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Equipment

Buying a paver, roller or screed: what to check before you sign

Buy for the lots you pave most weeks, not the biggest job you did last year. Here's how to size a paver, a roller and a screed, and what to look at on a used one.

5 min read

The paver you buy sets which jobs you can go after for the next ten years. Too small and you're turning down the school parking lot. Too big and it spends half its life on trailers to driveways, with a payment you're making either way.

Start with your last two seasons of jobs, not the brochure. How wide are the pulls on the lots you pave most weeks? How many tons on a normal day? How far do you transport the machine, and on what trailer?

Sizing the paver

Paving width. A screed has a base width and, if it extends, a maximum width. Most parking lot and driveway work is done in pulls somewhere between a driveway and a couple of parking lanes wide. Buy a screed whose base width is narrow enough for your tightest regular work and whose extended width covers your normal wide pulls without bolt-on extensions every day.

Wheels or tracks. Rubber-tire pavers move faster between areas and on the road around a site, and they're easier on finished surfaces. Tracked pavers put more traction on soft base and push loaded trucks better on grades. A lot of commercial parking lot contractors run wheeled machines. Road and heavy base work leans toward tracks.

Hopper and conveyor. Match the hopper to the trucks you use. If you pave with a material transfer vehicle or big end dumps, a small hopper becomes the bottleneck.

Transport. Know the machine's weight and width on the trailer before you fall in love with it. A paver that needs a permit load for every move costs you on every job.

Checking a used paver

Hours matter, but a well-kept machine with high hours can beat an abused one with low hours. Look at the machine itself:

  • Screed. Plates, tamper bars, heating elements and the extension slides. A worn screed gives an open, uneven mat, and screed parts are expensive.
  • Conveyor and augers. Worn slats, floor plates and auger flights.
  • Hydraulics. Leaks, patched hoses, and how quickly the functions respond warm.
  • Tracks or tires and the undercarriage.
  • The service records. No records usually means no service.

Pave with it if the seller lets you, even a short pull. The mat tells you more than the paint.

Rollers

Most asphalt breakdown and finish rolling on commercial and residential lots is done with double-drum vibratory rollers. Drum width should suit the pulls you pave. A wide drum on a narrow driveway just rolls off the edge.

Rubber-tire rollers knead the surface and tighten it, and some specs call for them. They're worth owning if your work asks for them.

Single-drum rollers are for soil and aggregate base. If you do your own base work, you'll want one, but it isn't an asphalt finish roller.

On a vibratory roller, check that it has amplitude settings you'll use. High amplitude is for thicker lifts, and low amplitude is for thin lifts and finish passes. On any used roller, check the drums for flat spots and gouges, the water spray system, the scrapers, and the vibration system for noise.

Screed heat and extensions

Screed heat is either electric (from a generator on the paver) or gas. Electric systems are common on newer machines, keep an even temperature and don't need propane on the job. Gas heat is simpler to fix in the field. Either way, check that every heating zone works on a used machine.

A hydraulic extendable screed changes width on the move, which is what parking lot work needs: around islands, along curb lines and into tapered areas. Fixed or bolt-on extension screeds are simpler and cheaper to maintain but take time to change.

Buy, finance or rent

Work the numbers with your own figures:

  1. Estimate the days a year the machine will actually pave.
  2. Add up the yearly cost of owning it: payment or depreciation, insurance, maintenance and repairs, and storage.
  3. Divide by the days. That's your owned cost per paving day.
  4. Compare it to the rental rate for the days you'd need it, with delivery.

If a machine will only work a few weeks a year, rent it. If it works most of the season, owning usually wins. Remember that a rented machine is only available when the rental yard has one, which is the same week everyone else wants it.

Pavr is job software for paving, sealcoating, striping and concrete contractors. Your equipment rates go into the estimate next to the crew and the plant price, so you see the margin before you send it. Try it free →

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