Dozer Hire in South Africa
Free quotes from plant hire companies across South Africa. One request, no obligation.
- Size class
- 8–40 t · tracked
- Gets to site
- On a lowbed
- Job stage
- Dig & load
Dozer hire gives you a tracked machine with a heavy front blade, and often a rear ripper, for pushing, spreading and levelling large volumes of soil and rock. PlantHiring.co.za is a free quote service. You fill in one form and we send your request to independent plant hire companies near your site, who quote you directly. We do not hire, operate or transport any machines ourselves, and there is no fee or obligation. Tell us the job, the rough area and the ground, and local suppliers will price a suitable dozer.
When bulldozer hire is the right call
A dozer earns its rate where soil must move a short distance in bulk. Bulldozer hire is common for:
- Clearing bush, stumps and rubble before a project starts
- Cutting and filling building platforms and terraces
- Building farm dams, walls and contour banks
- Ripping hard ground or soft rock before digging
- Pushing up and shaping stockpiles at mines and quarries
For loading trucks you still need an excavator or front end loader, and a grader usually follows to trim the final levels.
Choosing a dozer size for your site
Small dozers of around eight to twelve tonnes suit estates, sports fields and tight sites. Mid-size machines are the workhorses of earthworks, and many contractors ask for D6 dozer hire as shorthand for that class. Large dozers of thirty tonnes and more belong on mines, dam walls and heavy ripping. Bigger is not always cheaper per cubic metre: a large machine needs a wider lowbed, may need an abnormal-load permit and can be wasted on a small job. Describe the volume, the haul distance and whether there is rock, and let suppliers propose a size.
What drives the cost of dozer hire
Dozers are almost always hired wet, with an experienced operator, and charged per hour with a minimum of several hours a day or a set number of hours per month on long contracts. A quote normally includes:
- The hourly or daily rate for the machine and operator
- Diesel, either included or charged by the litre
- Lowbed transport to site and back, priced each way by distance
- Standing time when rain or other trades stop work
- A deposit or account application for new customers
Summer thunderstorms inland and winter rain in the Cape can turn clay to mud, so agree on wet-weather standing time before the machine arrives. Our plant hire rates page explains how to compare quotes.
Site safety and access
The OHS Act and Construction Regulations 2014 expect a competent operator, a daily machine check and a site where people keep clear of a working dozer. Mark buried services, overhead lines and steep edges before work starts, and get municipal wayleaves if you dig near road reserves. Confirm the lowbed can reach the offloading point: soft verges, low bridges and sharp gates stop a long trailer. Ask the supplier for the operator's competency card and the machine's last service record.
What to include in your request
- Describe the work: clearing, platform, dam or ripping
- Give the area, depth of cut and any rock
- State the start date and expected duration
- Note lowbed access, gates and soft ground
Dozer Hire on different jobs
- House plots and renovations: clearing an overgrown smallholding stand and pushing a rough platform before a house goes up
- Housing estates and townships: stripping topsoil and pushing bulk fill across new township stands and internal road lines
- Shopping centres, offices and schools: cutting and filling a large terraced platform for a shopping centre and its parking
- Factories, warehouses and logistics parks: levelling and ripping a warehouse platform before layer works and compaction start
- Roads, pipelines and civil works: pushing cut to fill along a new road alignment and shaping embankments
- Mines and quarries: ripping overburden, pushing up stockpiles and maintaining haul roads and tip heads
- Farms, dams and game lodges: building dam walls, clearing bush and cutting contour banks on cropland
Frequently asked questions
Does PlantHiring.co.za hire out dozers?
Can I hire a dozer without an operator?
How long does a dozer need to be on site?
Is a dozer better than a TLB for clearing?
Dozer Hire by province and city
- Johannesburg
- Pretoria
- Centurion
- Midrand
- Sandton
- Randburg
- Roodepoort
- Krugersdorp
- Randfontein
- Germiston
- Boksburg
- Benoni
- Kempton Park
- Alberton
- Vanderbijlpark
- Vereeniging
- eMalahleni (Witbank)
- Middelburg
- Secunda
- Mbombela (Nelspruit)
- Rustenburg
- Brits
- Klerksdorp
- Potchefstroom
- Polokwane
- Tzaneen
- Lephalale
- Kimberley
- Kathu
- Upington
- Bloemfontein
- Welkom
- Sasolburg
- Durban
- Pinetown
- Pietermaritzburg
- Richards Bay
- Newcastle
- Ladysmith
- Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
- East London
- Kariega (Uitenhage)
- Cape Town
- Bellville
- Paarl
- Stellenbosch
- George
- Worcester
More plant and equipment for hire
Dig & load
Machines that excavate, trench, load and clear
Haul & lift
Trucks that move material, machines that lift it
Compact & finish
Level, compact and mix for layer works and slabs
Site power & tools
Power, breaking, small plant and access
Plant hire services
Hire with operators, rates and buying equipment