Category: General

Picture the scene.

It’s a Saturday morning. You’ve got a coffee in hand and, with a hint of spring in the air, you’ve finally mustered the motivation to sort the thing you’ve been putting off for months – sanding those tired doors, freshening up the carpets, or tackling the jungle that used to be your garden.

But then comes the sudden realisation that you need a very specific bit of kit. A sander. A carpet cleaner. Maybe a hedge trimmer.

So you do what most of us do and Google “hire tools in Bristol.”

Up pop the usual suspects: tool hire companies, DIY shops, maybe even a supermarket carpet cleaner. A few clicks later you’re comparing day rates, deposits and opening hours.

There are some perfectly sensible options. But once you start adding up the costs, you might begin to wonder… is there a cheaper way?

Spoiler: there is.

The Typical Cost of Hiring Tools in Bristol

Let’s start with something common: sanding doors or furniture.

Even if you hire from the big brand that promises they ‘Can’t be Beaten on Price’, a small sanding machine can cost around over £28 for 24 hours or £33 for the weekend. 

That’s not outrageous. But then you realise you also need a drill to rehang the door and could do with a ladder to make it all a bit easier too… they’re going to cost you another £35 each. Before you know it, you can easily hit £100.

And that’s just one project.

What It Costs to Hire a Carpet Cleaner

Carpet cleaning is another classic “once or twice a year” job.

Across Bristol you can hire Rug Doctor machines from supermarkets and shops like:

• Tesco
• Asda Bedminster
• The Range at Avonmeads
• Timpson stores

Typical prices are around:

• £26 – £28 for 24 hours
• £33 for 48 hours  

Most hires are limited to 24 or 48 hours, with late fees if you run over – which can make it feel like a race against the clock.

So a quick refresh of the carpets could cost you unnecessary stress as well as the hire fee. Repeat that later in the year and it suddenly feels a lot less appealing.

Compare that to Share Bristol’s one-week borrowing period and the whole job feels far more doable… you can actually get round the house without rushing.

The List of Tools Quickly Grows

If you’re a regular DIY-er, the list of tools you might need to hire can grow pretty quickly, whether it’s because space is tight, you’re trying to live a bit more sustainably, or the dent in your wallet from the upfront cost of buying just doesn’t feel worth it.

People commonly hire things like:

• Pressure washers for patios and bikes
• Electric drills and hammer drills for the inevitable wall-mounting project
• Tile cutters for kitchen or bathroom upgrades
• Ladders for gutter clearing or decorating
• Hedge trimmers for the garden that suddenly exploded

Most of these cost £15 – £40 per day from hire shops. Buying them doesn’t always make sense either. A pressure washer or power tool could easily set you back £100, only to sit in a cupboard for most of the year.

So even a few small projects a year can easily add up to uncomfortable costs for tools.

The Cheaper Alternative

Now here’s the bit most people don’t realise.

Instead of paying every time you need a tool, Share Bristol works a bit like a library – but for cleaning kit, DIY gear, garden tools and more.

You simply pay an annual membership:

• £50 standard membership
• £20 concession membership (student or low income)
• £80 “pay it forward” membership (helping support others in the community)

And then you can borrow what you need throughout the year.

Sanders. Carpet cleaners. Drills. Gardening tools. Decorating kit. The lot.

How the Costs Compare

Let’s say in one year you:

• Hire an orbital sander for a weekend → £30 – £40
• Hire a carpet cleaner for 24 hours  → £26 – £28
• Hire a pressure washer for the patio → £25
• Hire a hedge trimmer for the garden → £50 (ouch!)

That’s easily well over £100 in hire costs.

Meanwhile:

A Share Bristol membership costs just £50 for the whole year.

Borrow two or three items and it’s already paid for itself.

Everything after that is basically free borrowing. And you can have loads of fun hiring other bits like tents and backpacks for your summer getaway to plates and cups to make your next gathering greener. 

What Our Members Say

Of course, the real proof is in the borrowing. Share Bristol members regularly discover that accessing the tools they need is not only easy, but far more affordable than traditional hire options.

Hazel, who used our Kingswood branch, shared her experience:

“Registered and have so far borrowed a sander and drill! So much cheaper than other hire places.”

William had a similar experience after tackling a tiling job:

“Fantastically simple transaction. We borrowed a tile cutter, which probably would have cost £100s if rented.”

Why Borrowing Often Works Better

Easier budgeting

Borrowing also makes budgeting simpler. Once you’ve paid your annual membership, you know you’re covered. If you don’t quite finish the job this weekend, there’s no stress about extra hire fees – you can simply borrow the tools again when you next have the time, at no additional cost.

A more relaxed timeframe to get the job done properly

When you borrow from us, you can usually keep items for a full week (or even two if nobody else is waiting to borrow). That means you can tackle projects at your own pace rather than cramming everything into a single day because “time is money.” With daily hire fees, it’s easy to feel pressured to rush or cut corners – borrowing gives you the breathing space to do the job properly.

Friendly advice with no sales pitch

Our team is here to help, not to sell. Many of the people you’ll meet at Share Bristol are volunteers who genuinely enjoy helping others fix, build and improve things. So if you need advice on a tool or a project, you’ll get honest guidance – without anyone trying to upsell you extra bits you don’t need.

Sharing Stuff: A Very Bristol Idea

There’s also something quite Bristol about the whole idea. We’ve always been good at community thinking and sustainability initiatives – from supporting local, independent shops to repair cafes and clothes swaps.

Instead of everyone owning tools they use once a year, a neighbourhood shares them. So while we may not be the first city to offer a ‘Library of Things’, it’s exactly the kind of creative, community-led thinking Bristol does best.

Less stuff sitting in cupboards.

Less unnecessary buying and waste.

More community.

It’s basically the modern version of borrowing a ladder from your neighbour, just a bit more organised.

Why Borrowing Makes Sense

Next time you find yourself searching for tool hire… it might be worth asking a different question first: Could I just borrow it instead?

For many Bristol households, one £50 membership with Share Bristol costs less than hiring just a couple of tools.

And you get a whole year of DIY possibilities thrown in.

Not bad for the price of a takeaway.

Browse the handy Things you can borrow instead of hiring here.