The Ultimate Guide To
Grab Hire

This guide will show you everything you need to know about grab hire as a waste removal service - plus more. We’ll discuss why and when you go for grab trucks, the service’s biggest benefits, and the differences between grabs and skips.

If this sounds like something you can benefit from, read on and see how grab hire can help you in removing waste and tidying up your space.

SECTIONS

Section One

Grab Hire – What is it?

Like skips, a grab hire service provides a way to remove large volumes of waste produced from a variety of construction or landscaping projects. The difference between the two, however, is the price, the size of the containers, and the methods used for removal.

Hiring a grab truck comes with a few extra features that you won’t find in a skip. First, each truck comes with a qualified driver who takes full responsibility for loading and removing your waste. Unlike skips, this removal service is on wheels (a choice of 4 or 8 wheels depending on the size of the waste). And lastly, a grab truck comes with a giant hydraulic arm.

The hydraulic arm is what sets grab hire above any other waste removal method.

This arm will literally grab the waste you want removed (hence the name ‘grab’ hire), instead of having you shovel everything into the container.

The introduction of the hydraulic grabber has revolutionised waste removal. Areas that were once inaccessible are now easily reached, allowing quick collection and removal of waste.

For those planning on landscaping the garden: where do you plan to put all of your garden waste and excess materials?

Maybe you’ll choose to place it all at the front of the garden. But the garden is surrounded by a tall gated fence – way too small to fit a skip through. Inconvenient indeed!

But thanks to grab trucks, tall gated fences (and other obstructions) are hardly a problem. These agile trucks can easily drive up to the fence, reach over it with the grabber, and collect the waste with ease.

And the best bit:

The days of manual shovelling are over!

You no longer have to waste your valuable time and energy transferring materials from a pile to a container. The grabber takes care of it.

Grab trucks can access hard-to-reach areas, remove waste, and get the job done in a very short space of time. Whether you’re taking on a small home DIY project or a large construction project that’ll take weeks to finish, grab hire has you covered.

Section Two

Why Should You Choose Grab Hire – The Facts

Delivery

Grab trucks can carry a wide range of materials - from muck away, soil, concrete, to general rubbish. But these trucks don’t stop at waste removal.

Are you redoing your driveway and require a large amount of gravel? Perhaps your new garden’s design need large amounts of topsoil? How are you going to get such large amounts of material?

Sure, you can use your car to collect a few bags at a time. However, going this route will cost you a lot of time, money, and effort. Not to mention you can end up with a messy car.

So why not use a grab truck!?

Yes! You can also use grab hire for heavy deliveries.

The trucks can deliver compost, sand, gravel, premium topsoil, and other materials in either loose loads or bags. If you are in a rush and only need a small amount, you can get away without a grab truck. But if you need such materials in large amounts, grab hire is your best option.

No need to make 5 or 6 trips just to get enough sand or gravel for your project. Just make the call, pay for the grab truck and the materials, and get everything your project needs without leaving your home.

Grab trucks can carry a lot of stuff - 18 tonnes of material on average! And if you choose GrabCo’s service, our qualified operators will move the materials from their containers and place them wherever you choose.

Cost Effective

Price is often the most persuasive element when shopping for a service.

If the service is affordable, let’s go ahead! And if it’s expensive? No, thanks! Grab hire belongs to the former category. It’s one of the most cost-effective waste removal methods, thanks to its simple, efficient, and streamlined process.

Environmental Impact

Waste management was a no-brainer back in the day. We throw our waste away and forget about it. We don’t care if the waste ended up in a landfill or somewhere else.

But things have changed. The world is now aware of the negative environmental impacts brought by improper waste management. We realized we needed to change the way we dispose waste. And thanks to grab hire, reusing, reducing, and recycling waste just got easier!

Hydraulic Arm

Waste removal without the grab truck’s arm can be monotonous, time-consuming, and outright boring. However, the hydraulic arm makes waste removal a non-issue. No manual labour is required, and its vast manoeuvrability means the arm can reach areas that would otherwise be inaccessible.

