Crane cost in Arlington comes down to the class and size of the crane, the billed hours measured against a minimum, whether an operator comes with it, the travel, and whatever permits, mats and rigging the job adds. None of the cost guides we read gives an Arlington crane rate. The table therefore shows national figures, each tied to the guide and date it came from, plus a national marketplace's Dallas averages where that marketplace prints them; neither is our price. It also lists public fees a lift can set off, from the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles' permits for moving a crane to the City of Arlington's traffic control, right-of-way and permit fees. Equipment rental adds delivery, fuel and a damage waiver on top of the daily, weekly or monthly rate.
| What the figure covers | Published price or public fee |
|---|---|
| Small crane, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | $200-$500/hr; crane-only day rate $300-$600 |
| Mobile crane, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | $300-$700/hr; mid-sized mobile crane alone $800-$1,500/day |
| Large crane, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | $500-$1,500/hr; crane alone upwards of $2,000/day |
| Cranes by tonnage, hourly, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | 50-ton $150-$300/hr; 100-ton $250-$600/hr; 200-ton $500-$1,000/hr |
| Rough-terrain crane, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | $300-$600/day |
| Crawler crane, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | $300-$1,500/hr; bigger units upwards of $2,000/day |
| Boom truck, national figure from ThePricer.org's crane rental guide, November 12, 2025 update | $100-$300/hr |
| Crane operator added to an hourly rental, national figure; crane guide of April 27, 2026 by a national equipment-rental marketplace | $50-$150/hr added to the hourly rate |
| Excavator, national averages in a national rental marketplace's March 2026 excavator guide | $719/day, $2,021/wk, $5,108/mo average; mini class $150-$400/day |
| Skid steer loader, national figures from HomeGuide's yard leveling cost guide dated January 16, 2026 | $200-$550/day; $750-$1,300/wk |
| Telehandler, Dallas row of a national marketplace's March 2026 averages (a Dallas figure, not Arlington) | Dallas $650/day, $1,658/wk, $3,498/mo; national average $665/day |
| Boom lift, Dallas row of a national marketplace's March 2026 averages (a Dallas figure, not Arlington) | Dallas $662/day, $1,649/wk, $3,441/mo; national average $580/day |
| Scissor lift, Dallas row of a national marketplace's March 2026 averages (a Dallas figure, not Arlington) | Dallas $262/day, $703/wk, $1,663/mo; national average $223/day |
| Forklift, Dallas row of a national marketplace's March 2026 averages (a Dallas figure, not Arlington) | Dallas $331/day, $916/wk, $2,342/mo; national average $391/day |
| Backhoe, national averages in a national rental marketplace's March 2026 backhoe guide | $582/day, $1,434/wk, $3,103/mo |
| Dozer, national averages in a national rental marketplace's March 2026 bulldozer guide, our one dozer source | $1,011/day, $2,828/wk, $7,571/mo |
| Texas Department of Motor Vehicles permit fees (TxDMV permit pages, no date shown) | Annual crane permit $100; mileage permit minimum $31; single trip $60, plus $150-$375 over 80,000 lb |
| City of Arlington Traffic Control Plan Fee (Temporary Traffic Control Permit form marked Rev 10.01.25) | $50 per traffic control plan |
| City of Arlington business registration for contractors working in the right-of-way (fee schedule effective June 1, 2026) | $100 one year; $175 two years |
| City of Arlington fee schedule effective June 1, 2026: site and building items a crane job can touch | Excavation/fill permit $125; demolition $200 per building; first HVAC system to 10 tons $40 |
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What Changes the Price?
Crane class, size and radius: Bigger capacity costs more per hour. The April 27, 2026 crane guide from a national equipment-rental marketplace ties larger cranes to heavier components and more counterweight choices, and notes that extra reach or capacity can push a pick into a larger, pricier class. ThePricer.org's November 12, 2025 guide names lift height, radius and exact load weight as what decides the crane, so the load's weight and its pick and set points come first when we quote.
Travel, routing and escorts: Each mile and each road rule shows up in the price. Long hauls, escorts and time-of-day limits all push rental pricing up, the marketplace guide says, and ThePricer.org reports that most providers charge portal to portal, with billing that begins as the crane leaves its yard, and lists escort trucks for counterweights as a cost. Around Arlington, oversize vehicles must stay off Tarrant County highways during TxDMV's weekday curfew hours, a limit mobile cranes are exempt from.
