A one man lift is a push around vertical mast machine with a single person platform, and it rents for roughly $85 to $170 a day or $250 to $500 a week. It exists for indoor work where a scissor is too heavy and a ladder is too low: lighting, sprinklers, ductwork and ceiling grid in occupied buildings.
It is a mast, not a boom
The platform goes straight up on a mast and stays over the base. There is no outreach, so the machine must be pushed to sit directly under each point of work. That is slower than a boom but it is why the footprint is small enough to roll through a doorway and light enough to cross a finished floor.
Check the door, the floor and the elevator
Most single person lifts measure roughly 30 inches wide and 55 inches long with the outriggers stowed, and weigh several hundred pounds. Two numbers decide whether it can reach the work: the narrowest opening on the route, and what the floor or the elevator car is rated to carry. Both come before the day rate.
What the yard hands over with it
A charger, a set of outriggers or a base that must be deployed before the platform will rise, and a familiarisation on that model. The harness and lanyard are usually a separate line if you do not bring your own. The interlock that stops the mast rising on stowed outriggers is not optional and must not be defeated.
When a scissor is the better hire
If two people work together, if tools and materials go up with them, or if the same platform serves several points in a row, a compact electric scissor costs a little more and saves hours. The one man lift wins on weight, on width and on finished floors that a heavier machine would mark.
Questions people ask about one man lift rental
How high does a one man lift actually reach?
Platform heights commonly run from about 14 to 30 feet, which gives a working reach of roughly 20 to 36 feet with a person standing in it. Above that the machine gets wide and heavy enough that a mast boom or a scissor is the sensible hire.
Can one person set it up alone?
Yes, that is the point of the machine, though the heavier models are hard work to push over carpet or a threshold. Outriggers deploy by hand and level on screw jacks. Getting it off a truck without a ramp or a tail lift is the part that needs a second person.
Do I need a harness in a vertical mast lift?
The platform is a guarded enclosure rather than an open basket, and rules differ from those for boom type machines. Follow the manufacturer manual in the platform and your employer policy, and where a harness is called for, anchor it to the point provided in the platform, never to the building.