Spider crane hire · Sydney + Central Coast
Spider crane hire that fits where nothing else does.
A spider crane is a compact crane built for the sites a normal crane cannot get to: the backyard behind the house, the side path, the laneway, the factory floor, the slab three storeys up. Parramatta Cranes hires two Maeda spider cranes, the 285 and the 305, with a ticketed operator across Sydney and the Central Coast, 24 hours a day. They travel through a 750 mm gap, set up in the space you already have, and lift up to 2.98 tonnes. That is the whole reason they exist. When a truck crane cannot fit or cannot reach, the usual answer is a much bigger crane parked on the street, with a float, a road closure, traffic control and a day minimum before anything is lifted. A spider crane does the same lift from inside the site at $195 an hour.
- Access from 750 mm
- Sets up inside the site
- Up to 2.98 t · hook height to 12.5 m
- From $195/hr + GST, operator included
Where other cranes can’t fit or reach
The lift is the same. The crane bill isn’t.
Most of our calls start the same way: a builder has a beam, a pool shell or a glass panel to place, and the only crane that can reach it from the street is a big one. Here is how a spider crane changes that job:
A truck crane needs open, level ground beside the job and a clear boom path from the street. On a tight Sydney block that ground does not exist. A spider crane tracks through the gate or the front door and sets up in the yard itself, so the lift happens from 3 m away instead of 20.
To lift over a roof from the street you need reach, and reach means a much larger mobile crane, floated in, often with a road closure, traffic control and council paperwork. Those costs land before the first lift. A spider crane set up behind the house needs none of them.
When powerlines or neighbours rule out lifting over the top, the load goes through the building on our tracked carrier and a spider crane picks it up at the other end. We have walked 12 m beams through houses this way.
A short, low boom works under overhead lines, verandahs, carports and tree canopies where a full-size boom cannot swing at all, and where the alternative is dismantling something.
The 285 weighs 1,990 kg and fits through a doorway, so it lifts inside factories, shopping centres and heritage buildings, and on upper-floor slabs. There is no bigger crane that can do this job; the alternative is manual handling or a hoist.
The crane arrives on our truck, unloads at the kerb and tracks itself in. Travel to and from your site is quoted up front instead of a float fee, and because the crane sits inside the boundary there is usually nothing to close and nobody to direct.
How it manages that: four outrigger legs that each set to their own angle and length, so the crane levels itself on a slope, a garden bed or a slab, and a radio remote so the operator stands where they can see the load. The machinery is covered on the fleet pages; the point is where it lets you lift from.
Our spider cranes
Two spider cranes, one for every gap.
| Specification | Maeda MC285C-3 | Maeda MC305C-3 |
|---|---|---|
| Travel width | 750 mm | 1,280 mm |
| Max capacity | 2.82 t at 1.4 m | 2.98 t at 2.5 m |
| Max hook height | 8.7 m | 12.5 m |
| Max working radius | 8.2 m | 12.2 m |
| Full outrigger footprint | 4.8 × 4.7 m | 5.2 × 4.8 m |
| Confined setup | About 3.2 × 2.5 m, reduced chart | Short-leg modes, reduced chart |
| Machine weight | 1,990 kg | 3,900 kg |
| Control | Remote control, moment limiter | Remote control, moment limiter |
| Best for | Doorways, indoors, slabs, backyards through the house | Over-the-house reach, pool shells, second-storey steel, roof beams |
| Rate | $195 per hour + GST | $205 per hour + GST |
| Full spec + range chart | Maeda 285 | Maeda 305 |
Capacity depends on where the crane can stand relative to the load. A 2 tonne pool shell is straightforward at 3 m and impossible at 9 m, so send us the reach as well as the weight and we will confirm the machine in one call. Not sure which term fits your job? The mini crane hire Sydney page compares both machines for every kind of lift.
What Sydney hires spider cranes for
Over a single-storey roof with the 305 set up in the front yard, or down the side of the house on the tracked carrier to a spider crane waiting in the backyard. Either way, no big crane on the street.
Lintels and structural steel for wall removals and extensions, placed from inside the site and held while your crew fixes them off. See steel beam lifting.
Oversized panels, balustrades and shopfront glazing set to the millimetre with the Glassboy vacuum lifter on the hook. See glass lifter hire.
Packaged units, condensers and switchboards onto single and two-storey roofs and into plant rooms, from a crane parked in the driveway rather than the road.
Truss sets, timber packs and roof sheeting onto estate blocks where the truck cannot get past the neighbours or the site fence.
Landscaping stone, spas, bulk bags and pavers into backyards that are already built and landscaped, without driving anything heavy across the lawn.
On the job
Straight answers
Spider crane, spider lift, or something bigger?
They are different machines. A spider lift is a tracked aerial work platform that carries a person up in a basket. A spider crane lifts a load on a hook. We hire spider cranes, not spider lifts, so if you need to get a person up to a facade or a gutter, an access-equipment company is who you want. If you need to get a beam, a pool or a pane of glass somewhere, keep reading.
If your site has open ground and road frontage, a Franna or small mobile crane is often quicker and cheaper for a simple lift. A spider crane wins when the crane has to be inside the boundary, under something, or on something. The owner has years of Franna seat time, so the comparison on our Franna page is written from experience.
We are based at Rydalmere in Sydney and The Entrance on the Central Coast, and we work across greater Sydney, the Coast, the Hunter and regional NSW with travel quoted up front. For interstate jobs we can usually point you to a Maeda operator closer to you, so call anyway.
What the bigger crane would have cost
Compare the whole job, not the hourly rate.
A spider crane is $195 an hour for the Maeda 285 or $205 for the Maeda 305, operator included, plus travel and GST, with a six-hour minimum. On its own that number tells you little. The comparison that matters is what the alternative costs once a site forces you up to a bigger crane: a float in and out, a road closure with traffic control, council paperwork, and a full-day minimum on a machine several times the size, all before the first lift. On a tight block the spider crane replaces all of that with one truck at the kerb and a crane inside the boundary. Rates for the Glassboy vacuum lifter and the tracked carrier, plus worked examples, are on the mini crane hire Sydney page and the pricing guide.
How a spider crane hire runs
A photo of where the crane could stand, the narrowest gap on the way in, the load weight and where it has to land. A tape measure across the gap is worth a hundred words.
We choose the 285 or the 305, work out where it can stand in the space you have, and check the lift against the chart for that setup. See how to prepare your site.
The crane tracks in from the street to the setup point, the outriggers go out onto their mats, and the crane levels itself. No float, no road closure.
Operator and dogman run the lift by remote, the crane packs down, and it tracks out to the truck. Most residential lifts finish inside the six-hour minimum.
The numbers that matter
Frequently asked questions
What makes a crane a spider crane?
How much does spider crane hire cost compared with a bigger crane?
How much room does a spider crane need to set up?
Can a spider crane set up inside a building with a low ceiling?
Can a spider crane lift near powerlines or in a tight backyard?
Do I need a licence to have a spider crane on site?
What is the difference between a spider crane and a spider lift?
What is the difference between a spider crane and a mobile crane?
Can a spider crane lift a pool or a beam over my house?
Do you hire spider cranes outside Sydney?
Related
Got a quote for a big crane you do not want to pay? Text a photo of the site to 0434 242 777 and we will tell you whether a spider crane can do the lift from inside the boundary instead.