The tools we hold, and the plant we hire
Hand tools, setting-out equipment, levels and scaffold held in-house; excavators, rigs and cranes hired to the scope and shown as a separate line in the offer.
What we own, and what we hire
We own the tools a building site runs on day to day: the hand tools, the setting-out equipment, the levels, the scaffolding, the small plant. Heavy equipment — excavators, drilling rigs, concrete mixers at volume, cranes — is hired to the scope of each job.
That is a deliberate choice, not a gap in capability. Owning heavy plant that sits idle means carrying maintenance, depreciation and repair cost into every quotation. Hiring it means you pay for the machine for the days it is actually working, and the plant arrives in the condition the hire company is contractually obliged to maintain.
| Category | Held in the company's own tool inventory |
|---|---|
| Setting out and levelling | Boning rods, plumb bobs, plumb rules, spirit levels (28), mason's squares, lines and pins, pegs and profiles, measuring tapes, measuring wheels, measuring boxes |
| Masonry and concrete | Brick hammers (27), bolsters, trowels, scutches, chisels, digging bars, pickaxes, spades and shovels, hoes, iron pans, wedges, putty knives |
| Finishes | Tile cutters, polishers, scratchers, saw, hand saws, jack planes, marine boards |
| Access and lifting | Ladders and movable scaffold, end frames, wheelbarrows |
| Power and drilling | Power drilling machine, generator |
| Site small tools | Screwdrivers and testers, pliers, hammers, hand tools for general trades |
A tool inventory is not a capability statement. What matters on your job is whether the level, the line and the supervision are there on the day the blockwork goes up. That is a people question, and it is why we keep our own site supervision rather than subletting the whole site to a labour gang.
When heavy plant is on your site
Where the scope needs heavy equipment, we hire it and show it as a separate line in the priced offer, so you can see what it costs and why. On a job requiring an excavator, a rig or a crane we will normally also state:
- The plant required and the days it is expected on site
- Who provides the operator and who carries the fuel
- What the hire company is responsible for, and what we are responsible for
- The access the machine needs, and whether the site can give it
If a plot cannot take a lorry or an excavator, that changes the method, the labour content and the programme. We would rather find that out at the site visit than at mobilisation.
Heavy plant hired by the day is a cost you can control. Ask for the plant days in the programme and hold us to them — a machine left standing on site for a week because the blockwork was not ready is a cost with no building to show for it.
Need a method statement or plant schedule for a tender?
We will issue the plant and equipment schedule, method statement and programme to match your tender return.
Replies are sent by WhatsApp. Every message to info@peterch.org is read — include a working number and we will come back to you the same working day.