If you need to access a high area of your home as part of your next project, you have several options.
We’ve already taken a look at the average cost to hire scaffold but this isn’t always practical for the following reasons:
- It takes time to arrange for professional scaffold hire and you’ll need to wait for the crew to come back and dismantle it too.
- It isn’t cheap and isn’t always needed for smaller projects.
- It can’t be easily moved or relocated, unlike a tower system.
Platform towers are a practical alternative to a full scaffold system, they can be erected quickly up to a height of 10metres, can be placed on wheels for easy relocation, can be combined with walking boards to create a bridge and are much cheaper than a full scaffold system.
How Much Does it Cost to Hire an Access Tower Platform?
In 2022 we asked 10 national hire companies and asked them to give us a price for a tower platform.
We asked for one week’s hire, we didn’t ask for delivery prices as we could collect the tower from their shop.
Below you’ll see the results of our research:
| Item: | Price: |
|---|---|
| Double width tower (1.5m) full length (2.5m) and with a platform height of 4.2m | £95 +VAT per week |
Cheapest and Most Expensive Firms
HSS Hire was the most expensive of the ten firms we contacted.
Lakeside Hire was the cheapest.
How Much Does it Cost to Buy a Scaffold Platform Tower?
If you regularly need to access high areas, it makes sense to invest in a tower system. In the long run, you’ll save thousands of pounds as these towers last for decades and require little maintenance.
You could purchase one or two towers, which should suffice for most projects, and then hire additional towers on an as-needed basis.
A brand new 6.2m high scaffold tower with a single width (0.95m) and a longer length (2.5m) will set you back around £1800+VAT.
Second hand or reconditioned systems are even cheaper
A used scaffold tower, 2.5m long, 0.95m wide and 6.2m high will set you back around £950+VAT.
Buy New and Sell as Second Hand
As you can see from our researched prices on this page, if you need to hire the tower for more than five weeks, it would work out cheaper to buy a tower brand new and then sell it second-hand, rather than hiring from a shop.
You’ll also have a new system that meets all health and safety requirements meaning it can be used on building sites.
Which Tower is Best?
Access towers typically come in two different lengths and two widths:
There’s a 1.8metre standard length and a 2.5metre longer length.
The width of a standard tower is 0.95metre while an extra-wide tower is 1.5metres
The standard length (1.8m) doesn’t leave much room for tools and equipment so if you’re planning on having more than one worker on the tower, we suggest you choose the 2.5metre length tower instead.
The standard 0.95 width tower is perfect for narrow alleyways or anywhere access is restricted. However, if there’s plenty of space around the work area, we suggest you choose the 1.5metre width tower, you’ll find it more stable and there’s plenty of room for workers, tools and equipment.
Further Reading
Our guide to scaffold alternatives is a great read, as is our research into full professional scaffold hire prices.
