Heavy equipment costs split into two worlds. A scissor lift rents for $97 a day and a light tower sells new for $8,000. A walking dragline is a $100 million-plus machine that nobody actually buys new any more, and a full-lane cold planer clears $990,000. This page carries current US purchase and rental figures for 18 machine classes, grouped by the work they do, with the price tiers that actually drive the number.
Every figure below carries a date. Where two credible sources disagree, both are shown rather than averaged into a number no dealer quotes.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scissor lift, 19 ft electric | $97 | $260 | USD/day |
| Scissor lift, 26–32 ft electric | $121 | $390 | USD/day |
| Scissor lift, 40–60 ft rough terrain | $400 | $700 | USD/day |
| Telehandler, 5–6k lb | $350 | $550 | USD/day |
| Telehandler, 10–12k lb | $700 | $1,000 | USD/day |
| Boom lift, 30–40 ft | $200 | $400 | USD/day |
| Boom lift, 60–120 ft | $339 | $1,500 | USD/day |
| Boom lift, 120–180 ft | $917 | $5,000 | USD/day |
| Light tower, diesel or LED | $75 | $250 | USD/day |
| Drum roller, 84 in single | $600 | $760 | USD/day |
| Motor grader | $550 | $1,300 | USD/day |
| Trencher, walk-behind | $250 | $363 | USD/day |
| Trencher, large ride-on | $400 | $615 | USD/day |
| Asphalt paver, tracked | $1,550 | $1,600 | USD/day |
| Asphalt paver, wheeled highway | $2,300 | $2,400 | USD/day |
| Cold planer, 20 in (NY OGS) | $1,527 | $1,527 | USD/day |
| Pile driving package | $1,200 | $4,000 | USD/day |
| Feller buncher, tracked | $25,000 | $37,500 | USD/month |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Baseline rates shown | — | USD |
| Canada | Typically 5–15% above US | — | CAD |
| United Kingdom | Hire rates ~0.75–0.85× US in GBP | — | GBP |
| Germany / EU | Broadly comparable to US in EUR | — | EUR |
| Australia | Typically 20–40% above US | — | AUD |
| India | Roughly 30–50% of US rates | — | INR |
| UAE / Dubai | Roughly 60–80% of US rates | — | AED |
How to read these prices
Three things matter before you use any figure on this page.
New list prices barely exist above the light-equipment line. Caterpillar, John Deere, Wirtgen, Tigercat and Komatsu do not publish list prices for graders, pavers, planers, shovels or feller bunchers. Dealers quote. Where this page shows a new price for those machines, it is a dealer-posted figure or a current-model-year listing with under a few hundred hours, used as a proxy and labelled as such.
Rental data quality varies enormously. The strongest figures come from transaction-derived marketplaces that state their sample size. Published list rates from national rental chains and metro-specific quotes can differ by three to four times on the identical machine. That spread is geography and channel, not error.
The sticker is never the cost. Delivery, damage waiver, fuel, attachments, operator and mobilisation are separate lines on nearly every rental, and they routinely add 20 to 40 percent. The hidden-cost section below itemises them.
Lift and access equipment
The most-rented class in construction, and the best-documented. These are the machines where a small contractor actually gets a straight answer over the phone.
Scissor lift
The national average across thousands of transactions sits at $223 per day, $495 per week, $984 per month. But the tier spread matters more than the average.
| Size | Daily | Weekly | Monthly | New purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 ft electric slab | $97–$260 | $225–$650 | $430–$1,600 | $15,550–$17,750 |
| 26 ft electric | $121–$320 | $338–$820 | $624–$2,050 | $18,950 |
| 32 ft electric | $200–$390 | $475–$1,050 | $950–$2,650 | $25,950–$33,750 |
| 40 ft electric | $250–$400 | $575–$900 | $1,100–$1,800 | $31,850 |
| 45 ft electric | to | to | to | $37,850 |
| 32 ft rough terrain 4WD | $210 | $533 | $1,092 | $49,850 |
| 40–60 ft rough terrain diesel | $400–$700 | $900–$1,600 | $1,800–$3,200 | to |
Note the 19 ft monthly column: $430 on a national list rate against $1,600 in a New York metro quote. That is roughly 3.7 times for the same machine in the same month. Rough terrain runs about 1.8 to 2.2 times a comparable electric unit. Operator training, where required, adds $150–$250 per person.
