Road roller: hire with an operator or buy used or new
Soil or asphalt: different rollers
A roller is chosen to suit the material. A single-drum vibratory soil roller compacts fill, crushed stone and sand. Asphalt is rolled with a tandem vibratory or a pneumatic-tyred roller: smooth drums give a level surface. For small areas, footpaths and trenches there are hand-guided vibratory rollers and plate compactors.
The weight of the roller decides the depth of compaction: light 1–3 tonne ones suit footpaths, medium 8–10 tonne ones suit roads and sites, and heavy ones suit big bases. For asphalt you must also consider the width of the drum.
Buy or hire
Hire with an operator is good value for a one-off repair of a road or a yard. Your own roller makes sense for a road crew. Before hiring, always find out who will bring the machine, because a roller travels only on a trailer.
What to put in your request
- Buy or hire — with or without an operator.
- Type of roller — soil, tandem vibratory, pneumatic.
- Weight — for example 8–10 tonnes.
- Scope of work — roll 1,500 m² of asphalt, and the thickness of the layer.
- Location — city, access for a trailer.
- Period — 2 shifts, a week.
- Model, year, engine hours — Hamm HD 12, not older than 2010, up to 4,000 hours.
- Budget — for example HK$78 per hour.
Example: “I need an 8–10 tonne tandem vibratory roller with an operator in Central for 2 shifts: rolling 1,500 m² of new asphalt. Budget about HK$78 per hour; please state delivery separately.”
How to find a roller through BlaBlaPrice
Describe the work in a request, and road roller owners in your region will reply in the chat: which machine, the rate, when they can come. They see where their offer ranks, so they compete on terms. The system shows the best one first, judged on what is offered, with reviews next to each. Contacts open only to the one you choose. Read more about the principle on the “How it works” page.
Details to agree
A roller and an asphalt paver work as a pair: the roller must finish while the mix is still hot. If you order both machines, their schedules must match, so it is better to state the date and the hour in your request.
- Whether travel time and idle time on site are charged.
- Whether it has vibration and a system to wet the drums with water for asphalt work.
- Whether fuel and the operator are included.
When buying used, ask to inspect the drums for dents and cracks, the drive hydraulics, the vibrator bearings and the engine hours. For earthworks, look at excavators, and find the rest of the machinery in the “Heavy equipment” section.
Safety and conditions on site
The roller operator works on an uneven base, so the site must be free of people and vehicles. Agree on a convenient entrance, a place for water and room for the machine to turn. For vibratory rollers near old buildings, ask whether vibration is acceptable nearby, as it can harm foundations. Weather matters too: a wet base compacts worse, so agree a spare date with the provider, especially in the rainy season.