Turn Around Time

A grab truck can remove your waste within 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how much waste you have. In the bigger scheme of things, 15 to 30 minutes is fast! Not to mention a grab truck is hardly a hindrance, unlike skips which have to sit onsite.

Section Three

Who Would Need a Grab Hire Service?

Grab hire is affordable, quick, and effective. With a grab truck, large amounts of waste material can be removed from a garden or site within minutes.

But the question is:

Who would need this service?

DIY Home Renovation Enthusiasts

The increasing popularity of DIY home improvement is not surprising. After all, people want to be proud of their nest, and to do this, they may need to make some changes.

Home improvement like redoing the driveway, building a small extension, or relaying the front patio can have a major impact beyond your home’s appearance. Such projects will generate a lot of waste, and what better way to remove it all than with a grab truck.

Renovating your home’s surroundings, on the other hand, often requires heavy materials. But worry not. A grab hire service can handle the heavy lifting - whether you need a load of gravel for your new driveway or need to remove the old concrete patio.

Gardeners

If you’re not renovating your home, you’re redesigning your garden.

Building ponds, laying artificial grass, creating garden paths, and other landscaping projects need a number of materials to be successful. Moreover, lots of dirt and other general garden waste will need to be removed in the process.

Hiring a grab truck means the materials you need are delivered to your doorstep, and all of the stuff you don’t need are removed almost instantly.

And let’s not forget:

Almost all of the waste collected from a garden can be recycled and reused for other projects, so the “waste” is not wasted. And a grab truck can take the materials straight to a recycling plant.

The Self-Employed

Self-employment is a dream for many, and the amount of labour-intensive businesses have increased in the recent years to fuel that dream. Businesses like scrap metal recovery, builders, and landscape gardeners are at the top of the list.

All of the industries above need grab trucks in one way or another.

How will the scrap metal recovery industry collect scrap metal? Grab hire.

How can builders effectively remove their waste materials? Grab hire.

How will the landscape gardeners receive enough topsoil for their project? You guessed it, grab hire.

Section Four

Everything You Need To Know
About Grab Trucks

Millions of pounds are invested into grab hire every year. The latest features and proper maintenance are needed to ensure the trucks operate at peak performance. Let’s take a look at a few facts and figures about these grab trucks.

Dimensions

You can choose from two main types of grab trucks. The right choice depends on how much material you need to be removed and its whereabouts.

For the larger, heavier loads, your best option is the 8-wheel grab truck. It is the biggest version and has some whopping figures to go with it:

  • When empty, the truck weighs 16 tonnes.
  • Once filled up though, a grab truck can reach a maximum authorised mass of 32 tonnes – that’s 16 tonnes and 15 cubic meters of material, on average.
  • To operate properly, the trucks also need 3.8m of headroom and 2m for the hydraulic arm. In total, you need 6m of space for optimum functionality.

Sometimes, though, your requirements may be better served by a smaller grab truck. The 4-wheel grab truck can only carry 10 tonnes of material - not as much as its big brother - but the hydraulic arm can reach just as far. Moreover, what it loses in weight, it gains in agility, making the 4-wheel grab truck perfect for smaller DIY home projects.

Materials Carried

On average, an 8-wheel grab truck can carry up to 15 cubic meters of material - whether it’s waste or valuable goods.

The trucks are designed, however, to only carry a certain amount of material and cannot cater to everything.

Grab hire companies try to stay as far away from landfill sites as possible. So even if grab trucks are capable of removing your general rubbish or even hazardous waste, recyclable or reusable waste will always be the favoured material for the trucks.

Recyclable Waste Perfect For Grab Hire

  • Earth and soil
  • Concrete bricks
  • Topsoil and hardcore
  • Brick
  • Garden & Tree Waste
  • Non Hazardous Waste

Waste That’ll Go To a Landfill Site

  • ­General Rubbish
  • Rubble
  • Some hazardous waste

Waste That Cannot Be Removed

  • Batteries
  • Asbestos
  • Paints and oils
  • Tyres
  • Gas bottles
  • Some hazardous waste

Section Five

Grab Hire vs Skip Hire - Which Is Better?

Hiring a skip could be the perfect waste removal option for certain situations.