Ground, mats and access: A site that needs ground work costs more to set up. ThePricer.org lists crane mats where soil bearing limits are low, and the marketplace guide says tight access or poor ground conditions can increase costs. The Handbook of Texas describes the soils of Tarrant County's Blackland Prairie and Grand Prairie as clayey, and OSHA section 1926.1402 requires firm, drained and graded ground, with supporting materials if needed, before a crane is used.
Riggers, signal persons and overtime: Crew beyond the operator is billed separately. ThePricer.org names riggers, signal persons and spreader bars as charges of their own and says overtime runs time-and-a-half or double time under local agreements, while the marketplace guide prices an operator alone at $50-$150 an hour above a bare rate. When a lift plan calls for a rigger and a signal person, expect added lines on the written quote.
Delivery, fuel and damage waiver: Machines carry add-ons a crane quote may not. A national rental marketplace's March 2026 guides price telehandler delivery at $200-$500 or more each way, leave fuel out of dozer rates, and put damage waivers at 10-15% of the rental cost. The Comptroller's Rule 3.294 makes both the damage waiver fee and the lessor's delivery charge taxable.
Busy seasons and big projects: Demand moves prices as well. Busy seasons and big local projects can tie up cranes and lift rates, the marketplace crane guide says, and a national freight marketplace's 2023 heavy-equipment page reports that hauling prices can rise 10-20% in peak construction seasons. Big work around Arlington includes the Cowboys' stadium investment, due by 2043 under the lease extension the City announced on April 21, 2026, and TxDOT's Southeast Connector, estimated for completion in 2028.
Treat these numbers as a budget check rather than a price. Every one comes from a dated national guide, a national marketplace's Dallas averages or a public fee schedule, and none is an Arlington quote or a figure of ours. A firm number needs the load weight, lift and landing points, footing and access, any overhead wires, the job address and dates; for equipment, the machine, the task and the term. The written quote that follows costs nothing. TxDMV permits get fuller treatment on our heavy haul and machinery moving page, and delivery and fuel on the excavator rental page.
Operated or Bare, and How Texas Taxes Each One
Operated means the crane arrives with someone at the controls and the hours run against a minimum; bare means you take the machine and provide that person. Both appear side by side in the April 27, 2026 crane guide from a national equipment-rental marketplace. Its small-crane line reads $150-$350 per hour bare versus $200-$450 with an operator; mid-sized mobile cranes run $250-$600 bare versus $400-$750 operated; large cranes run $400-$1,200 or more bare versus $750-$1,200 or more operated. The guide adds that many companies insist on operated-and-maintained rentals for higher-capacity lifts because they reduce risk. On a bare rental, the employer answers for the operator under OSHA section 1926.1427. Our mobile crane rental page walks through the choice.
The Comptroller's Rule 3.294 sorts rentals three ways. With no operator, "Receipts from the lease of tangible personal property without an operator are taxable." With an operator on one charge, the deal is presumed to be a service, and no tax is charged unless the work is taxable under Tax Code chapter 151. Separate prices for machine and operator are presumed a lease, with tax on the machine's price, and "The separate charge for the operator will not be taxable unless a taxable service is being provided." The rule also says "Damage waiver fees are subject to tax." and taxes the lessor's transportation charges. Arlington's combined rate is 8.25 percent, the state's 6.25 percent plus the city's 2 percent in the Comptroller's table, and the quote lists any tax by itself.
Minimums, Portal-to-Portal Billing and Standby Time
A crane bill usually starts at a floor. The April 27, 2026 marketplace crane guide says hourly rentals come with a daily minimum somewhere between three and eight hours, ThePricer.org's November 12, 2025 guide calls four- to eight-hour minimums common for truck and all-terrain cranes, and HomeGuide's tree-moving guide of December 22, 2025 lists $350 to $1,500 as the minimum for an operated crane covering 4 to 6 hours. Travel time is usually on the clock as well: ThePricer.org notes that most providers charge portal to portal, which puts travel from the yard on the bill, and the marketplace guide says a short rental can still trigger both the minimum and that travel billing. Setup counts as billed time too, from deploying outriggers to assembling jib sections and test picks.
Standby is paid waiting time, and ThePricer.org counts standby or wait time when a site is not ready among the cost drivers. Arlington's rules bring fixed lead times that can leave a crane waiting: Public Works asks for at least three business days to review a traffic control plan, a line operator must get the Texas 48-hour notice before work closer than six feet, and soft ground may need mats before outriggers go down. When weather is the cause, we set a new date, and the standby terms are written into the quote before you book. The rigging and lift planning page covers the crew roles a quote can include.
