Should I use a local skip hire company or a skip broker?

Whether you’re a domestic customer looking for skip hire for a one-off small project or a large commercial organisation that regularly hires skips, being skip hire savvy can save you money and a whole heap of inconvenience.

Specifically, we’re talking about whether it’s best to directly hire a skip from a local skip hire company or use a skip hire broker to find the most suitable skip hire supplier for your needs.

At 1^st Choice Concrete & Skip Hire, we offer a personalised, local service that we’d happily challenge any skip hire broker to be able to deliver.

Confident? Yes.

Here’s why.

A personal, local service over a remote national provider

When you contact your local skip hire company you speak to someone who knows the area in which you live and is accountable, locally, for the level of customer service they provide. Their reputation is everything and they operate accordingly.

A skip broker is more likely to be a national company, or at best regional, that may struggle to match the local knowledge and/or personal service of your friendly, local skip hire company. While they may be a reputable firm with strong credentials, they may not be able to offer the responsive, personal service you need when hiring a skip for the first time or for booking a series of skips one after the other.

Because many skip brokers manage their skip bookings online, the personal touch can sometimes be lost and customers can often have no direct access to a familiar voice on the end of a phone when raising queries. Instead they may be met with chatbots or online forms that are can be less likely to provide a speedy resolution.

Consistency of skip hire service levels

If you’re a contractor or a commercial or industrial company that books skips regularly, by dealing directly with a skip hire company in your local area, you’ll always be dealing with the same firm. In many cases you’ll even deal with the same person with whom you can build familiarity and trust.

You’ll know that no matter how many times you book a skip with that company, you’ll always expect and benefit from a high level of service because the skip hire firm knows you, your business and how they can best serve your needs.

Bookings through a skip hire broker can cost more than direct bookings with a skip hire company

Skip hire brokers can have have a lot of expenses to cover. They often manage a portfolio of skip hire companies which need to be vetted and then monitored annually to ensure they’re fully licensed and insured to carry waste, otherwise the broker’s reputation can be at stake. The costs associated with managing the portfolio often have to be passed onto customers within their mark-up which covers the cost of their systems, order administration, time, and so on.

Communication can be more reliable with a local skip hire company than a skip broker

By using a skip broker, you’re essentially adding in an extra link in to the supply chain, which has the potential to make lines of communication between customer and service provider weaker. This can lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings between the customer and the skip hire company. Such miscommunication is sometimes due to a lack of local knowledge.

By dealing directly with a local skip hire company there’s less chance of communication mishaps occurring because there is no third party involved.

A local skip hire company can offer the option to open an account

A local skip hire company may be more likely to offer the option to open an account due to familiarity and trust which can make payments for hiring skips more manageable. This is particularly beneficial to companies that rely on the regular supply of skips for the smooth-running of their operation.

When local isn’t local – Google discrepancies

If you use Google or other search engines to look for a skip hire company by typing in, for example, ‘skip hire Liverpool’ or ‘skip hire near me’ you’ll be presented with results from a seemingly long list of skip hire companies.

While some of the companies will genuinely be Liverpool based, others will be skip brokers who could be based many miles from Liverpool. Their websites have been optimised to return ‘local’ results regardless of which area they’re actually located in. As such, even though you might prefer to deal with a local company, this may prove difficult and you may not be aware of this until the skip arrives.

Supporting your local community

By dealing directly with your local skip hire company instead of going through a skip broker you’re supporting a local business and, ultimately, your local community rather than a national brand.

Supporting local is now very much on the agenda of homeowners and businesses alike because, by supporting a local business, you help the workforce and boost the local economy.

Contact 1st Choice Concrete & Skip Hire to book your skip hire direct

Cut out the middleman and get in touch with your friendly, local team to book your skip hire.