A machine that has stopped earning is still costing you. It occupies floor space you pay rent on, and every year it sits there it gets harder to move and worth slightly less.
There are two ways it can leave: as a working machine to somebody who wants it, or as metal. Those are very different numbers, and it is worth knowing which one you are looking at before you call anybody.
Worth more whole than in pieces?
Sometimes, yes. A machine with a known brand, a reasonable age and a working motor can be worth several times its metal value to a buyer who needs that exact machine. Presses, lathes, compressors, generators and forklifts hold resale value longest.
Against that: anything with a proprietary controller that is out of support, anything with a cracked casting, and anything so old that spares no longer exist. Those are metal, and pretending otherwise just delays the clearance.
If we look at a machine and think it is worth more to somebody as a machine, we say so. Buying it as scrap when it is not scrap is a short term win and a long term loss.
What inside a machine actually pays
Weight is only half the story. Two machines of the same tonnage can be quite far apart on value depending on what is inside them.
- Electric motors. Copper windings, and usually the densest value in the machine.
- Control panels and wiring. Copper, contactors, bus bar.
- Steel frame and bed. The bulk of the tonnage, priced as heavy steel.
- Aluminium castings and covers. Housings, guards, gearbox cases.
- Gearboxes and hydraulics. Steel and cast, plus the copper in any attached motor.
Getting it out of the building
This is the part that decides how long the job takes and, honestly, what we can pay. A press sitting near a roller shutter on ground level is a simple lift. The same press on a mezzanine behind a standard door is a cutting job.
What matters: floor level, the width of the route out, whether a crane or forklift can reach it, whether the machine is bolted or grouted into the floor, and what hours the building allows work. Industrial areas in Abu Dhabi are usually flexible on this, but towers and mixed use buildings are not.
Where a machine cannot come out whole, it gets cut down on site. That is normal work, it just needs planning and floor protection.
Fluids before the move
Oil, coolant and hydraulic fluid come out before a machine moves. It is a safety and a cleanliness issue, and a machine that leaks across a factory floor on the way out creates a problem that costs more than the scrap is worth.
Agree at the quote stage who is draining and where the fluid is going. We do not handle chemical waste, so that part needs a licensed handler if you do not already have one.
What we need to quote
Photos from a few angles, the nameplate if it is readable, rough dimensions and weight if you know them, the floor level, and the route out. A short video walking from the machine to the door tells us more than any of it.
Add your deadline. Clearances tied to a lease handover or a site handback are planned backwards from that date, and knowing it early is what keeps the job calm.
How long it takes
A single machine on ground level is usually a same week job. A full line or a plant clearance runs over several days, sometimes with staged pickups so your team keeps working around it. Either way you get a weight per load and payment on collection.
Send the photos and we will come back with a number and a date.
Common questions
Can you dismantle a machine on site?
Yes. Where a machine cannot come out whole it is cut down in place, with floor protection and at hours the building allows. Access, floor level and the route out are what decide how the job is planned.
Do you buy machines that still work?
We buy them, but if a machine is worth more to somebody as a working machine than as metal, we will tell you that instead of quoting scrap value for it. Presses, lathes, compressors, generators and forklifts hold resale value the longest.
Who drains the oil and hydraulic fluid?
That gets agreed at the quote stage. Fluids come out before a machine moves, and where they go needs a licensed waste handler. We do not handle chemical waste, so it is worth settling early if you do not already have that arrangement.
How long does a plant clearance take?
A single machine on ground level is usually a same week job. A full line runs over several days, often with staged pickups so your team can keep working around it. If the date is tied to a lease handover, tell us the deadline and the job is planned backwards from it.