Telehandler
National average $665 per day, $1,644 per week, $3,592 per month. Capacity and reach drive everything.
| Capacity / reach | Daily | Weekly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000–6,000 lb / 19–32 ft | $350–$550 | $900–$1,400 | $2,000–$3,200 |
| 6,000–8,000 lb / 32–42 ft | $500–$750 | $1,200–$1,800 | $2,800–$3,800 |
| 10,000–12,000 lb / 42–55 ft | $700–$1,000 | $1,700–$2,500 | $3,500–$5,000 |
| 15,000–20,000 lb / 50–55 ft | $1,000–$1,500 | $2,500–$3,500 | $5,000–$7,500 |
Regional marketplaces undercut those national bands noticeably to Dallas from $477 a day, Houston from $403, Sacramento from $407 in August 2026. On purchase, a new 5,500 lb / 19 ft machine posts at $70,850 and a 10,000 lb / 56 ft at $141,850–$148,850. Used 10,000 lb units from 2014–2020 with 1,700–6,100 hours realistically trade at $42,850–$86,500, though full listing spreads run far wider in both directions.
Cherry picker
The term covers two different machines. A self-propelled boom lift is what most rental yards mean. A truck-mounted bucket truck is what most utility crews mean. They price differently and you should say which one you want.
| Working height | Daily | Weekly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30–40 ft | $200–$400 | $520–$1,100 | $1,200–$2,500 |
| 40–60 ft | $260–$700 | $562–$1,800 | $1,456–$3,800 |
| 60–120 ft | $339–$1,500 | $780–$4,000 | $1,894–$8,000 |
| 120–180 ft | $917–$5,000+ | $2,600–$12,000+ | $7,280–$20,000+ |
Articulating booms run 10 to 20 percent above telescopic at the same height. Electric sits 15 to 25 percent below diesel. Delivery runs $150–$500, and an 80 ft or larger unit can exceed $1,000 per move.
On purchase, a new 45 ft boom posts around $102,850–$109,850, a 65 ft at $124,850–$132,850, and a 135 ft telescopic at $309,175. Used 45 ft articulating units from 2013–2017 sit at $27,900–$34,300.
Bucket trucks are the weak spot. No current US rate card is published for them. Used 55–60 ft Altec units span $18,000 to $188,200 depending on age and chassis, and new units are quoted direct with no list price.
Light tower
| Type | Daily rental | Monthly rental | New purchase |
|---|---|---|---|
| Towable diesel or gas | $75–$200 | $800–$2,500 | $8,000–$25,000 |
| LED towable | $100–$250 | to | $12,555–$14,062 |
| Balloon light | $100–$300 | to | Quote only |
| Compact pedestal | $50–$125 | to | to |
| Solar | $150–$300 | $1,200–$3,000 | $21,000–$29,000 |
| Solar-hybrid (propane or diesel) | to | to | $34,250–$55,000 |
Used towable units at auction go remarkably cheap to roughly $500 to $4,000, with inoperable units at $550–$700. If you need light on a site for years rather than weeks, this is one of the few categories where buying used at auction is obviously correct.
Road building, paving and earthworks
This is where new list prices vanish and the used market becomes the only honest reference.
Drum roller and compactor
| Class | Daily | Weekly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plate compactor | $75–$79 | $199 | $499 |
| Walk-behind vibratory | to | $900–$1,100 | $2,500–$2,600 |
| Trench roller, remote | $225–$550 | $700–$1,195 | $2,000–$3,400 |
| 48 in tandem | $225 | $600 | $1,800 |
| 66 in single smooth drum | $400 | $1,100 | $3,300 |
| 84 in single smooth drum | $600–$760 | $1,600–$2,000 | $4,000–$5,450 |
| 56–66 in padfoot | $385–$650 | $1,150–$2,000 | $3,450–$5,500 |
| 84 in padfoot | to | $2,100 | $6,500 |
| Pneumatic roller | $870 | $2,830 | $7,925 |
On purchase, compaction is the one category with real posted new pricing at the small end: a 2026 one-ton tandem with a 35 in drum sells at $20,299–$21,500. Move up and it climbs fast to an 84 in single-drum soil compactor runs $199,900 to $325,000 new, and a large padfoot reaches $432,000. Used mid-size single drums from 2021–2022 trade at $49,000–$79,000.