What Heat, Storms, Clay and Event Days Do to a Schedule
Weather moves the calendar, and the quote's standby terms decide what a delay costs. At DFW, the NWS Fort Worth office's August 2026 summary shows 27 days at 100 degrees or more that month, and its records put thunderstorm days highest in May, at 7.7 on average. A wind limit can stop work even on a clear day: Liebherr's wind guide says crane operation must halt when wind exceeds the speed allowed by the load chart, and OSHA's crane rule makes the competent person adjust for wind. The crane cost guide we cite puts no price on weather delays. Our construction and weather data page carries the local record.
Clay and the calendar set limits of their own. ThePricer.org lists crane mats where soil bearing limits are low as an added cost, and the City of Arlington's right-of-way manual calls for plywood or a similar product so equipment does not rut pavement or ground. That manual also bars interfering with thoroughfare traffic in the weekday morning and evening peaks, stops Entertainment District work on the business day ahead of a special event, and requires written City approval for overnight right-of-way work. TxDMV's Tarrant County curfew for oversize vehicles covers the same weekday peaks, though mobile cranes are exempt. Which of these limits touch your date is something we spell out before it is set, and the permit guide lists each with its source.
Crane Rental Pricing Questions
How much does a 50-ton crane cost per day?
Nationally, $800 to $3,500 a day, per a national equipment-rental marketplace's crane guide issued April 27, 2026, which lists $150 to $300 an hour for the same size. That guide puts 100-ton cranes at $1,500 to $3,500 a day and 200-ton cranes at $2,500 to $12,000 a day. None of those is an Arlington price or ours. A day rate for a lift here turns on the hours, the minimum, travel, permits and whether an operator comes along, each shown on the written quote.
What does a crane cost for roof trusses or a hot tub?
Homeowner cost guides give national figures for both jobs. For trusses, Angi's truss guide (updated July 15, 2026) gives $300 to $1,000 for a crane and operator, depending on the time the job takes; HomeAdvisor's guide, updated in June 2026, gives that same range; and This Old House's truss guide, last updated June 5, 2026, quotes $200-$700 a day for a crane. For a hot tub, HomeGuide's November 21, 2025 guide lists $300 to $1,500 to crane the tub over a house. Your own lift is priced from its weight, the reach over the roof and the access.
How much is a TxDMV permit to move a crane?
A mobile crane running under TxDMV's annual unladen lift equipment permit pays $100 a year, with the crane limited to a 10-foot width and a gross weight of 120,000 pounds. For one trip, the mileage-based permit for unladen lift equipment costs at least $31 and is good for no more than seven consecutive days. Haul a machine on a trailer as an oversize load and the general single-trip permit applies: $60 for the permit, a highway maintenance fee from $150 to $375 for gross weights above 80,000 pounds, and a further $35 vehicle supervision fee past 200,000 pounds.
What does the City of Arlington charge to close a lane for a crane?
A $50 Traffic Control Plan Fee, due once the City notifies you, according to the City's Temporary Traffic Control Permit form, which also has you allow three or more business days for review. Contractors working in the right-of-way must hold a current City business registration as well, priced at $100 for a year or $175 for two. Breaking the permit's terms risks a $500 fine for each day. Short closures under four hours in a day need no permit unless they come back to the same spot within 30 days.
What do boom lifts and scissor lifts rent for near Arlington?
Boom lifts average $580 a day nationally and $662 a day in the Dallas row of a national rental marketplace's March 2026 figures, and scissor lifts average $223 nationally and $262 in Dallas. Its national size bands run $350-$700 a day for 40-60 ft booms and $600-$1,500 for 60-120 ft booms, while scissors run $100-$150 for a 19 ft electric deck and $400-$700 for 40-60 ft rough-terrain models. Delivery costs extra, and a Dallas figure is not an Arlington price. The boom lift rental page helps you pick a height.
Do you charge for weather delays?
We reschedule weather delays, and the written quote states how standby is charged before you book. The national crane cost guide we cite gives no price for weather delays, while ThePricer.org lists standby or wait time on an unready site as a separate cost. Storms come often: NWS Fort Worth records average 46.5 thunderstorm days a year at DFW, and after a local storm warning goes out, 29 CFR 1926.1417(h) requires the competent person to decide "whether it is necessary to implement manufacturer recommendations for securing the equipment."
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