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Even though D6 dozers are priced on an hourly basis, they are rarely hired for less than a week at a time, due to the large expense of mobilising them. They are also the type of machine that will sit on a site unutilised and deployed when required, unlike other machines which will be sent back to the depot when not being used.
D7 dozers aren't as common as D6 or D8 dozers, but they are unique to many large scale plant hire companies and can often do the same capacity of bulk earthworks as D6 or D8 dozers.
D8 dozers are the most prolific dozer on the market, the first was launched in America in 1935! They come in two blade variants - S-Blade (Straight Blade) or U-Blade (Universal Blade, which has a slight bend to it).
D9 dozers are starting to get into the heavy duty dozer range so are rarely deployed for anything but bulk earthworks tasks on civil or mining sites. D9's, which launched in the 1950's actually have more of a military application than the D8 and D11, so they aren't as common as other sized dozers in plant hire fleets.
D11's are big kahunas and can only be operated by skilled professionals. They are rarely seen in civil and commercial applications, unless something massive is being built like a major highway or airport. They are also really tricky to mobilise, and in a lot of cases need to be dismantled to travel.
Standing next to a D12 dozer sometimes feels like you are standing next to a moving mountain of metal. You typically won't see a D12 anywhere but a mine site. They are usually owned by the mines themselves and are used to move stockpiles around. In some cases they are owned by plant hire companies who exclusively hire to mining companies.
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Dozer Hire Float and Mobilisation Rates
Dozers aren't easy machines to move around, which is why plant hire companies will balk at anyone wanting to hire them for less than a fortnight. Beyond a D6 size, they are a wide load and often require a police escort and in some cases a pilot vehicle.
- Dozer Mobilisation Rates: You need a low-loader to transport a Dozer. Low loaders cost $150 per hour, and with travel, loading, transport, unloading and return travel, you can expect to take a full day to transport the dozer.
- Dozer Demobilisation Rates: You will also likely be stung to float the machine back, and expect the same type of demobilisation charges to be included for the dozers return journey to the depot.
Dozer Wet Hire Rates with GPS
Dozers are increasingly fitted with machine control. 3D GPS systems, like Topcon's 3D GPS Dozer equipment, can also be found on more and more modern machines.
GPS does impact the cost of dozer hire rates, usually by between $20 - $50 per hour, depending on the level of sophistication of the units and its level of connectivity into the site-wide base station. If the project manager wants a fully connected site (where they can see all the machines from their air conditioned cabin) then you will most likely pay more for that benefit given the potential for significant productivity gains.
How to get the best Dozer hire rates
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