One source disagreement worth knowing: national-average marketplaces put large padfoot rental around $1,039–$1,276 a day against dealer-posted rates of $600–$760 for equivalent smooth drums. Treat the marketplace figure as a high-side national average and the dealer posting as the actual number in most markets.
Motor grader
| Machine | Daily | Weekly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 110 hp, 12 ft blade | $550 | $1,950 | $5,200 |
| Cat 12M3 AWD | $600 | $2,400 | $7,200 |
| Deere 570B, 90 hp | $800 | $2,400 | $7,500 |
| Deere 672G, 255 hp | $875 | $3,500 | $10,000 |
| Deere 772GP, 275 hp 6WD | $925 | $3,700 | $10,500 |
| Cat 150, 14 ft blade | $1,300 | $4,150 | $11,500 |
Metro cost guides quote $400–$700 a day in one city and $900–$2,800 in another for the same class to a four-times spread. The dealer-posted rates above sit between those extremes and are the more reliable planning figure.
On purchase, no public new list price exists for any major grader. The closest proxies are a 2025 Cat 150 with 255 hours at $528,400 and a 2024 Deere 670G with 224 hours at $459,350. Working used bands: Cat 140 class from 2020 onward at $175,000–$296,800; Cat 12M at $60,000–$349,490 depending on year; Volvo G930-series at $25,000–$110,000, all pre-2015 since the model is used-only in the US now.
Trencher
| Machine | Daily | Weekly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walk-behind, 16–25 hp | $250–$363 | $725–$959 | $1,800–$2,230 |
| Ride-on, 49 hp | $400–$552 | $1,195–$1,391 | $3,100–$3,255 |
| Large ride-on | $615 | $2,625 | $7,800 |
| Skid-steer attachment, 4–48 in | $100–$250 | to | ~$630 |
By trench depth, a useful shorthand: up to 12 in runs $150–$200 a day, up to 18 in $200–$275, up to 24 in $275–$375, and a 24–48 in ride-on $400–$550. National averages land near $280 a day, $980 a week, $2,450 a month across all sizes.
To buy: walk-behind units run $4,400–$17,495, used ride-ons average around $45,800 with a working band of $16,500–$86,000 by size, and new large ride-ons reach $179,900–$284,900.
Asphalt paver
| Class | Daily | Weekly | Monthly | Purchase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial tracked (8–15 ft) | $1,550–$1,600 | $3,700–$4,700 | $11,100–$14,000 | $139,000–$278,000 |
| Highway wheeled (10 ft+) | $2,300–$2,400 | $5,720–$6,000 | $17,100–$18,000 | $484,500–$750,000 |
| Mini paver, 2–6 ft | $400–$700 | to | to | to |
| Used, small contractor grade | to | to | to | $15,000–$120,000 |
Wheeled highway-class rents roughly 50 percent above tracked commercial-class. An operator adds $350–$900 a day on top. At the top of the purchase market, a 2026 10 ft highway paver with 37 hours listed at $680,300 and a 2025 unit at $709,600; one 2025 tracked machine with a single hour on it listed at $750,000.
Cold planer
This is the thinnest rental data in the whole guide. No major rental platform posts cold planer rates. The one hard public figure is a state contract line: a 20 in cold milling machine at $1,527 a day, $4,298 a week, $11,556 a month.
Vendor guides quote much wider bands to roughly $300–$700 a day for walk-behind units, $800–$1,500 for a compact machine under 2 ft, and $1,500–$3,000 a day for a 2–4 ft mid-size. Figures of $3,000–$6,000 a day appear for half-lane machines, but those are quoted with an operator, which explains much of the gap. Treat half-lane and larger as quote-only.
| Machine | Purchase |
|---|---|
| Skid-steer cold planer attachment, 18 in | $26,234–$31,993 |
| Compact planer, 1–3 ft | $28,000–$434,500 by age |
| Mid-size, 3–5 ft | $90,000–$365,000 |
| Half-lane, Cat PM620/622 class | $480,549–$725,000 |
| Full-lane, Cat PM822 class | $522,500–$990,000 |
Two vendor guides put new full-size highway planers at $700k–$1.2M and $600k–$2M respectively. The observed listings support the $990,000 end for a near-new full-lane machine; nothing verified the $2M figure.
