Scissor lifts · boom lifts · vertical mast lifts · cherry pickers
An aerial work platform is decided by four numbers and two facts: the working height at the face of the work, the horizontal outreach from where the machine can actually stand, the platform capacity, the machine's own width — and whether the ground is a finished floor or site ground, and whether the machine is allowed to be diesel. Get the height wrong and the machine arrives and cannot reach. Get the ground wrong and it is turned away at the gate. This page is about picking the class; the owner of the machine sets the rate.
The smallest footprint on the market. Straight up and down only, normally one person plus light tools, electric, non-marking tyres, and narrow enough to go through a standard single doorway and into a passenger or goods lift. It is the answer to low-level indoor work in an occupied building, not to construction height.
Same vertical-only motion, much larger deck. Takes two people plus materials, extends on a roll-out deck for a little forward reach, and runs on a finished, level floor. It is the default for ceiling, MEP and fit-out work indoors.
A scissor built for site ground: flotation tyres, four-wheel drive, an oscillating axle and levelling jacks so the deck can be squared up on a slope. Vertical-only motion, so it still cannot get around an obstruction, but it can reach a work face that an electric slab machine cannot drive to.
A jointed boom that bends at the knuckle, so the platform can go up, out, and back in over a parapet, a canopy, a plant deck or a stack of stored material. This is the class you need when something sits between the machine's standing position and the work — height alone is not the reason to hire one.
A straight boom that extends for maximum height and maximum horizontal outreach. It cannot work around an obstruction the way an articulating boom can, and it needs a clear, stable standing position, but nothing else in the category reaches as far.
The routing below is the same logic the man lift selector uses, written out:
| Class | Working height (class range) | Motion | Drive and tyres | Ground it works on |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vertical mast lift | approx. 5–11 m | Vertical only | Electric, non-marking | Finished floor, level |
| Electric scissor (slab) | approx. 6–14 m | Vertical, small roll-out deck | Electric, non-marking | Finished floor, level |
| Rough-terrain scissor | approx. 10–18 m | Vertical, on levelling jacks | Diesel 4WD, flotation tyres | Compacted sand, slope within the machine's rated limit |
| Articulating boom | approx. 12–26 m | Up, out and over an obstruction | Electric or diesel 4WD by model | Slab or site ground by model |
| Telescopic boom | approx. 20 m and above | Up and out, straight line | Diesel 4WD | Site ground, level standing position |
These are class ranges, not the specification of any particular machine. Models overlap at the edges and vary by manufacturer. Use the table to pick the class, then take the exact figures from the data plate and spec sheet of the machine you are actually offered.
Working height is platform height plus about 2 m for the reach of the person standing on the deck. A machine described as 18 m platform height gives roughly 20 m working height; a machine sold as a 20 m lift has a floor about 18 m up. The error goes both ways and both ways cost money. Size to the working height at the face of the work — the underside of the soffit, the fixing point, the top of the sign — and never to the height of the building. Quoting building height puts a much larger machine, a bigger low-bed and a bigger standing footprint on a site that never needed them.
A boom's horizontal outreach is a separate number from its height, and the two are never both at maximum at the same time. Every boom has a working envelope, and platform capacity usually steps down in the outer part of it — the same machine may be rated for two people close in and one person at full outreach. Work out where the machine can physically stand first: a landscaped strip, a facade setback, a trench, a service road or parked vehicles all impose a standoff distance. Then check outreach from that position, not from directly beneath the work.
A rough-terrain machine spreads its mass through large tyres. A boom deployed on outriggers puts the entire machine mass through four pads, so the pressure under each pad is high. On a suspended slab, a basement deck, a podium, or over a service trench, a culvert or a shallow drainage run, that point load is the question — not the machine's total mass. Take the wheel or outrigger loads off the spec sheet and have them checked before delivery is booked. On loose sand, spreader pads and a compacted running surface are the difference between a working machine and a recovery job.
Measure the narrowest point on the whole route, not the door at the end. Gate width, ramp gradient, the turning circle at the corner, the height of the soffit over the ramp, and — if the machine goes up inside the building — the goods lift car dimensions and its floor loading. Machine width, stowed length and stowed height are all on the spec sheet. A machine that fits the doorway but not the turn in front of it does not get in, and the delivery is still a delivery.
Indoors means electric with non-marking tyres: no exhaust in an enclosed space and no tyre marking on a finished floor. On most fit-out and facilities jobs this is a client condition rather than a preference, and it is a common reason for a machine to be rejected on arrival. Outdoors on a slab or hardstanding, either drive works. Outdoors on site ground, diesel 4WD.
An electric machine's working day is its battery. Continuous elevating and driving across a full shift will pull a pack down before the shift ends, so plan a charging point near the work face and confirm what supply the charger needs. A diesel machine needs a refuelling arrangement and compliant fuel storage. If the work is two shifts, say so at enquiry stage — it changes the class as much as the height does.
Rated platform capacity covers the occupants, their tools and any material going up with them. Two workers with a tool bag and a length of ductwork reaches the limit of a small platform faster than most people expect, and on a boom the permitted capacity changes with position in the envelope. State the load in kilograms in the enquiry.
Permit routes, certificate validity periods and working-hour rules differ by emirate, by authority and by free zone, and they change. Treat everything above as the questions to ask, not as a current legal position — confirm the requirement with the authority, the site and the equipment owner before the machine is booked.
Know the class you need?
Post the specification — class, size, dates, emirate — and the owners of the machines can contact you directly with their own rate and availability. Listing and posting are free, there is no commission, and MachineryRentalMarket is not a party to the rental contract.
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