Equipment hire in Mallorca

On the mainland, if the depot nearest you has no 12-metre boom free on Tuesday, another yard forty minutes away probably does. In Mallorca that fallback often does not exist. The island's hire companies hold a fixed fleet sized to normal demand, and bringing an extra machine over means a ferry booking, a low-loader and several days. The practical consequences are worth taking seriously before you plan a job around a delivery date.

• Specialist machines run out first. Tracked spider lifts, larger telescopic booms, telehandlers and anything unusual are held in small numbers. In peak season these are booked weeks out.
• Common machines are the safe bet. Scissor lifts of 8–10 m (€45–90/day), mini diggers of 1.5–2 t (€100–180/day), plate compactors (€35–70/day) and mixers (€12–35/day) exist in reasonable quantity across the island.
• Substitutions happen. If your exact model is out, you may be offered the next size up at the next price band. Agree in advance whether that is acceptable and at what rate, in writing.
• Breakdowns cost days, not hours. A specialist part that has to come from the mainland is a genuine schedule risk on a long hire. On critical work, ask what the supplier does if the machine fails mid-job.

None of this makes Mallorca expensive by default — daily rates sit within normal Spanish ranges. It makes it unforgiving about timing. Two to four weeks' notice in the October-to-April renovation season is not caution, it is the difference between getting the machine and rescheduling the trade.

Getting to the property is the other constraint

Mallorca's building stock puts machines in awkward places. Palma's old town and the Tramuntana villages have streets a lorry genuinely cannot enter, so equipment is often carried the last stretch by hand or lifted in. Rural fincas sit at the end of long unmade tracks where a low-loader will not turn. And the terraces the island is famous for are reached by steps, not ramps. Measure the tightest point on the route and tell the supplier the number: it decides the machine far more often than the work does.

Demand splits fairly cleanly by area, and knowing which pattern you are in helps you brief a quote properly.

Palma and the bay

Flats and townhouses, roof terraces, lift shafts, facades onto narrow streets. Electric machines dominate because the work is often indoors or in confined streets where a diesel engine is unwelcome and, in the historic centre, sometimes impossible. Scissor lifts of 8–10 m at €45–90/day and small towers — an aluminium scaffold tower runs €25–45/day or €220–400 per month — cover most of it. Facade work on a full building means proper scaffolding at €6–12 per m² per month.

Andratx, Calvià and the southwest

Villas on slopes with pools, sea-facing terraces and retaining walls. This is mini digger and dumper territory: 1.5–2 t machines at €100–180/day for pool and drainage work, dumpers at €70–140/day to move spoil and stone up and down a plot where a wheelbarrow is not realistic. Access platforms here are usually articulated rather than scissor, because there is almost always a pool, a hedge or a level change between the machine and the wall.

Pollença, Alcúdia and the north

Older stone houses, town properties on narrow lanes, plus the holiday-let stock that gets refurbished hard between seasons. Compact everything: small diggers, breakers at €25–55/day, mixers, and scaffolding erected onto irregular stone frontages, which takes a crew who have done it before rather than the cheapest quote.

The interior: finca renovation

Inland, the work is stone walls, dry-stone terracing, wells, tracks and outbuildings, frequently on plots with a weak electrical supply or none at all. That is why generators matter here: 3–5 kVA at €28–55/day covers hand tools and lighting; 10–20 kVA at €55–120/day is what you need for a mixer, a breaker and a compressor running together. Get the sizing right before delivery — an undersized generator that keeps tripping wastes a day of everyone's labour, and a 60–100 kVA unit at €150–300/day is money thrown away on a domestic job.

We are a comparison service, not a hire company. You describe the job once in English, we put it to suppliers who cover your part of the island, and you receive up to three quotes to compare before contracting directly with whoever you choose.

What to send us

Tell us the job, the location, the dates and the access. On this island the dates carry more weight than anywhere else in Spain, so give us the real window and flag whether it can move. For access, the numbers that matter are the width of the narrowest gate or lane, whether there are steps, and whether a lorry can stop and unload without blocking a road. A couple of photographs of the approach are worth a paragraph of description.

Delivery and what the price does not include

Transport is charged separately, typically €100–250 per journey, and there are two journeys. Distances in Mallorca are short but the roads to Tramuntana villages and rural fincas are slow, and that is priced in. Where access is genuinely impossible for a low-loader, ask early about the alternative — usually a smaller machine or a different delivery point — rather than discovering it with a lorry stuck in a lane.

Deposits, VAT and training

All prices here are quoted excluding VAT, with 21% IVA added at invoice. A deposit is held: roughly €300–800 on a small access platform, €400–1,000 on a mini digger, €1,000–2,000 on a tracked spider lift, released after the machine is inspected back at the yard. And on any access platform, Spanish law requires documented machine-specific training — a UK IPAF card is not automatically recognised. If nobody on site holds Spanish-recognised training, ask us to quote the job with an operator and settle it at the quote stage rather than on delivery morning.