Foundation and forestry
Pile driver
Pile driving is rented as a package to hammer plus power pack to not as a bare machine, and the mobilisation line is large enough to change the decision on short jobs.
| Package | Weekly |
|---|---|
| Compact hammer plus standard power pack | $3,000–$5,500 |
| Mid variable-moment plus VFD | $6,000–$9,500 |
| High-frequency plus attenuated power pack | $10,000–$15,000 |
| Specialty units | $1,200–$2,800 |
Across the market that works out to roughly $1,200–$4,000 a day or $8,000–$25,000 a month. An excavator-mounted side grip is the cheap entry at $3,500–$12,000 a month. A standalone rig carries $8,000–$15,000 in mobilisation on top.
The adders matter here more than anywhere else on this page: mobilisation $2,500–$8,000, fuel and consumables $150–$400 a day, a field technician $1,500–$3,000 a day, and damage waiver at 8–12 percent of rental value. Freight is excluded from every quoted rate.
To buy, small hydraulic post drivers run $1,275–$11,500. Mid hydraulic vibratory units sit at $79,500–$175,000. Large vibratory hammers run $235,000–$600,000. Side-grip units go for $140,000–$189,000. New impact hammer list prices are not published anywhere verifiable.
The crane is the missing number. Bare crawler cranes for pile work are quoted monthly with no public tonnage table, and general crane rental guidance spans $300–$1,500 an hour with large crawlers above $2,000 a day. Budget the crane separately and get it in writing.
Feller buncher
This class rents by the month. Daily rates barely exist.
| Machine | Weekly | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Tracked, mid class | $10,000 | $25,000–$30,000 |
| Tracked, large (2026 models) | $12,000 | $35,000–$37,500 |
| Wheeled | $4,000 | $10,000–$15,000 |
On purchase, tracked machines run $79,500 to $799,500 with the fleet average around $267,000–$282,000. A 2026 tracked unit with 433 hours listed at $580,000; a 2025 large model with 551 hours reached $799,500. Wheeled machines from 2022 onward sit at $139,900–$230,000, and pre-2022 wheeled at $40,000–$125,100. As a rule of thumb, wheeled runs about half the price of comparable-vintage tracked.
Container handling
Reach stacker
New reach stackers start around $400,000 and heavy variants run well into seven figures; one US supplier put its units at roughly $900,000 each retail in 2024. Plan on $400,000–$900,000+ depending on capacity, typically 45 tonnes at the first row, and attachments.
| Used example | Hours | Price |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 Taylor TS9972 | 25,000 | $125,000 |
| 2019 SANY SRSC45H4 | 9,300 | $325,000 |
| 2015 Hyster RS46-36CH | 15,950 | $355,000 |
| 2006 Kalmar DRF450-60S5 | to | $360,000 |
| 2012 IRTC RTCH RT250 | to | $800,000 |
Only about 14 percent of used listings show a price at all; the site-stated average across all listings is about $145,000. Export-grade units offered through Asian dealers run $70,000–$130,000 to a separate market that should not be blended with US listings.
Short-term reach stacker rental is not publicly priced in the US. The one public anchor is a five-year US military agreement covering six units at about $7M total, which implies roughly $19,400 per unit per month on a long-term, operator-excluded basis.
Straddle carrier
No reliable public US purchase price exists for an OEM container-terminal straddle carrier. Two major equipment marketplaces show zero listings. Kalmar and Konecranes publish no list prices, and their 2025–26 order announcements disclose unit counts but never contract values. Industry press explicitly declines to quote unit prices because configuration is terminal-specific.
What is published, with heavy caveats: Chinese factory-direct straddle carriers quote FOB at $90,000–$190,000 for 35–80 tonne port and container units, and $140,000–$290,000+ for 100–500 tonne heavy civil and bridge machines. Those are a different specification, service model and lifecycle from a port terminal machine and are not comparable. At the other end, three end-of-life 2002–2003 units with 38,000–44,000 hours were offered together for about $19,000 each.
There is effectively no US rental market. Acquisition is project-based and specified to yard layout.
