Nobody publishes one price for welfare hire because there is not one: the cost of putting a compliant unit on your site depends on four things. Understand them and you can compare any two quotes like for like, which is where most people get caught out.
The four things that set the price
1. Unit size
A 12ft unit for a crew of six costs less per week than a 20ft with an office for twelve. Simple enough, but the mistake runs both ways: paying for capacity you never use, or squeezing ten people into a six-person canteen and failing a welfare inspection. Peak crew size picks the unit; our choosing guide covers it in two minutes.
2. Hire length
Weekly rates sharpen as hires lengthen. A two-week emergency hire carries the same delivery and collection cost as a six-month programme, spread over a fraction of the weeks. If your job might run on, say so at quote stage: pricing the realistic length from the start beats extending at short-hire rates.
3. Distance
Delivery, collection and every service visit involve a wagon and a driver. A supplier trucking units from a national depot two hours away builds that into the price, or worse, into the service frequency. It is why we only cover the North East: short runs from Durham keep the transport element small and the servicing honest.
4. What is included
This is where quotes stop being comparable. Some prices include delivery, servicing, waste removal and collection; others list them as extras that appear on the invoice later. Ask every supplier the same question: what is the total cost for X weeks, all in? Our answer is one fixed weekly rate with delivery, servicing and collection agreed up front.
Where cheap gets expensive
- A unit that breaks down costs you a day of crew productivity, which usually exceeds the weekly saving that bought it
- Missed waste servicing turns a welfare unit into a welfare problem, and inspectors notice
- Aborted deliveries from vague access information are chargeable everywhere, tell your supplier about the tight lane before the wagon finds it