A prime example would be a thorough home clear-out. You’re guaranteed to find items you just want to get rid of as you rummage through old stuff. You could end up with more waste than you expected, and taking 10 back-and-forth trips to the local disposal depot isn’t the best idea.

Both grab and skip hire services can help you. But which is better?

You may not need as much space as a grab truck offers, and hiring a skip may sound like a good idea. But have you thought about where the skip is going to go? Do you have a permit?

A lot of factors must be considered when hiring a waste removal service. Here are a few questions you should ask yourself before picking up the phone:


QUESTION
If I ask for a permit, will I get one?

To allow a skip on your premises, you need to ask your local council for permission.

The permit ensures the skip won’t be in the way of traffic and won’t cause any disruption. Having your permit request declined, however, can be problematic for your waste removal. Unless, of course, you choose a grab hire service to remove your waste.

Grab trucks don’t need permits, thanks to their average turnaround time of 30 minutes. A grab truck turns up, collects the waste, and leaves. And if any disruption occurs, it will be short-lived.


QUESTION
Do I Want To Spend Valuable Time Lifting Waste?

Using a skip requires a fair amount of manual labour. The only way to move waste into the container is by using a shovel.

A few minutes of manual labor may not be an issue for smaller projects. But for larger projects, you don’t want to spend hours shovelling dirt into a skip. Your time is precious, and you have better things to do with it.

With grab hire, however, you have the hydraulic arm to help you out. No need to shovel dirt or lift heavy stuff. The grab’s arm can do all these for you, so you can spend your time on things that matter.


QUESTION
How Quickly Do I Want My Waste Removed?

The fastest and most efficient way is often the best. And a grab truck can get rid of your unwanted pile of waste fast. With an average turnaround time of 30 minutes, grab hire is a faster waste removal service than skip hire.

But that’s not all:

Grabs can carry a lot more waste than skips

A grab truck, on average, can hold 3 times as much waste as a standard skip. If you had 10 tonnes of waste waiting for removal, you’d need at least 2 skips. But you would only need one grab truck.

So for speed and efficiency, grab hire is the obvious choice.


QUESTION
Where Will I Put The Waste While I’m Working?

A valid question! After all, waste removal services have limitations.

Skips, for example, are large and heavy. Once they’re put in place, skips are extremely hard to move. So if you put one in the front garden but want to build a pond in the back, you’re creating extra work for yourself.

Grab trucks, however, are agile. A grab truck can drive around to the side or back of your home with ease. And the hydraulic arm is handy for reaching inaccessible areas, able to stretch over the fence to collect waste.


QUESTION
Am I Working On A Domestic Or Commercial Project?

Skips and grab trucks can remove waste from both domestic and commercial sites.

But for domestic use:

A skip might be the better choice, especially if you know you won’t leave a lot of waste but the project will last for a week or two.

You can leave the skip in your garden, dump waste into it when needed, and get it removed at the end of the project.

But take note:

A skip requires a permit, and not everyone is granted one.

If you don’t want to risk getting rejected for a permit, grab hire is the one for you. If you can find a suitable place to put your waste while working, a grab truck can come and quickly collect it whenever you like.

Note, too, that grab trucks have bigger storage and can collect waste much faster than skips. So for commercial use, grabs are the clear winner.

Building sites, demolitions, and other commercial projects produce a lot of waste. The amount of waste may require 2 or more trucks - or 6 skips. Clearly, grab hire is the more efficient and cost-effective option.

Conclusion

Skips and grab hire have the same purpose - to remove waste. And both have distinct advantages. But while the two are similar in many ways, skips and grabs have big differences.

Not only does a grab truck remove more waste than a skip. But it also does the job faster and more efficiently while minimizing disruption.

The hydraulic arm plays a major role in a grab hire’s overall effectiveness. The arm allows the trucks to reach otherwise inaccessible areas when removing waste, making your life a lot easier.

The combination of a versatile grab arm and a large container also means these trucks can deliver and remove materials – something a skip cannot do.

So, whether you need tonnes of material delivered to your door, or you need tonnes of material removed, choose grab hire.

Use our grab service today and find out why we’re one of the most reliable grab hire companies in Essex and Hertfordshire.