The biggest driver is scope. Automating one thing, like drafting quote responses from an incoming enquiry so a human only has to check the numbers and hit send, is a smaller build than a system that also tracks lift plan documentation, certificate expiries, and operator qualifications, or one that handles scheduling across a fleet and multiple sites. A full custom product, such as a customer-facing portal where clients submit lift requirements and see live quote status, with logins, payments, and multi-site support, is a different scale of build again. More moving parts and more integrations, your CRM, your compliance tracker, your scheduling tool, means more build time.
The second driver is whether you want it built, or built and operated. A build-only engagement hands you a working system and steps back. Build-and-operate means we keep running it: watching that lift plan reminders actually fire before certificates lapse, that quote responses stay accurate as your rate card changes, that operator scheduling adapts when someone calls in sick. Ongoing operation costs more than a one-time build because it is ongoing work, not a one-off project. We also map the process first and say plainly what a system can own and what it can't: final sign-off on a lift plan, or an engineering judgment call about a tricky lift, stays with a qualified person. A system can prepare the paperwork and flag what's missing; it shouldn't be making the safety call.
We don't publish a price list, because the value a system creates for a crane hire operation depends on what it's replacing: hours spent chasing certificate renewals, enquiries that go cold because a quote took too long to turn around, an operator schedule managed on a whiteboard. We quote per engagement on that value, not by the hour. A reasonable way to judge it for yourself: list what your team spends the most repetitive time on each week, how much of it follows a pattern rather than requiring judgment, and what it costs you when it's late or wrong, a missed renewal, a lost quote. The heavier that list, the more a system is likely worth building. From there, the way to get an actual number is a short conversation about your specific workflow.