Wet hire or dry hire — where each option actually saves money

Dry hire gives you the machine and nothing else. It suits contractors with ticketed operators already on the payroll and a fuel account in place, and it is the cheaper headline rate. It also puts operating risk, fuel management and daily checks squarely on your team.

Wet hire includes a qualified operator and fuel. The rate is higher, but the machine arrives with someone who knows it, the daily checks get done properly, and abuse-related damage becomes our problem rather than a dispute at the end of the hire.

The decision usually comes down to duration and specialisation. For a two or three day job, wet hire almost always works out cheaper once you account for the time your own operator spends learning an unfamiliar machine. On a six month contract with a stable crew, dry hire wins comfortably.

Specialised machines are the exception. Graders, large excavators and drill rigs reward operator skill so heavily that a good operator will out-produce an average one by thirty percent or more. On those machines we recommend wet hire regardless of duration.