Ask any mid-size contractor how they source plant and the answer is contacts, calls and WhatsApp groups. It worked. The question is what it costs now.
The objection to phone sourcing is usually that it is slow. That is true and it is the smaller problem. The real one is that a call returns a single number, with no way to judge whether it is a good one.
In short
- One call, one price. The market is only visible when several suppliers answer the same written question.
- The spread is measurable, and it is wide. On a 6-metre scissor lift the middle half of offers runs 2,000-4,250 a month.
- It varies enormously by machine: 4% on a telescopic boom lift, 112% on that scissor lift.
- Written requests also fix the comparison, not just the price: same scope, same question, answers you can line up.
How far apart are two honest quotes?
Every range we publish is the middle half of the quotes for that size. The last column is that range expressed as a percentage of its own low end: in other words, how much the price can move between two suppliers who are both being reasonable:
| Machine and size | Per month, SAR | Spread | How often quoted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Telescopic boom lift, 14 m | 11,500-12,000 | 4% | Some quotes |
| All-terrain crane, 50 t | 22,000-25,000 | 14% | Most quoted |
| Backhoe loader, 74-109 hp | 12,375-15,000 | 21% | Most quoted |
| Crawler excavator, 20 t | 16,000-20,000 | 25% | Most quoted |
| Forklift, 5 t | 6,750-12,000 | 78% | Often quoted |
| Scissor lift, 12 m | 5,250-9,750 | 86% | Some quotes |
| Scissor lift, 6 m | 2,000-4,250 | 112% | Some quotes |
What the spread column is telling you
On the tightest machines (the boom lift, the 50-tonne crane) a single call gets you close enough. On the widest, a single call is a coin toss. And you cannot know in advance which kind of machine you are ringing about, which is the whole argument for asking more than one yard in writing.
Note too that the widest spreads sit on the smallest quote counts. Thin markets are volatile markets; that is a reason to collect offers, not to trust a table: including this one.
What a written request fixes besides price
The scope comes back in the same shape
Three phone calls produce three descriptions of one job. One written request produces replies to the same question: same machine class, same dates, same site, same answer needed on operator, fuel and transport. That is what makes two numbers comparable at all.
The record exists
A voice note is not a quotation. What was promised, at what price, including what, is written down and still there when the invoice does not match it.
The supplier side gets easier too
A yard can answer a shared request without creating an account, so the reply pool is not limited to companies that have signed up to anything. Removing that friction is what puts more offers in front of the contractor.
What it does not change
The rental agreement is still between the contractor and the supplier. Verification still covers papers (commercial registration, VAT, national address, ownership of the machines) and not condition or safety. And the walk-around at handover still matters exactly as much as it always did.
Moving off the phone without losing the relationships
- Keep your good yards. Send them the same written request you send everyone else. They will answer faster than a stranger, and now you can prove they are competitive.
- Write the job once: machine and size, dates, site access, operator, fuel, transport, duration.
- Ask wider on thin machines. The smaller the market, the wider the spread.
- Compare on one basis and keep the record.
See how a request works, or the current ranges on the rental rates page.
Source: Moedatech platform data. The published ranges rest on 13,820+ supplier quotes given on the platform between April and August 2026. Figures on this page are Riyadh unless stated, in Saudi riyals, excluding VAT. A quote count in a table is the number of offers received for that one machine size in that period; it is not a measure of how many suppliers or machines are on the platform, which the company publishes separately. Operator share and mobilisation are medians across the quotes for that size, and a price range is the middle half of them, so a quarter of offers sit below it and a quarter above.
