Plant-Hire Cost Control
Stop paying for plant-hire mistakes you never spotted.
HireRecover checks plant-hire invoices against agreed rates, hire dates, off-hire records and supporting documents to identify potential overcharges before they disappear into project costs.
No commitment•Documents can be anonymised•Human-reviewed findings
Invoice Audit
Plant Hire — Sample Batch
Invoices reviewed
68
Potential findings
9
Potential value
£4,760
Rate mismatch
13T Excavator
Agreed £500/wk — Charged £575/wk
Post-off-hire billing
14m Telehandler
Off-hire 24 Jul — invoiced through 31 Jul
Duplicate charge
Invoice #18493
Transport line billed twice
The Problem
Plant hire creates many opportunities for small billing errors.
Construction teams manage hired plant across shifting sites, suppliers and paperwork — all moving at different speeds. Individual discrepancies can look small on their own, but across projects and suppliers they may compound into a meaningful potential cost. This does not mean every contractor is being overcharged — it means the volume of detail makes issues easy to miss without a dedicated check.
Where discrepancies typically creep in
- 1
Rate agreed
- 2
Plant delivered
- 3
Hire tracked
Risk point
- 4
Off-hire requested
Risk point
- 5
Invoice received
Risk point
- 6
Payment
What We Find
The principal checks behind every audit
Each review checks invoices against agreed rates, dates, quantities and supporting documentation for issues such as these.
Rate Mismatches
Compare invoiced plant rates against the rate that was actually agreed.
Example: agreed £420/wk, charged £510/wk
Post-Off-Hire Billing
Identify equipment potentially billed beyond its recorded off-hire date.
Duplicate Charges
Flag potentially repeated invoices or hire lines.
Hire Period Errors
Compare invoice periods with supporting hire records.
Transport & Extras
Highlight delivery, collection or other charges that differ from agreed supporting records.
Quantity Discrepancies
Compare billed quantities against hire records.
How It Works
A straightforward, document-led process
No software to install and no meeting required to begin.
Send a sample
You provide a small set of plant-hire invoices and whatever supporting records you have available.
HireRecover reviews them
Rates, dates, quantities, duplicates and extras are checked against your supporting records.
Receive the findings
You receive a concise, evidence-backed report highlighting anything worth investigating.
See The Output
This is what a HireRecover finding looks like
Every finding is backed by evidence you can check yourself — invoice references, dates and figures, not a generic score. The example below uses demonstration data only.
Audit Summary
Demonstration- Invoices reviewed
- 68
- Potential findings
- 9
- Potential value
- £4,760
- High-confidence value
- £3,540
“Potential” figures are items worth investigating, not confirmed overcharges or guaranteed recoveries.
Invoice AP-3188
Post-off-hire billing
Why It Adds Up
Even small discrepancies can become meaningful at scale.
Where a business processes significant plant-hire spend, even a small percentage of billing discrepancies can add up to a figure worth investigating.
Illustrative calculation
Illustrative only£500,000
Annual plant-hire spend
1%
Discrepancies identified
£5,000
Requiring investigation
An illustrative example, not a statistic and not based on HireRecover customer results.
Free Initial Audit
Start with a small historical sample.
Send a small sample of historical plant-hire invoices and supporting records. HireRecover will review them and provide a clear breakdown of potential discrepancies — free of charge.
Ideally, include
- 5–15 plant-hire invoices
- Rate sheets or quotes
- Purchase orders, if available
- Hire / off-hire records
- Delivery or collection records, if available
Don’t have everything on this list? That’s fine — you do not need perfect or complete records to get started.
How We Work With You
Trust built through process, not promises
HireRecover is a new service. Rather than ask you to take our word for it, here is exactly how findings are produced and how your documents are handled.
Evidence-backed findings
Each issue shows the supporting invoice, rate or date evidence behind it — not just a score.
Potential vs. confirmed
Potential discrepancies are clearly separated from confirmed recoveries. Nothing is presented as guaranteed.
You stay in control
Whether and how to raise anything with your supplier is entirely your decision.
Confidential handling
Your documents are used only for the purpose of the agreed review.
Anonymisation available
Where appropriate, supplier and project details can be anonymised before review.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
If your question isn't answered here, get in touch and we'll respond directly.
We check plant-hire invoices against agreed rates, hire and off-hire dates, quantities and any supporting purchase orders or delivery records you provide — looking for rate mismatches, post-off-hire billing, duplicate charges, hire period errors, unexpected extras and quantity discrepancies.
Ideally a small batch of plant-hire invoices along with whatever supporting records you have — rate sheets or quotes, purchase orders, hire/off-hire confirmations, and delivery or collection paperwork. You don't need a complete set to get started.
Around 5–15 invoices is usually enough for an initial review. You're welcome to send more or fewer — we'll let you know if anything further would help.
Yes. Where appropriate, you can redact or anonymise supplier names, project references and other identifying details before sending them over — the review can still be carried out on that basis.
It helps, since it lets us confirm the exact rate that was agreed, but it isn't essential. Quotes, framework agreements or written confirmation of rates can also be used.
You'll still receive a short report confirming what was reviewed and that no discrepancies were identified. There's no cost or obligation either way.
No. Findings are potential discrepancies worth investigating, based on the documents provided. We clearly separate potential issues from anything confirmed, and you decide what to do with each finding.
This depends on the number of invoices and documents provided, but an initial sample review is typically turned around within a few working days.
No. HireRecover does not contact your suppliers on your behalf. You remain in full control of whether and how any finding is raised.
Yes. Reviewing a small sample batch of historical invoices is free of charge and carries no obligation to continue afterward.
Contact
Request your free audit
Tell us a little about your business and we’ll follow up with how to send over your invoices.
Prefer email?
james@hirerecover.com