Hiab hire and haulage in Torquay
Torquay is built across a series of steep hills running down to the sea, and virtually every job here involves a gradient. The Victorian villas and hotels that make up much of the town sit above or below the road, rarely level with it.
That, plus a working harbour and marina, makes it a town where a crane on the lorry is not a luxury.
Access
Steep, seasonal and tightly parked
The residential roads winding up the hillsides are narrow and parked on both sides for most of their length, and many properties are reached by steps from the road rather than by a drive.
Setting up on a gradient is its own consideration. Outriggers need level, solid ground, and on some of these streets finding a spot that satisfies both takes longer than the lift does.
In summer the seafront and harbour area is slow and full, so harbour work is early work. The trade estates on the edge of town are straightforward at any time.
The work
Hotels, harbour and hillside properties
Hotel and guest house refurbishment drives a lot of the work here, and like everywhere seasonal it happens in a narrow winter window with a hard deadline at the end of it.
The harbour and marina bring boat, engine and equipment lifts, and the hillside housing produces a constant run of hot tubs, garden rooms and materials that cannot be carried in.
- Hotel and guest house refit materials, out of season
- Boat, engine and marine equipment at the harbour and marina
- Hot tubs and garden buildings into hillside gardens
- Steel and materials into conversion work
- Containers into yards and compounds on the edge of town
The lorry
What turns up in Torquay
One vehicle: a 30TM HMF hiab with 10 metres of reach on a cheesewedge body, carrying up to 10 tons. It brings the load and lifts it into place, so there is no second machine to arrange and nobody waiting about at either end.
Questions
Common questions about Torquay
- My garden is above the house — can you still reach it?
- Often, and it is a very common job in Torquay. What decides it is how far the garden is from where the lorry can stand and how much weight is going at that distance. A photograph from the road answers it quickly.
- Does the hill matter for setting up?
- Yes, more than most people realise. The outriggers need firm and reasonably level ground, and on the steeper streets that determines where we work from.
Nearby
We also cover
Some of these are over the county line, which makes no difference to us: we work both sides of the Tamar and there is no surcharge for crossing it. Each is labelled with the county it is actually in.
Devon
Paignton
Torbay's flatter town, which makes it considerably easier to work in than Torquay.
Devon
Newton Abbot
A railway town that turned into south Devon's main industrial centre.
Devon
Totnes
One of the steepest and narrowest main streets in Devon, with an arch across it.
Devon
Dartmouth
Steep, narrow and reached by ferry — one of the most demanding towns we work in.
Or see every town we cover in Devon.
Enquiry
Get a price for a job in Torquay
Tell us what is moving, roughly what it weighs, and how far it has to go from where a lorry can stand. That is usually enough for a straight answer.