Mining and marine giants
Above a certain size, the price stops being a number you can look up and becomes a contract nobody discloses. This section is as much about what is not knowable as what is.
Dragline
A new large walking dragline is realistically a $100–$150 million machine, but that figure is close to hypothetical because new builds barely happen. The documented anchors: a 110 cubic yard bucket machine ordered at over $100 million, and an operator stating in July 2026 that building a new machine of that class in current conditions would cost roughly $125 million.
The live market is refurbishment and relocation, not purchase:
- Recommissioning a mothballed Marion 8200: $28.7M–$31M to two sources reported different figures for the same project.
- Relocating an existing machine from another state and commissioning it: $31 million.
- Historic reference: Big Muskie cost $25M in 1969, about $219 million in today’s money, and was scrapped in 1999 for $700,000.
Small crawler-mounted draglines are a completely different market to effectively used cranes. Real 2026 asking prices run $30,000 to $195,900 for machines built between 1960 and 1978.
Only around 450 draglines above 20 tonne payload are active worldwide. Bespoke engineering, roughly a two-year build and site erection running into hundreds of thousands of man-hours are what the price buys.
Electric rope shovel
No public price exists for these machines, new or used. Dealers list them as contact-for-pricing and every used listing reads negotiable. Any figure you see quoted online is inference, not a transaction.
The closest public datum is a $440 million equipment contract covering haul trucks, AC rope shovels, hydraulic excavators and wheel loaders together to quantities undisclosed, so no per-unit price can be derived. For scale, erecting one large shovel on site takes about 47,711 man-hours before you count manufacture.
What is verifiable is capacity. Dipper sizes run 36–79 cubic yards on a Cat 7495 HD at 90 short ton payload, and 69–82 cubic yards struck on a P&H 4100XPC at 120 short tons. The largest class carries 135 short tons and moves around 9,000 tonnes an hour.
Bucket wheel excavator
The famous machines to Bagger 288 and Bagger 293 to each cost roughly $100 million as built, but those are 1978 and 1990s figures in the money of the day. No modern giant bucket wheel excavator has sold at a disclosed price, so there is no honest 2026 number.
The class spans compact 6 metre boom machines at 50 tonnes moving 100 cubic metres an hour up to 80 metre boom monsters at 13,000 tonnes moving 12,500 cubic metres an hour. Relocating a Bagger 288 twenty-two kilometres took three weeks and about DM 15 million in 2001.
Why so few exist: the class is confined largely to lignite mining in Germany and eastern Europe, US units are smaller, the machines are built to last indefinitely, strip mining is in decline, and almost nobody still builds them. No new-build market means no price discovery.
Amphibious excavator
Used machines are the accessible market. Global listings span $9,043 to $235,000, with 2018–2023 mid-size units clustering at $28,000–$47,530 and a 2022 Sany at $73,800. One new 2026 unit listed at $274,562. Most stock sits in China or Europe; US used inventory is thin and largely price-on-application.
New US-built machines from the specialist makers are quote-only across the 5 to 50 tonne range. Pontoon undercarriage conversion sets to fitting a conventional excavator with amphibious tracks to run $29,000–$72,000 per set factory-direct, most commonly $53,000–$62,000, for host machines from 5 to 40 tonnes.
No published US amphibious rental rates exist. The nearest baseline is conventional excavator rental at a national average of $719 a day, $2,021 a week and $5,108 a month, with 30–50 tonne machines at $1,500–$3,000+ a day. Amphibious carries a premium over that; the size of the premium is not publicly documented.
Dredging
Dredging is priced per cubic yard, and the range is enormous because the driver is not the digging to it is what the material is and where it has to go.
| Project type | Cost per cubic yard |
|---|---|
| Large harbour maintenance | $5.90–$7.12 |
| National harbour maintenance average | $5.77 |
| District spread on federal work | $2.62–$24.27 |
| Marsh creation, by pump distance | $3.50–$7.90 |
| Beach renourishment | $33.67–$40.40 |
| Small pond or lake | $20–$60 |
| Contaminated sediment (PFAS handling) | adds $133–$231 |
Program-level guidance puts the working range at $7 to $70 per cubic yard depending on environmental requirements, harbour size, mobilisation, season and placement site. Do not average that against the $5.90 harbour figure to they describe different work.
