How to plan your spring projects with the right hire equipment in January

Anyone who’s been through a few spring seasons knows how quickly things shift once conditions improve. Programmes accelerate, multiple jobs run side by side, and equipment availability tightens almost overnight. It’s not a question of learning what’s needed; it’s about making sure the right kit is there when schedules start overlapping and pressure increases.

Spring often brings a sharp rise in demand for access, plant and site equipment, and leaving key hire decisions until work is already underway can limit your options and slow progress. Getting those requirements lined up early gives you control, keeps choices open and avoids unnecessary disruption once sites are in full flow.

At Smiths Hire, we see the same pattern every year. The teams that come into spring with equipment already planned are the ones who stay ahead of it. With one of the most comprehensive hire fleets in the region, including our Top 100 Hire Products, early planning gives you access to the machines contractors consistently rely on for performance, reliability and value.

Getting a clear picture of what spring will bring

Before locking anything in, January is a practical point to review what the next few months actually look like on site, whether you’re managing multiple locations or a single long-running job. Having a good general idea of where workloads peak makes planning for your equipment far more straightforward.

Spring usually brings a combination of:
● External maintenance and repair work
● Extensions and refurbishments
● Roofing and façade projects
● Landscaping and groundwork
● Warehouse and industrial maintenance

Different tasks place different demands on access, reach and handling. Planning ahead for height work, outreach or heavier lifting helps ensure the right equipment is in place from the start.

Matching the right equipment to the job

This is usually where early planning really pays off. When you’ve got time to look properly at the work ahead, you can make sure the equipment fits the job, rather than making do with what’s available at the last minute.

For internal fit-outs or warehouse work, electric scissor lifts are often the go-to. They’re steady underfoot, easy to position and ideal when you’re spending long periods working at height. Narrow models are particularly useful where space is tight, letting teams work between racking, production lines or internal layouts without everything grinding to a halt.

When the job involves reaching over obstacles or working in awkward positions, compact electric or hybrid boom lifts tend to make life easier. That extra outreach means you can get exactly where you need to be without constantly shifting the machine. And for outdoor work, where ground conditions aren’t always predictable, rough terrain scissor lifts and booms give you the stability and confidence to keep moving even when conditions aren’t perfect.

Avoiding the spring availability squeeze

We know what spring looks like because we go through it every year alongside our customers. As soon as work starts stacking up, availability becomes the thing everyone worries about. That’s exactly why we put our Top 100 Hire Products pledge in place in the first place.

Those products are the machines customers ask for day in, day out. Because of that, we make sure we always have the stock levels in place to support demand, even when things get busy. There aren’t queues for the essentials at Smiths Hire. If it’s in the Top 100 range, the whole point is that it’s there when you need it, not just when it suits.

That doesn’t mean every piece of equipment across every category behaves the same way. More specialist tools and less frequently used machines can still book up quickly once spring is in full swing. That’s why it always pays to be prepared. Starting as you mean to go on gives you control and keeps options open, rather than reacting to availability once work is already underway.

Getting equipment lined up early also helps everyone involved understand what’s happening and when. Site teams know what’s arriving, managers can plan around it, and there’s far less time spent chasing kit or rearranging schedules. When the hire side is sorted, people can focus on getting the job off the ground instead of the logistics around it.

Get ready for spring with Smiths Hire

Spring is busy enough without having to think about where equipment is coming from, which is exactly why we’ve spent the time building a hire network that works around how our customers actually operate. With 19 tool hire depots now in place across the North West and Yorkshire, we’re set up to support projects wherever they’re happening, whether that’s a single local job or several running side by side. That expansion means shorter lead times, stronger local stock coverage and teams on the ground who know the areas they’re supporting, not just a central system looking at availability.

Everything we supply is maintained to a high standard and backed by people who understand how the site actually runs day to day. When you get in touch with our team at Smiths Hire, you’re speaking to people who know the realities of spring workloads and know how to keep things moving when schedules tighten. So, if you’ve got spring projects coming up, don’t hesitate to reach out! Give us a call on 0333 323 2100, and we’ll get things in place properly.