How Much Does It Cost to Hire a Wacker Plate in London?

How much does it cost to hire a wacker plate in London?

Most patio, path and driveway jobs use a standard forward plate. Hireload’s is the Belle PCX 13/40 class: a 400 mm (16 inch) plate, around 85 kg, petrol-driven and forward-only. It handles MOT Type 1 sub-base, hardcore and block-paving consolidation. A heavier reversible plate travels forward and back and compacts deeper ground, so it sits in a higher hire band. Here is what each costs in London:

All prices exclude VAT. A 3–7 day hire is charged at one flat rate, so a five-day job costs the same as three — roughly £12 a day on the forward plate. Delivery or free depot collection is on top. Rates were correct at the time of writing; check the live product page for your exact dates.

Why a 3–7 day hire is the best value

A wacker plate booked for a single day is the most expensive way to hire one. Because the 3–7 day band is a single flat rate, keeping the plate for the working week costs no more than three days — and far less per day than stacking single hires. If your job might slip a day, booking the whole week takes the pressure off for almost nothing extra. For very long projects, the forward plate drops to a low daily rate beyond a week, and the reversible falls to £13.99 a day on hires of eight days or more.

When you budget, add these to the hire rate:

• Delivery or collection — £35 covers delivery and collection across London, or collect free from our Greenford (UB6) depot.
• Fuel — plates are petrol; you supply the fuel. A day’s compaction uses very little.
• Deposit — a refundable £100 deposit, returned within 2–3 working days once the plate is back in good order.
• A paving pad — if you’re consolidating block paving, a rubber paving pad on the plate stops it chipping the blocks. Ask when you book.

Delivery across London, or free collection from Greenford

A wacker plate is heavy and awkward to move, so how you get it to site matters to the total cost. We charge £35 for delivery and collection together across London from our UB6 depot — both trips, one price, with live tracking. If you’re close to Greenford or have a van and a second pair of hands, Click & Collect from the depot costs nothing and is usually ready the same day. We never pretend delivery is free — we’d rather show the cost plainly than bury it in the rate.

Which plate you need — and how it changes the price

Right-sizing the plate is the simplest way to control cost. Too small and you’ll do extra passes for a weaker result; too big and you’re paying for capacity you don’t need. As a rough guide, a forward plate suits patios, paths, MOT Type 1 sub-base and block paving, while a reversible plate earns its higher rate on deeper lifts, trench backfill and heavier groundworks. For a full walk-through, see our guides on what size wacker plate you need and forward vs reversible plate compactors. If you’re laying a base, our step-by-step on compacting an MOT Type 1 sub-base shows how many passes and layers to plan for.

How to hire a wacker plate for less

• Use the flat 3–7 day rate. If the job runs more than two days, the weekly band is the cheapest per day — plan the work, then book the whole window.
• Collect from the depot if you can. Free Click & Collect from UB6 saves the £35 delivery charge.
• Right-size the plate. Don’t pay reversible-plate rates for a patio a forward plate will finish.
• Get set up first. Have the sub-base spread and levelled before the plate arrives so you’re compacting, not waiting.
• Still deciding whether to hire at all? Our wacker plate hire vs buying guide runs the numbers for occasional versus regular use.

Wacker plate hire cost — FAQs