For a private pond, the practical numbers are $5,000–$30,000 per acre and $2,500–$40,000 total, averaging around $15,000. Mechanical dredging runs $10,000–$30,000, hydraulic $15,000–$40,000, manual $2,500–$8,000. Add disposal at $500–$5,000, permits at $200–$1,500 and labour at $50–$150 an hour.
Mobilisation is the line that catches people. A large project mobilising a 24 in hydraulic cutterhead plus a bucket dredge and six marsh excavators carried $2.5 million lump-sum mobilisation and demobilisation. A small pond job runs $1,000–$3,000.
To buy a dredge, build origin splits the market sharply. A US-built 16 in cutter suction dredge lists at $1.6 million and a 20 in at $2.5 million. Chinese-built units of comparable size quote $300,000–$800,000 for 16–20 in, dropping to $55,000–$120,000 for 8–10 in. That is a build-origin gap, not a data error. New US hopper dredge costs are not disclosed in any public announcement.
| Grade / Item | Low | High | Unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light tower, towable diesel/LED | $8,000 | $25,000 | USD new |
| Light tower, solar or hybrid | $21,000 | $55,000 | USD new |
| Scissor lift, 19–32 ft electric | $15,550 | $33,750 | USD new |
| Scissor lift, rough terrain | $47,850 | $49,850 | USD new |
| Telehandler, 5.5k lb / 19 ft | $70,850 | $70,850 | USD new |
| Telehandler, 10k lb / 56 ft | $141,850 | $148,850 | USD new |
| Boom lift, 45–65 ft | $102,850 | $147,850 | USD new |
| Boom lift, 135 ft | $309,175 | $309,175 | USD new |
| Drum roller, 1-ton tandem | $20,299 | $21,500 | USD new |
| Drum roller, 84 in single | $199,900 | $325,000 | USD new |
| Motor grader, Cat 140 class | $175,000 | $296,800 | USD used |
| Motor grader, Cat 150 class | $365,000 | $528,400 | USD near-new |
| Trencher, large ride-on | $179,900 | $284,900 | USD new |
| Asphalt paver, commercial track | $139,000 | $278,000 | USD |
| Asphalt paver, highway class | $484,500 | $750,000 | USD |
| Cold planer, half-lane | $480,549 | $990,000 | USD |
| Feller buncher, wheeled | $139,900 | $230,000 | USD |
| Feller buncher, tracked | $385,000 | $799,500 | USD |
| Reach stacker, new | $400,000 | $900,000 | USD new |
| Amphibious excavator, used | $25,600 | $235,000 | USD used |
| Dragline, refurbish or relocate | $28,700,000 | $31,000,000 | USD |
| Dragline, new build (est.) | $100,000,000 | $150,000,000 | USD |
| Country | Typical Range | Per Tonne | Cur. |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Baseline rates shown | — | USD |
| Canada | Typically 5–15% above US | — | CAD |
| United Kingdom | Hire rates ~0.75–0.85× US in GBP | — | GBP |
| Germany / EU | Broadly comparable to US in EUR | — | EUR |
| Australia | Typically 20–40% above US | — | AUD |
| India | Roughly 30–50% of US rates | — | INR |
| UAE / Dubai | Roughly 60–80% of US rates | — | AED |
The costs that are not on the rate card
Every rental quote you get is a partial number. These are the lines that turn a $400 day into a $600 day.
| Cost | Typical amount | Applies to |
|---|---|---|
| Damage waiver | 10–15% of rental (8–12% on pile packages) | Nearly everything |
| Delivery and pickup | $100–$350 each way; $160 load/unload plus $4.19/mile on some contracts | Anything not driven to site |
| Delivery, large boom lift | $500–$1,000+ per move | 80 ft and above |
| Mobilisation, pile rig | $8,000–$15,000 | Standalone rigs |
| Mobilisation, large dredge | up to $2.5M lump sum | Major marine work |
| Operator | $350–$900/day (paver); $400–$700/day (bucket truck) | Most heavy classes |
| Field technician | $1,500–$3,000/day | Pile driving |
| Operator training or certification | $150–$300 per person | Lifts and telehandlers |
| Attachments | $50–$200/day | Telehandlers, skid steers |
| Foam-filled tires | $25–$75/day | Telehandlers |
| Fuel and consumables | $150–$400/day | Pile driving and larger |
Freight is excluded from essentially every quoted rental rate in the heavy classes. Ask about it before you compare two quotes.
