How to Determine Whether You Need to Hire or Buy a Generator for a Big Project
If you are a procurement manager at a processing facility and in charge of making sure that the right equipment is available at the right time, you will always be looking at solutions with one eye on the budget. The company is about to start a new project, which will call for a range of additional equipment and it will need to be available for a certain amount of time. You have to go through each acquisition line by line to see how you can procure the item cost effectively and efficiently and may have turned your attention to your power needs. It looks like you're going to need a generator for part of this work, so should you buy it or hire it?
Scope of the Job
Usually, you have an adequate amount of power on hand to satisfy the needs of the organisation. For one reason or another, this particular project will need an additional source of power, which can only be satisfied by a generator. The first thing you need to ask yourself, however, is how long you will need the unit for and if you'll need it again in the future. If you don't know the answer to the last part of the question, then it's likely that it would be more cost-effective for you to rent it, rather than buy, especially as the project is not slated to last indefinitely.
Maintenance Issue
You may think that it would be handy to have a generator on hand should you ever need it again and this may be a good reason to buy. However, who will be responsible for the upkeep of the machine when it is not in use? If you might not crank it up again for a considerable period of time, will it be serviceable when you do get going? You may find that you need to send it in for repairs at a crucial moment and would be forced to hire another one in its place. That's not very practical.
Latest Spec
Technology does not stand still and it's likely that the manufacturer of the machine will have issued an upgrade in the next few months, or even introduced a completely revised generator. If you bought one, you might be facing obsolescence by the time you used it again. However, if you hire then you know that you're getting a state-of-the-art machine, that has the latest gadgets and tools attached.
Model Specific
Lastly, you cannot predict your needs into the future with any certainty. While you know what type and size of generator you need for this job on hand, you may need a completely different model in the future. Once again, there's no point in buying a machine, if you're not sure that you'll be able to use it when another ad hoc job comes along.
Commissioning the Hire
Ask generator hire services to provide you with the best, state-of-the-art generator for your impending project.