Crane hire runs on two things: keeping cranes earning, and keeping every lift compliant. Most crane hire businesses lose money on the first and carry risk on the second, because both are tracked on whiteboards, paper and spreadsheets that don't talk to each other. Here's what crane hire software needs to do, and what to look for.

The short answer

Good crane hire software tracks where every crane is, how many hours it's earning, and whether the machine and the crew on it are compliant to lift. It does all three in one place, from the booking to the invoice.

Why crane hire is harder than other plant hire

A crane isn't an excavator. More can go wrong, and more of it is regulated.

• Cranes are high-risk plant. Many cranes need registration, regular inspections and detailed records under WHS laws.

• Operators need the right licence class. A high risk work licence for the specific crane type, plus doggers and riggers with their own tickets.

• Most crane hire is wet hire. You're supplying the crane, the operator and often the dogman, so you carry their hours, pay and tickets.

• Jobs are short and change fast. A one-day lift gets pushed, a crane gets swapped, a job runs over. The schedule changes daily.

• Billing has more moving parts. Minimum hire charges, travel time, standby time and overtime all need to land on the right invoice.

Utilisation: where crane hire loses money

A crane that isn't lifting isn't earning, but it's still costing you finance, insurance and servicing. Utilisation is usually where the money leaks out.

The common leaks:

1. Unbilled hours. The job ran over, but the docket says the booked hours.

2. Standby and travel not charged. The crane waited on site or travelled to the job, and nobody captured it.

3. Double bookings and gaps. Two jobs pencilled in for one crane, or a crane sitting idle because the schedule wasn't updated.

4. Downtime nobody saw coming. A missed service or a failed inspection takes a crane off the road mid-week.

5. Late invoices. Dockets sit in a ute for a week before they're entered.

What to track:

• Hours on hire versus hours available, for every crane

• Standby, travel and minimum charges per job

• Which crane is on which job, and who's operating it

• Service and inspection due dates, so downtime is planned

Compliance: what needs to be on record

Crane compliance is about proving three things, at any time: the crane was safe to use, the crew were licensed to use it, and the lift was planned.

The crane:

• Registration, where it applies

• Daily prestart checks, with any failed items flagged

• Periodic and annual inspections under the relevant Australian Standards

• Service history and defect repairs

The crew:

• High risk work licences for the right crane class

• Dogging and rigging tickets

• Inductions for each site

The lift:

• Lift plans and SWMS for the job

• Site diaries and sign-offs

Requirements vary by state and crane type, so check with your state WHS regulator.

When these records live in folders, phones and spreadsheets, finding them for an audit or an incident takes days. Good software makes it minutes.

What to look for in crane hire software

1. Scheduling and allocation. A live board showing every crane, every job and every operator, so double bookings and idle cranes are obvious.

2. Prestarts with lockout. A failed critical item should stop the crane being allocated until it's fixed.

3. Maintenance and inspection tracking. Due dates, service history and alerts before a crane falls out of compliance.

4. Licence tracking. The system should know who's licensed for which crane, and when tickets expire.

5. Timesheets and payroll. Operator and dogman hours paid under the right EBA or award.

6. Dockets to invoices. Hours, standby and travel captured on site and turned into invoices without re-entry.

7. Works offline. Plenty of lifts happen where there's no signal.

8. Fits how you work. Your forms, your rates and your processes, not a generic template.

Where Cloudcon fits

Cloudcon runs crane hire in one place, from the booking to the invoice.

• Allocations: see which crane is on which job, and who's in the seat

• Utilisation tracking: hours on hire for every crane, with OEM telematics and GPS integrations

• Prestarts and lockout: you set what counts as a critical fail. When one is logged, the crane is flagged unavailable on the allocation board and the photo defect goes straight to the workshop queue

• Maintenance: service scheduling, preventive maintenance and full service history

• Training matrix: track operator, dogger and rigger licences so the right people are on the right crane

• Your forms, as they are: our team maps your existing lift plans, SWMS and dockets into digital forms, so your crew isn't learning a new format

• Operator pay: EBA and award interpretation built in

• Dockets to invoices: hours captured on site flow into invoicing, with Xero and MYOB integrations

• In the field: mobile app with offline access

Cloudcon is SOC 2 Type 1 certified, and your data is hosted in Australia on AWS Sydney.

Every crane hire business runs differently. Cloudcon is set up around how yours works, with a real support team behind it.

FAQ

What is crane hire software? Software that manages crane bookings, allocations, operators, maintenance, compliance records and invoicing in one system.

How do you track crane utilisation? Compare hours on hire against hours available for each crane. Capture hours, standby and travel on site, and use telematics where the crane supports it.

What compliance records do crane hire companies need? Typically registration where required, prestart and inspection records, service history, operator licences, lift plans and SWMS. Requirements vary by state and crane type.

Can crane hire software handle wet hire? Yes. Cloudcon manages the crane, the operator and the operator's timesheets together, including EBA and award interpretation.

Does crane hire software work without signal? Cloudcon's mobile app works offline and syncs when you're back in range.