Do You Need to Buy or Hire Your Temporary Fencing?

Just because your fencing needs may seem temporary, it doesn’t follow that it will only be cost effective to hire rather than buy. The fact is that companies across many sectors, including the construction and demolition, road management, entertainment and events industries, all find they require the use of temporary fencing across many projects they undertake.

So when it comes to getting temporary fencing sorted for that very first project, it’s worth stopping and asking yourself some key questions, to help decide whether to hire or buy. Certainly, the minimum to consider includes:

• How long do you need the fencing for? Although the fencing for your site or event is going to be temporary, rather than permanent, is the fencing required for a short period or longer term, ie: weeks or months?

• What comes next? Are you likely to be needing fencing for another project very soon and / or for additional events in the future? Particularly if you are considering buying the fencing, identify if you will be using it or storing it after the first use.

• How much fencing is required – and what type? Is the amount of fencing you need now likely to be similar from project to project, or likely to change significantly? Is the type of fence panel likely to change or will heavy duty, anti-climb panels, for example, be the only panel you’re likely to ever need?

• What is going to be the best option for the ways you work? For instance consider if you are holding lots of events in a specific radius from your base location – and whether you’d therefore not need to travel far when transporting your own fencing yourself? If you work by travelling far and wide across the UK and will need to take your fencing to each location, you’ll need to consider the logistics of transportation and installation at each venue.

Buy now – use again

Although it’s temporary by name, temporary fencing is manufactured from robust materials and designed to be used multiple times. So, if you intend to use the fencing more than a handful of times, then the most cost-effective option is to buy it, as this presents considerable benefits:

Cost-effective

Buying and owning your own fencing can seem a considerable investment. However, after initial outlay, once temporary fence runs have been used even just two or three times, the system may well have already paid for itself, whilst regular use almost certainly means savings after just a few projects.

What seems to be a significant outlay should also be considered from the positive perspective of being a one-off cost . Unlike hiring, if you own the fencing there are no additional charges if the system is damaged whilst you are using it – an important consideration if utilising fencing in high-risk environments such as roadways and construction sites, or where vandalism or extreme weather are an issue at the location.

Convenient

Those additional cost issues which can arise when hiring are also diminished by the convenience of owning your own fencing. If your project over-runs there are no hidden costs and extra hire charges cropping up if you need to retain the system for longer: it’s yours so it’s in place until you choose to move it! This can be a valuable consideration for outdoor projects where the weather has the potential to set (and setback) the schedule, which you can rearrange at your own convenience.

What’s more, once you have purchased your temporary fencing, you will always have your system at hand, ready to move and deploy when needed, without having to wait or liaising with a fencing hire company.

So, with all the benefits of buying, is it ever really worth hiring temporary fencing?

Hire in – full service, including storage

One of the benefits of hiring temporary fencing rather than purchasing (even if you may require the use over multiple projects) is that delivery, installation and removal is always included. This means that professional experts are always on hand for those installation and removal stages and the storage of the fencing between projects is not your problem or your cost – just re-hire what you need next time you need it.

A further benefit of hiring temporary fencing is that if the type of fencing you need changes from project to project, then it’s easier to just order the specific fencing you require each time.This of course, is what it comes down to: the choice between hiring or buying temporary fencing will always depend on your needs.

However, sometimes it’s not possible to predict what these might be, especially if your business is new or expanding. If this sounds like your situation, then a good compromise might be to buy the temporary fencing bases, eg: water filled bases as these are both easy to store and compatible with a range of HERAS fence panels. Then, as events or projects arise, it’s a case of hiring in the most suitable fence panels when required.

So, if the first project and site requires anti-climb fencing panels, but the next site presents more extreme weather conditions, it’s easy to swap to more appropriate panels. In this way, you’ve not only already got the bases covered and can adapt accordingly, but you can also keep note of which fence panels you seem to use the most, ready to buy them and reduce your overheads from hiring each time, once the time is right for you.

For regular temporary fencing users, another cost-effective compromise is to buy the majority of bases and panels which are needed, to enjoy the benefits of owning the items, but then hire any additional accessories needed on a per project basis. So, if you’re running an outdoor events business, you could purchase sufficient temporary fencing bases, HERAS anti-climb fence panels and pedestrian gates that you generally need, but then hire vehicle gates when and if they are needed.

As it stands, all situations, locations and security requirements which demand temporary fencing will be different, but the one thing all have in common is that SafeSite Facilities will have the solution and can advise in all cases and deliver all options – whether you decide to hire, buy or both, so there’s no need to be on the fence about it, contact us to discuss your needs.