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Getting started

Up and running
in about half an hour.

Most of that is typing in your rates. The dashboard walks you through it the first time, and you can stop and come back — it remembers where you got to.

  1. 01

    Sign up

    2 minutes

    Yard name, your name, email, and the address you want — breckland.planthirehq.com, or whatever suits. Card details go to Stripe; nothing is charged for fourteen days.

    • Your yard is built while you are still on the page — its own database, its own dashboard.
    • The sign-in details arrive by email a moment later.
  2. 02

    Change the password we sent you

    30 seconds

    The first password was generated for you and emailed, so treat it as temporary. Your dashboard prompts you on the first sign-in.

  3. 03

    Add your machine types and rates

    10 minutes

    A machine type is the thing a customer books: “3 Tonne Excavator”. Day rate, week rate, weekend rate, and the deposit you want held.

    • Set “needs verified ID” on anything you would not hand to a stranger.
    • The setup wizard walks you through the first one, then it is a minute each after that.
  4. 04

    Add your actual machines

    5 minutes

    Each physical unit with its serial number, under the type it belongs to. This is what gets allocated to a hire and what goes on the condition report.

    • Availability is fleet size minus what is committed, so this is what makes the numbers real.
    • Machines in the workshop can be marked as such and drop out of availability.
  5. 05

    Record your LOLER certificates

    10 minutes

    Examination date, next due date, and the certificate attached. Once these are in, you get a month’s warning before any of them lapse.

    • A machine whose certificate would run out mid-hire is not offered for that hire.
    • If a machine is not lifting equipment, leave it — the check only applies where you have recorded one.
  6. 06

    Set your opening rules

    2 minutes

    Closed Sundays is on by default, along with a two-day weekend minimum and Friday overnights returned by 8am Saturday. Change any of it to match how you actually work.

  7. 07

    Add your staff

    3 minutes

    Yard managers, desk staff and drivers. Drivers use the driver app for run sheets and condition reports; everyone else uses the dashboard.

When something is not working

The five things that come up most in the first fortnight.

A customer says they cannot book a machine
Usually one of three things: the machine is flagged as needing verified ID and theirs has not been signed off; there is nothing free over those dates; or the dates break one of your rules — a Sunday delivery, or a return that lands on one. The app tells them which, in plain words.
A machine is not showing as available
Check its status under Fleet → Individual machines. Anything marked as in the workshop or retired drops out of availability. Also check its LOLER certificate has not lapsed — a machine whose certificate would run out mid-hire is held back.
A document came back amber
Amber means a person needs to look, and most genuine documents land there. Open it under Compliance → ID checks, look at what was flagged, and accept or reject it. Your decision is what gates hiring, not ours.
A deposit did not go through
The booking still stands — we never lose a hire over a card. You will see it on the hire, and you can retry it or take the deposit another way. If it happens repeatedly, check your Stripe keys under settings.
A driver cannot sign in to the driver app
Driver accounts are yard staff accounts — create them under your own dashboard, not in the app. Check the account is not switched off, and that the app is pointed at your yard’s address.

Anything else, just ask

We are a small outfit and you will get a person, not a ticket number.

hello@planthirehq.com