrench instead.
Does the hire include a charger?
Cordless kits normally come as tool, two batteries, charger and case, and the counter checks all of it back in. Confirm the case contents at pickup, because a missing charger is charged for and a missing battery is charged for heavily.