Tipper truck
hire rates.
Indicative hire rates per hour for rigid tippers from 2 to 14 tonne plus truck and dog and truck and quad combinations — with day rates and how cartage is actually priced in an estimate.
Tipper truck hire rates in Australia
Tippers are the cartage backbone of civil work — spoil off site, bedding sand and road base in. They are priced by the hour and, unlike most plant, are almost always wet hired with a driver. The benchmarks below cover rigid bodies from 2 to 14 tonne plus the truck and dog and truck and quad combinations that do the long hauls, from the same data behind our machine hire rate calculator.
Indicative hire rates
| Size | Dry hire | Wet hire* | Wet day (8 hr)* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Ton | $10/hr | $100–$115/hr | $790–$910 |
| 4 Ton | $16/hr | $110–$125/hr | $890–$1,010 |
| 6 Ton | $18/hr | $130–$145/hr | $1,020–$1,140 |
| 8 Ton | $25/hr | $145–$160/hr | $1,150–$1,270 |
| 10 Ton | $29/hr | $170–$185/hr | $1,360–$1,480 |
| 12 Ton | $37/hr | $185–$200/hr | $1,500–$1,620 |
| Bogie / Tandem (14 t payload) | $45/hr | $215–$230/hr | $1,700–$1,820 |
| Truck & Dog (32 t payload) | $63/hr | $260–$280/hr | $2,090–$2,250 |
| Truck & Quad (40 t payload) | $73/hr | $290–$310/hr | $2,310–$2,470 |
Articulated dump trucks, Hydremas and site dumpers have moved to their own guide — see dump truck hire rates.
Tippers are typically wet hired with a driver; dry rates shown for completeness. Wet hire shown at $2.00/L diesel and a typical operator rate band for the machine — put your own fuel price and operator rate into the machine hire calculator for an exact figure. Indicative benchmarks, ex GST, guide only.
Choosing the truck for the job
2–4 tonne tippers suit tight metro streets, small service crews and landscape quantities. 6–8 tonne covers general utility work where access is average. 10–12 tonne is the production cartage band for mains jobs — big enough for real volume, still street-legal and manoeuvrable. A bogie / tandem at 14 tonne payload is the biggest single rigid body in common use. Past that, truck and dog (32 t) and truck and quad (40 t) combinations beat rigid tippers on cost per cubic metre for long hauls — fewer trips for the same volume, though they need room to turn and a decent standing area. Off-road haulage inside the site is a dump truck job, not a tipper job.
What moves the price: haul distance and cycle time, tip fees (charged on top), waiting time at the excavator, site access, and minimum engagements. On spoil jobs, the tip fee frequently costs more than the truck.
Frequently asked questions
How much does tipper truck hire cost per hour?
Indicatively, rigid tippers run from about $100–$115/hr wet for a 2 tonne body up to $215–$230/hr for a bogie / tandem, with a truck and dog or truck and quad around $260–$310/hr. Tippers are almost always wet hired with a driver, since the driver needs the licence for the truck.
Is tipper hire wet or dry?
Almost always wet. Unlike excavators, a tipper needs a licensed driver on public roads, so the driver comes with the truck. Dry tipper hire exists mainly for site-only water carts and moxies on large earthworks jobs where your own operators hold the tickets.
What is a moxy?
A moxy is an articulated off-road dump truck. It hauls bulk material inside a site where road trucks can't legally or practically run: soft ground, steep haul roads, large cut-to-fill earthworks. It is not road registered, so material leaving site still needs road tippers. Rates for the CAT 725 to 740, the Hydremas and the site dumpers are in our dump truck hire rates.
How is cartage usually priced in an estimate?
Short-haul site cartage is priced by the wet hourly rate. Off-site cartage of spoil or import is more often priced per cubic metre or per load, built from the hourly rate, cycle time (load, haul, tip, return) and the tip fee. The hourly benchmarks here are the starting point for that build-up.
More rate guides: excavators, dump trucks, water carts, rollers, loaders, graders, dozers, scrapers, asphalt pavers, asphalt profilers, backhoes & skid steers. Or price any of 93 machines in the machine hire rate calculator.
Pricing the whole job?
Machine rates are one line in a real estimate. For water, sewer or stormwater work priced end to end, send the drawings. Acknowledged within two hours during AEST business.