If your skid steer is only equipped with a bucket, you’re probably leaving money on the table. Attachments are purpose-designed to excel at specific jobs. That said, you may only carry out those jobs two or three times a year. That’s the case for renting them. A hydraulic breaker or auger you use a few times a season doesn’t justify a purchase, storage space, or maintenance. Rented for the job, it turns what was once subcontracted work into billable labor.
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When Renting an Attachment Beats Buying One
It may seem intimidating, but the math is simple. If you use a tool most weeks of the season, you can justify owning it. If you use it in bursts, or in highly specific scopes, rent it.
Attachments represent minimal risk from a rental standpoint. You’re not dealing with an operator training curve or transportation troubles; you’re simply matching the necessary attachment to your machine.
Hydraulic Breakers
A breaker turns a skid steer into a demolition machine. Concrete pads, footings, frozen ground, ledge, and old sidewalk all come apart faster with a breaker than with a bucket.
Pay attention to hydraulic flow. Breakers are sized to a specific flow range, and running one on a machine that’s not up to spec will run weak and slow. Confirm your machine’s flow rating before you book a rental.
Breakers also change how you plan the day. Debris volume goes up fast, so line up hauling before you start.
Hydraulic Augers
Augers handle fence posts, sign posts, deck footings, and tree plantings. On a skid steer, they’re far faster and easier on crews than a two-person hand auger.
Diameter and soil type matter more than the drive unit. Digging in New England soil means digging through rock, ledge, or heavy cobble. A standard bit will struggle here. Ask our crew about rock bits or a rock auger if you know you’re working on a particularly challenging site.
Angle Brooms and Pickup Brooms
Brooms are the most underrated rental attachment on the list, and the most seasonally useful in the Northeast.
An angle broom pushes material to the side. It’s fast for clearing lots, sweeping construction debris, and moving light snow. A pickup broom collects material into a hopper instead of pushing it, which matters on sites where you can’t just move the mess somewhere else.
Fall is broom season. Leaf and grit cleanup on commercial lots, post-paving sweeping, and site cleanup before a winter shutdown all run on them. They also do double duty on light snow when you can’t quite justify a plow on site.
Power Rakes
A power rake prepares soil for seed or sod. It breaks up compacted surface, windrows rock and debris, and leaves a graded seedbed in one pass.
For landscape and site restoration crews, it replaces hours of hand raking. It’s a specialty tool by definition, which is exactly what makes it ideal for rental rather than purchase for most crews.
Pallet forks belong in the same conversation. They’re simple, but a rented set beats borrowing one that doesn’t fit your coupler.
Check Your Machine’s Hydraulics First
Before you reserve any hydraulically driven attachment, confirm three things about your skid steer:
- Auxiliary hydraulic flow rate, and whether it’s standard or high flow
- Coupler style and whether it matches the attachment
- Electrical connection, if the attachment needs in-cab control
Mismatches here are the most common reason a rental day gets wasted. Have your machine’s make, model, and hydraulic specs ready when you call the rental desk.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I rent an attachment for my own machine?
As a rule of thumb, yes. Contact your local United Construction & Forestry for compatibility information based on your machine’s coupler and hydraulic flow.
Do I need high-flow hydraulics for a breaker?
This depends mostly on breaker size and the material you’re working with. Smaller units can run on standard flow, while larger ones need high flow to perform up to spec.
What’s the most useful attachment for fall work in the Northeast?
For most crews, a broom. Lot cleanup, post-paving sweeping, and light snow all run on the same tool, which stretches the rental across more billable days.
