TMA Vehicle Rental for Road Projects – A Totally Comprehensive Guide

There’s a reality check that you need to make quick: most contractors are planning concrete, their crew’s schedules, and their material deliveries, down to the day.

Many fewer people make an exact prediction when their safety vehicle arrives, how long it will remain, or when it really must depart.

The difference isn’t costing money openly, it’s costing money in the dark, week after week, without anyone realizing.

This guide takes the concept of project timing and how to rent the proper vehicle at the proper time and examines the rental of a TMA vehicle in that context.

The Importance of Timing, Exceeding Expectations

There are several phases of all road projects and each phase has a different risk profile.

Early mobilization is not like the mid-range of the active work is not like the final phase of the wind-down before handover.

A TMA that appears too early costs the landowner money for the rental but does nothing to protect them and a crew that arrives too late leaves them vulnerable at exactly the time when they needed protection the most.

A lot of extra cost sneaks in when the decision to do a TMA rental is not a phased one, but rather a single line item decision.

Phase One: Mobilization – Before the Crew Starts to Touch the Road

The first phase, called “Mobilization” is before the crew touches the road.

Mobilization is the setup phase and we are often surprised by the amount of work that has to be done before any roadwork can commence.

During this time frame, the setup of the site, acquisition of the required permit, equipment and manpower mobilization, and preliminary requirement fulfillment before the main work begin is performed.

For a TMA specifically, mobilization involves verifying that the unit’s crash rating corresponds with the speed of the road that the unit is operating on, obtaining the required RTA or Trakhees approval for the zone, and agreeing to exact delivery time with the rental provider.

Treat the start-up phase as a project and not a formality to make the beginning of the project more controlled.

A frequent unnecessary cost is introducing the TMA too early in this stage.

While permits are not yet approved, the truck is sitting idle, making no deliveries and accruing rental days.

Phase Two: Active Work – The TMA Earns Its Keep

As soon as the work begins, the role of the TMA becomes a continuous and active one, not a standby one.

Here is where it is most important to practice positioning discipline.

Static jobs require the unit to be set up properly behind the job site for the duration.

When moving jobs, such as line painting or debris clearing, the unit has to be moved constantly, with a safety margin always ahead of the crew.

This is also the time when fleet scaling issues will come to the fore.

Say, if a project gets busier than anticipated and several crews are performing parallel sections, another shadow vehicle might be needed instead of extending one vehicle to cover more distance than it can cover and defend.

This is where the flexibility of renting comes in particularly.

Renting a second truck when needed for a quick surge does not create the burden.

Phase Three: Mid-Project Reviews

A long project isn’t just a project for the duration of a few months.

The flow of traffic changes, work fronts advance, and sometimes even the area of excavation enlarges or shrinks depending on what crews discover as they begin excavating.

When renting a TMA on day one, this does not mean that it will be correct on day 400.

Checking if the rented unit still fits in with the site conditions, traffic speed and positioning of the crew isn’t too much to ask for.

Just maintaining the safety setup as the project goes.

A rental company worth keeping will be willing to review with you during your lease, not just as it was initially designed.

Phase Four: Demobilization – The Phase Most Contractors Underplan

The last phase is Demobilization, the phase most contractors underplan.

It’s here that the real money leaks start, and is a recurring occurrence in construction, not just on roads.

Nearly all the planning effort is put into mobilization, but almost none into demobilization – a mistake as a disorganized wind-down wastes money and can generate liability problems.

When applied to TMA rental, it’s estimated that equipment remains on site for days when not in use because nobody has scheduled an equipment pick up, so rental fees continue to be accrued the whole time.

The best of all the wasted spends is having a TMA that has completed its task on a Thursday, but isn’t picked up until the following week, surely done by habit, not need!

The solution is simple.

Coordinate the timing of equipment removal with equipment mobilization, so that it is not a surprise closeout.

Make the anticipated conclusion date part of the rental contract from the beginning of the shoot and give the rental company plenty of notice of when the shoot is at an end, not after it’s done.

This Lifecycle View Will Change the Rental Conversation

There’s a reason for that.

Most quotes for renting are based on a flat daily or weekly price and though this sounds reasonable it contains a planning problem.

If you are aware that your project will require two weeks of mobilization prior to the need for the TMA, be sure to let everyone know and arrange for a later mobilization date instead of paying for two weeks of non-productive work.

Likewise, when your project is to be finished at a fixed and agreed time (under contract), add the return date of the TMA to that same calendar from the beginning.

Rental companies tend to favor this kind of thinking, as it minimizes the last minute flurry of the company’s work as well.

A Practical Example of Lifecycle Thinking

Imagine an over a six-month highway widening project.

The process of mobilisation is three weeks with permits cleared and traffic management plan approved.

The TMA moves down the corridor once per week as the work front moves on, and the active work lasts about 5 months.

The unit’s location is confirmed as being in the same location as the work zone at the approximately three month mark in the project.

Demobilization is planned two weeks prior to the end of the project when the last section of the project requires no active vehicle protection.

There’s not a complicated structure in that.

It simply involves drawing the actual rental period of the TMA over the actual phases of the project, not just renting “for the duration”.

Questions to Ask Before Signing a Rental Contract

There are a number of questions you need to ask your rental company.

Some straight forward questions show if a provider thinks this way as well.

Is the rent start date subject to a contract before the permit is approved or fixed from the time you sign the contract?

What are the procedures in case of change in the scope of work?

And most importantly, how much time does it take for them to demobilize and pick up without having to wait on site and pay daily parking fees after the work is finished?

Providers who can speak to these answers with answers, and not appear baffled by the questions, are likely to be those who have participated in road projects before and been able to support them throughout their life cycles.

The Bottom Line on TMA vehicle rental for road projects

Road projects that involve TMA vehicle rental are best planned around the actual phases of the project and not viewed as one flat rental period from start to finish.

Avoid taking too long to mobilize and demobilize due to timing, maintain an honest position throughout the work phase, revisit mobilization/demobilization if the conditions change during the project and mobilize and demobilize as carefully as they were set up.

In this way, the rent does not take up the time of the truck without any action and cost you for days and days, but becomes part of your project’s actual rhythm.