When you’re clearing significant amounts of waste from a garden, building site, or renovation project, your first step will include weighing up rubbish removal options. Do you go for classic skip hire, or could grab hire for muckaway be a better option?
At Morley Skips, we offer skip hire, muckaway and grab hire in Essex, Suffolk and surrounding areas! Plus, our experienced team can help you decide which one suits your financial and logistical needs. Below, we’ve outlined a detailed comparison of both skip hire and grab hire, so that you can make an informed decision for your project.
Grab hire comes in the shape of a fully-equipped lorry with a hydraulic 10-metre grab arm. Waste is loaded directly from the ground, over fences, walls, or awkward access, placing it straight into the lorry. Once full, which takes approximately half an hour, the waste is taken to our fully-licensed waste transfer station and disposed of responsibly.
In comparison, standard skip hire is where a skip is dropped off and filled by you at your own convenience. This method also ends with the waste being recycled or disposed of appropriately by the team here at Morley Skips.
Grab lorries are perfect for large volumes of loose material such as topsoil, hardcore, green waste and rubble. Loading is quick, and you can fill up to 15 tonnes of waste into the lorry.
If your site has narrow driveways, no dropped kerb, or access via garden gates or rear drives, then grab hire wins every time. The grab arm reaches over walls or gates, eliminating the need for road permits or skip placement problems.
If you’re clearing heavy waste in one go, like garden soil, broken decking, or hardcore, grab hire can be more cost-effective than hiring several skips. As a side note, in our experience, you always end up with more waste than you think!
When it comes to choosing between grab hire and skip hire for waste removal, both offer great benefits, but depending on your site and the type of project you’re tackling, one might suit your needs better than the other.
Here’s a further breakdown to help your decision:
Grab hire is often the better choice for sites with limited or difficult access. Thanks to the long reach of the grab lorry’s arm, we can collect waste from over fences, walls or tight corners, even when there’s no direct access. In contrast, skip hire requires a clear, accessible spot, ideally with a dropped kerb.
Perhaps one of the most notable benefits is that grab hire takes the physical effort out of waste removal. Our team does the loading for you, meaning that you don’t have to lift or shift heavy materials yourself. However, skip hire gives you more flexibility with time, allowing you to fill the skip at your own pace, over a few hours or even days, so that you can ‘remove as you go’.
Another key difference is permits. Because grab lorries operate off-road and remove waste directly from your site, there’s no need for a skip permit. With skip hire, if your skip needs to be placed on a public road, you’ll usually need a permit from your local council, which will involve an extra fee and possibly some waiting time.
Grab hire is charged per load and doesn’t usually include rental or time-based fees, making it a cost-effective solution for one-off or bulk removals. Skip hire is generally priced at a flat rate, which includes both the hire period and collection costs, both of which can increase if the skip is overfilled or the hire period is extended. It’s better suited to projects where waste accumulates gradually or when multiple days are needed to complete the job.
If you’re dealing with a large amount of mixed or bulky waste, such as items/refuse from a site clearance or groundwork project, grab hire is ideal. It allows for quick and efficient removal in one visit. Whilst 14-yard skips can be hired, there’s no comparison in terms of capacity to the 15 tonnes that a grab lorry is capable of handling.
Grab hire is quick and efficient. We arrive, load, and leave, usually within just 30 minutes, which minimises disruption and keeps your site clear. Skip hire means the skip will remain on-site for the duration of the project, which can be helpful for ongoing work but may take up space, affect site access, or even annoy the neighbours!
Our grab service is designed to handle a wide range of materials:
If it’s a smaller home renovation or clearance, a traditional skip is often a better fit when:
Our goal is to help you choose the right tool for the job, not to push one service over the other. Which is why we offer:
So, is grab hire cheaper than a skip? It depends. For large volumes, tricky access, and one-off clear-outs, grab hire often comes out ahead, both in terms of cost and convenience. But skips remain a great fit for smaller, steady projects.
Before proceeding, it’s always handy to ask yourself:
What matters most is finding the right solution. With over 25 years of experience and a full range of services, the Morley Skips team will guide you to the most efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable choice. You can find out more about booking Grab Hire in Essex by contacting our dedicated team.
Call Morley Skips at 01621 815 287 or contact us here.
