For plant hire companies
Plant hire websites that work like a fleet list
People hiring plant usually know roughly which machine they want and need three answers: is it free, what will it cost delivered, and will it fit. A plant hire website earns its keep by answering those for every machine in the yard.
The weekend digger and the six-month telehandler
A plant hire firm serves two very different customers. A homeowner or landscaper wants a micro digger for a Saturday and needs guidance on size, access and what is included. A contractor wants a telehandler or an excavator for months, has an account, knows exactly what they need and wants a quick answer on availability and rate.
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Put both on one path and each finds it tiresome. A clear split on the homepage, one route for short and first-time hires and one for trade accounts and long hires, lets each reach the answer quickly. A simple trade account application on the site saves a round of paperwork by email.
Every machine needs its own page, with the numbers a hirer checks
A category page that says “mini diggers” above a manufacturer's photo is where most plant hire sites stop. Hirers want the actual machine, and they are checking specific things before they call.
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Those pages do the search work as well. Someone typing a specific machine size plus “digger hire” is better served by a page about your machine of that size than by a general fleet list.
- Operating weight, dig depth and reach
- Overall width, for side gates and narrow access
- Transport weight, and whether it goes on a trailer or needs a low-loader
- Buckets, breakers and other attachments available with it
- Photos of your own machine
- Rates, or a starting rate, if you publish them
Self-drive or operated: say which, and what comes with it
Operated hire and self-drive hire are different products, and customers mix them up. For operated hire, say who the operators are and which cards they hold, such as CPCS or NPORS. For self-drive, say what the hirer is responsible for: insurance or your damage waiver, fuel, cleaning, and any ID or deposit you need.
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If you hire under CPA conditions, say so and make the terms easy to find from every machine page. Contractors recognise them; homeowners need a short summary of what they mean in practice. Fewer surprises at collection means fewer disputes afterwards.
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Delivery is part of the price
For most hires, delivery and collection matter as much as the hire rate, and customers compare the total. A clear explanation of how transport is charged, by zone, distance or machine, with a postcode checker or a simple table, prevents the call that ends as soon as they hear the delivery price.
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Delivery zones are also the honest way to handle location on the website. Rather than dozens of thin pages for every nearby town, describe the depots you run from and the area each covers, and give each depot its own Google Business Profile with its own photos and reviews.
Clicks from people who want to buy a digger
Plant hire searches are mixed up with searches from people wanting to buy machines, find operator jobs or book training. If you run Google Ads, add those as negatives before the first pound is spent, and build campaigns by machine type so an ad for dumper hire lands on the dumper page.
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Timing matters too. Domestic hire tends to pick up in spring and around bank holidays, when people plan garden projects, and a focused campaign then can do more than a thin one all year. Track calls from each page so you can see which machines are worth advertising at all.
Availability changes by the hour, so do not fake it
Live availability calendars sound good and rarely stay accurate unless they are tied to your hire system. A calendar showing a machine as free when it is out on hire costs more goodwill than no calendar at all. A short request form with dates, machine and delivery postcode, answered quickly, is usually the honest option.
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The fleet changes too. Machines are bought, sold and moved between depots, and the website has to keep up. Adding a new machine page or retiring a sold one is routine under Growth Care, so the site stays a true list of what is in your yard.
What it costs
From £1,400, one-off.
That is the whole Growth Website™ rebuild for a plant hire company, up to 6 pages. It covers the audit, rewriting how you explain the work, design, build, the conversion and local search groundwork, tracking, speed and launch. It is about 14 working days from agreed direction to launch, and you own it outright.
Growth Care™ is optional: £149 a month. Cancel any time, with a month’s notice. Every price is fixed and published, so you know the cost before you speak to us.
In our clients’ words
What our clients say.
Questions
The ones that come up.
Should a plant hire website show hire rates?
Showing a starting rate for each machine usually helps, because hirers compare quickly and a missing price sends them elsewhere. Make clear what the rate includes and how delivery, fuel, damage waiver and cleaning are charged, since the total is what customers compare. Trade customers on account can be told that their rates are agreed separately.
Can customers book plant hire online?
They can request a booking online, which is what most firms need. A form with the machine, dates, delivery postcode and any attachments gives you everything to confirm availability and price. Full live booking only works if it is connected to your hire system; a calendar that shows machines as free when they are out on hire does more harm than good.
How should a plant hire site handle self-drive and operated hire?
As two clearly separate products. For operated hire, say which operator cards your team holds and what the rate includes. For self-drive, set out what the hirer is responsible for, such as insurance or damage waiver, fuel, cleaning, ID and deposits, and whether you hire under CPA conditions. Clear terms up front mean fewer disputes when machines come back.
Are Google Ads worth it for plant hire?
They can be, if campaigns are built around machine types and each ad lands on the matching machine page. Exclude searches for machines for sale, operator jobs and training from the start. Domestic demand tends to rise in spring and around bank holidays, so focused campaigns then often work better than a small budget spread thinly across the year.
What happens to the website when we add or sell machines?
It should change with the fleet. Each machine you add needs a page with its specs and photos, and each one you sell needs removing or pointing to its replacement, so nobody enquires about something you no longer have. On Growth Care those changes are part of the ongoing service, so the site keeps matching your yard.
Where to next
Also for plant hire companies:
Related trades we build for:
Plant Hire Company websites
Find out what your website is costing you.
A free Growth Audit™: a written, prioritised audit of your website, with the three fixes worth making first. It is yours to keep whatever you decide.
We take on a limited number of builds at once, so there is usually a short wait before a new one starts. Once yours starts, it is about 14 working days from agreed direction to launch.