Much of the skill in heavy equipment moving happens inside the building, in the last few metres. A machine might need to come off a lorry, travel through a standard personnel door, turn a corner in a corridor, cross a finished floor and drop into a pit or onto anchor bolts. Rigging is the planned use of jacks, skates, rollers, gantries, chain blocks and forklifts to do that safely, with the load controlled at every stage.
Positioning is the precise part. Machines often have to sit within millimetres of a marked line, line up with other equipment in a production cell, or land on foundation bolts. We jack evenly to keep the machine level, move it on skates along a protected route, and lower it in stages onto packers or its levelling feet. This approach works well where a crane cannot reach, where headroom is low, or where the floor needs protecting from point loads.
What is included
- Route planning through doors, corridors, lifts and loading bays
- Machine skates, toe jacks, rollers and turntables sized to the load
- Hydraulic gantry or chain block lifting where the machine must be raised
- Counterbalance forklift work for loading and unloading
- Floor protection with steel plates, boards or timber to spread loads
- Accurate placement onto marked positions, pits or foundation bolts
- Removal of doors, frames or panels by arrangement where needed
Who it is for
- Installing a machine where a crane cannot reach the position
- Moving machines into basements, plant rooms or through narrow doors
- Repositioning machines within a factory during a layout change
- Placing equipment onto pits, plinths or anchor bolts
- Sites with finished floors that must not be damaged
- Removing old machinery to make room for new equipment
How much does it cost?
As a guide, repositioning a machine within the same building typically costs £300 to £900, with more complex rigging into basements or confined spaces priced after a survey. See our full cost guide.