Shorter Days, Same Deadline: Choosing a Jobsite Light Tower LED, metal halide, solar or balloon, how many you actually need, and how to light the job without lighting up the neighbors

Disclosure. We rent light towers, so we make money when you decide you need one. Some jobs do. Some jobs need a schedule change and a couple of work lights. We will try to tell you which one you are.

Short answer: For most winter jobsites, rent a 4-light LED tower, because it turns on instantly, burns far less fuel than metal halide and runs for days between fill-ups. Pick a solar tower when noise or refueling is the problem, and a balloon light when glare near crews, roads or neighbors is the problem. Size the count to the work area, not the whole lot.

The deadline did not move when the clocks did. The sun just left earlier.

Every November it happens. Daylight saving ends, and the crew that used to pour, grade and clean up until 6:30 is suddenly squinting at string lines at 5:00. In December the sun sets around 4:45 to 5 pm across most of Southern California, and the usable light goes before that. You either shorten the day, start earlier, or put up light.

Jump to what you came for

First, Do You Even Need a Tower?

Not always. A light tower is the right tool when you have a real work area that has to stay lit for more than an hour or two after dark, on most days of the job. If it is one late pour, or one evening of cleanup, you may be better off with something smaller.

When a tower earns its rent

When it probably does not

A backyard ADU crew wrapping up at 5:15 does not need a 30 foot mast. A couple of portable LED work lights on stands will cover a slab or a trench line. If the only reason for a tower is one bad week, look hard at starting at 6:30 instead of 7:00.

If the job is slipping and you are deciding whether to keep equipment on rent at all, read our guide on what happens to your rental when the job gets delayed before you add a tower to the bill.

How Many Towers for Your Area

People tend to order towers for the size of the lot. Order them for the size of the work.

Light the work, not the property

A two acre pad with one crew in one corner needs light on that corner and the haul route. Not the far fence. Walk the site at dusk and mark where people and machines will be.

Spec sheet coverage is a best case

Manufacturers list a coverage area at a certain light level. That number assumes flat, open ground and a fully raised mast. Hillsides, stockpiles, trailers and parked machines all throw shadows. On a sloped lot in the Inland Empire foothills, plan on less coverage than the sheet says.

Two from opposite sides beats one big one

One tower behind a loader puts the operator in his own shadow every time he turns around. Two towers aimed in from different directions cut shadows a lot. For a long, narrow area like a trench run or a road section, space towers along the line instead of bunching them at one end.

Fuel, Run Time and Who Fills It

A tower that runs dry at 7 pm is worse than no tower, because the crew planned around it.

Check run time on a full tank

Diesel LED towers often run for days between fill-ups at normal nightly use. Metal halide towers burn through fuel noticeably faster. Ask for the run time on the specific unit and work backward from your nightly hours.

Decide who refuels

On a multi-week rental somebody has to put diesel in it. Settle who on day one. Ask the rental desk how the unit should come back fueled, because that is one of the easy charges to avoid. Our guide on returning rental equipment without preventable charges covers the rest of that list.

What about plugging into a generator you already have?

Portable electric LED towers run off a power source instead of their own engine. A generator already on site can work if it has spare capacity. Our guide on what size generator a construction site actually needs walks through the math, and when to get an electrician involved.

Setup, Wind and Safety

A tall mast on a small trailer. Give it a minute of attention.

Look up before you raise it

Check for overhead power lines, tree limbs and anything else above the spot before you raise the mast. Move the tower if there is any doubt.

Level ground and outriggers

Set it on firm, level ground and use the outriggers or stabilizers the way the manufacturer says. Soft fill on a fresh pad, or the edge of a slope, is a bad place to park a tall mast.

Santa Anas

Every tower has a wind rating. Southern California gets real wind events in fall and winter, and a raised mast catches a lot of it. When wind picks up, lower the mast per the manual. Read the rating on the unit and follow it.

Getting it there

Towers are towable, but plenty of sites are tight. Check the gate, the turn into the driveway and where it will park before the truck shows up. Our equipment delivery checklist covers what to have ready. Storm season adds mud and washouts to the list, which our El Nino storm prep guide gets into.

Rental Terms That Matter for Lights

Light towers work at night, sometimes all night. That changes the math.

Watch the hour meter

PDQ's posted rental policies say hour-metered items are based on 8 hours a day, 40 a week and 160 a month, with use over 8 hours a day charged as overtime (1.5 times the regular rate up to 16 hours, 2 times up to 24). A tower running from 4:30 pm to 7 am is well past 8 hours. Ask whether the unit you are renting is hour-metered and how that applies to it. The signed rental contract is what governs, not this article.

Day, week or month

Per PDQ's posted rental policies, a day rate is 24 hours in your possession with up to 8 hours of use, a week is 7 consecutive days with up to 40 hours, and the 4-week rate covers up to 160 hours. Winter lighting jobs tend to run weeks, not days. Our guide on daily vs weekly vs monthly rental math shows where the breaks fall, and the costs to check on a rental quote covers the line items people miss.

It is yours to protect until pickup

PDQ's posted policies say responsibility stays with the customer from delivery to return, and that on delivered rentals you are still responsible for keeping the item safe after you call it off rent until it is picked up. A tower sitting alone on a dark lot in Riverside County over a weekend is your problem. Lock it and park it where nobody can hook up and drive off. Questions about delivery fees, weekend rules or anything else go to the desk; the details are on the rental policies page.

Straight Answers