A telescopic boom lift, the straight stick machine, is hired when the platform has to reach out over something as well as up. A 60 ft unit rents for roughly $500 to $800 a day and $1,400 to $2,200 a week. The number that matters on the spec sheet is horizontal outreach, because that is what an articulating boom cannot match.
Straight boom against knuckle boom
A telescopic boom puts the basket a long way out in one straight line, which suits open ground, steelwork and building faces with nothing in the way. An articulating boom folds at a joint to duck under and over obstacles, and gives up outreach to do it. Choose by the obstruction, not by the height.
The size classes yards stock
Rental fleets cluster at 40, 60, 80 and 125 ft platform heights, with outreach roughly three quarters of the height on the mid sizes and proportionally less at the top. A 60 ft machine typically reaches out about 50 ft. Anything above 80 ft is specialist stock, hauled from a regional yard rather than a local branch.
Weight and ground are the real constraint
A 60 ft rough terrain boom weighs in the region of 20,000 lb on four tyres, and an 80 ft machine considerably more. It needs firm, level, compacted ground to travel and to set, and it will not cross a lawn, a suspended slab or fresh backfill without mats. Ask the branch for the machine weight.
What the day rate does not cover
Delivery out and back on a lowbed for the larger classes, fuel on a diesel machine, a damage waiver as its own line, and the harness and lanyard your crew needs in the basket. Yards hire harnesses by the day, so check the inspection dates on them before they leave the counter with you.
Questions people ask about telescopic boom lift
What is the difference between a telescopic and an articulating boom lift?
One extends in a straight line, the other has an elbow in it. The straight boom gets further out from the base; the articulating one gets around, under and over things that are in the way. Same job, opposite strengths, and yards rent both from one fleet.
How high does a 60 ft boom lift actually reach?
Platform height is 60 ft, and a person standing on the deck works about six feet above that. Outreach at full height is normally less than at mid height, because the load chart trades the two against each other. Read the machine's own chart rather than the headline number.
Do I need an operator with the machine?
Not usually. Bare hire is normal, with a familiarisation from the driver who delivers it. Working from an aerial lift is regulated, so the employer stays responsible for a trained and authorised operator and for the fall protection worn in the basket.
Can a boom lift work on a slope?
Only inside its own tilt limits, which the machine enforces by cutting out and sounding an alarm. On uneven ground a rough terrain unit with outriggers or automatic levelling is the right hire, and mats under the wheels are cheap next to recovering a machine that has sunk.