Rent or buy
The break-even is not a fixed number of days, but the shape is consistent across categories.
- Monthly rental typically equals four to five weekly rentals, and a weekly is usually two and a half to three dailies. If a job runs past about ten working days, ask for the monthly rate even if you will not use the whole month.
- The rough break-even against purchase sits near 12 to 18 months of continuous rental for lift equipment. A 19 ft scissor lift at $984 a month reaches its $15,550 purchase price in roughly 16 months. A 10,000 lb telehandler at $3,592 a month reaches $141,850 in about 39 months to which is why telehandlers are rented far more often than bought.
- Buy used at auction where the machine is simple and the depreciation is brutal. Light towers are the clearest case: $500–$4,000 used against $8,000–$25,000 new, for a machine with very little to go wrong.
- Rent anything you need under 30 percent utilisation. Ownership cost for lift equipment runs $15,000–$80,000 before you count maintenance, storage, insurance and transport.
- Above the container-handling line, renting mostly is not an option. Reach stackers, straddle carriers and mining machines are bought, leased long-term, or contracted with an operator.
Where prices genuinely are not published
Being straight about this is more useful than filling gaps with invented numbers. As of August 2026, no credible public price exists for:
- Electric rope shovels to new or used. Every listing is negotiable and every dealer page says contact for pricing.
- Straddle carriers from the major port OEMs. Zero listings on the main marketplaces, no list prices, no disclosed contract values.
- New bucket wheel excavators. The $100 million figures quoted everywhere are 1978 and 1990s as-built costs.
- Bucket truck rental. No current US rate card; the most-cited figures date to 2023.
- Reach stacker short-term rental. Only a long-term military contract implies a monthly figure.
- Amphibious excavator rental in the US.
- Cold planer rental above about 2 ft milling width.
- Crane rental by tonnage for pile driving. Bare crawler cranes are quoted monthly, with no public table.
- New impact pile hammers, and new list prices for graders, pavers, planers and feller bunchers.
If a website gives you a confident single number for any of the above, it is inference dressed as data.
Getting a real quote
- Specify by capacity and reach, not by name. Cherry picker means two different machines. Trencher means three. Say 10,000 lb at 55 ft, or 24 in trench depth.
- Get three quotes in the same market on the same day. The documented spread on identical machines runs three to four times between channels.
- Ask for the monthly rate on anything over ten working days, even for a shorter job.
- Ask what is excluded. Delivery, waiver, fuel, attachments, operator, freight and mobilisation are separate lines almost everywhere.
- Check the machine year and hours on used purchases. The same model can span ten to one in price on age and hours alone.
- On anything above about $400,000, expect quote-only. That is normal for the class, not a dodge.
Prices move with fuel, interest rates, tariffs and regional demand. Every figure on this page is dated. Confirm before you sign.
Full cost guide for each machine
Every machine class above has its own detailed page with rental rate tables, purchase prices, the rent or buy break-even and a live price tracker.
- Scissor Lift Rental Cost: Daily, Weekly and Monthly Rates
- Telehandler Rental Cost by Capacity and Reach
- How Much Does a Cherry Picker Cost to Rent and Buy
- Light Tower Cost: Rental Rates and Purchase Prices
- Drum Roller Cost: Rental Rates and Purchase Prices
- Motor Grader Cost: Rental Rates and Purchase Prices by Model
- Cost to Rent a Trencher: Daily, Weekly and Monthly Rates
- Asphalt Paver Cost: Rental Rates and Purchase Prices
- Cold Planer Cost: Milling Machine Rental and Purchase Prices
- Pile Driver Rental Cost: Weekly and Monthly Hammer Rates
- Feller Buncher Cost: Rental Rates and Purchase Prices
- Reach Stacker Cost: New and Used Prices
- Straddle Carrier Cost: What the Market Actually Charges
- How Much Does a Dragline Cost? New, Recommissioned and Used
- Electric Rope Shovel Cost: What Is Actually Known
- Bucket Wheel Excavator Cost: Bagger 288 and the Real Range
- Amphibious Excavator Rental and New Cost
- How Much Does Dredging Cost? Per Cubic Yard and Per Acre