Renting a crane to set roof trusses in Naples

Do you need a crane to set trusses?

On a one-story garage with short trusses, a crew can sometimes hand them up. On most Naples houses, no. Trusses land on top of the walls, a story or two up, and a 36 foot truss is a long, flexible piece that bends sideways if it’s lifted wrong. A boom truck picks each truss off the stack and hands it to the crew on the wall, one after another.

The pick is also safer. Hansen Buildings, which designs truss packages, tells builders flatly to use equipment rather than lift trusses by hand.

How heavy is a roof truss?

Lighter than the crane, every time. The truss maker’s drawings list the real weights. For planning, here are rough single-truss figures from a supplier:

What sizes the crane is reach. If the truck can park beside the wall, a small boom truck sets the whole roof. If the far wall is 60 feet back across a pool or a lot full of block, the crane needs more boom, and capacity drops as the boom reaches out.

What a truss-setting crane costs

Truss sets are mostly billed by the hour, so the crew’s readiness is the price. A crane waiting on a wall to be braced is billed the same as a crane lifting. The crane cost breakdown shows how to compare two quotes line by line, and the towns we cover page shows drive times, which travel is billed on.

Estimate your crane job

Weight, reach and the site. You get the crane class to ask about and your planning flags right here. The cost band and prep checklist come with the Pick Sheet.

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How the crane sets trusses

1. Walls ready and braced

   SBCA says to connect every bearing wall, column, header and beam before trusses go up. Stopping mid-set to fix a wall is dangerous, and the crane clock keeps running.

2. Rig each truss right

   Pick at the top chord near the joints, never by the peak or the webs. Up to 30 feet, two pick points about half the truss length apart work. From 30 to 60 feet, BCSI calls for a spreader bar 1/2 to 2/3 of the truss length.

3. Tag lines and a clear zone

   The crew steadies each truss with tag lines. OSHA keeps workers out from under the load.

4. Brace as you go

   Each truss gets temporary restraint before the next one lands, per the drawings and BCSI-B1. Then the girders and hip sets.

Cranes for LVL and steel beams

A beam is one heavy, long pick instead of thirty light ones. One LVL maker lists a 1-3/4 by 11-7/8 inch ply at 5.9 pounds a foot, so a three-ply 20 foot beam is about 350 pounds. A steel W8x18 beam weighs 18 pounds a foot, which is what the second number means. Both are fine for a boom truck if it can get close. They often ride along on the truss day so the crane comes once.

The trusses weigh a few hundred pounds. Whether the walls are ready decides what you pay.

Setting a spa at the same house later? The hot tub crane guide covers that pick. The rooftop AC guide covers the condenser, and the guides hub has the rest.