Im having an ever increasing need for scaffolding, I wont need anything more then 10-11 feet, preferably on wheels. Trying to decide between a 3x5ft or 5x5ft. I see a bunch of ads for www.scafoldmart.com in woodworking magazines but haven't really found any reviews of them.

Looking at rental prices and a few scaffolding places prices I would break even pretty quick. Do you guys have any recommendations?

Im not interested in harbor freights scaffolding, i went to look at it in the store and I wouldn't trust it 3ft off the ground :)

We were on a a job where the painters used a Harbor freight scaffolding setup, They were at 2 units stacked with 2 large guys on it, They had another set that was werner brand but was identicle to the harbor freight. He said that its has worked well for them and wanted more. He had some wheel extenders as well..made the base wider to help from tipping. One guy moved it all around pretty easily and same guy broke it all down pretty quickly.

We have looked at getting one of the harbor freight ones for oour occasional needs

Brent, what's the use? 
I had couple jobs where they would be nice to have, but a taller A-Frame ladder worked almost as well.

I don't think HF's scaffolding is stackable over 2 sets and the cheap werner @ HD is not stackable at all. (I called them about it a few months back).

I sold my traditional scaffolding about 8 years ago and now I just charge the rental against the project. A GC advised me to rent if I wasn't using it that often as he'd been hit with fines for improper rigging on his owned units. They were supposed to be inspected and certified for use and he said it was cheaper and easier just to rent. Mine were OLD and I ended up trading them out to a painting company in exchange for getting the house painted.

It sure takes up a LOT less space than trying to keep it in the warehouse.

My favorite is modified bakers scaffold. It's smaller than traditional scaffold so it is MUCH easier to carry in and install inside a finished home and assembles much faster since it's smaller and lighter. Last year I was on a job where the drapery folks were using traditional and I was using Bakers. We were done with out part of the job while the traditional scaffold was still being assembled. It's really much faster with 2 guys to put together.

These units are slim, so you can pull them right up to the wall when installing brackets, drapes, shades, etc. And the outriggers can be easily flipped in and out instead of disassembling the entire stack to swap them. Single units fit through a standard doorway, so if you are doing in ceiling speakers you can just roll one set from room to room while you work.

Brendon,

Your link didn't work but I figured it out, anyway. I have used the Harbor Tool thing just fine.

Were you going to get 11 foot tower on Scaffold Mart?

Doesn't the builder provide scaffolding? If you are in need of scaffold at least 2 other trades are too (electrician, drywallers, Painters).

Why buy it when you can charge the builder for the rental of it if it isn't supplied?

I end up working on scaffolding more and more, but it's always been provided by the builder for the other trades as mentioned.  I've had to ask them to keep it up for a few extra days before, but it's never been a problem.

We usually rent scaffolding, and it's pretty cheap.

Thanks guys for the info!

I do alot of retro work so alot of times there are no builders or painters that we can borrow from or use. Houses around here have very high ceilings and lately it seems like eveyone that has these dont have crawlspaces or basements (which is also very strange)

I have a shading job coming up in the next few weeks that i am absolutely going to have to get scaffolding up for retrofitting the wires in and leave it up for the shade installers. there are also times when i need it for speakers etc and especially on a prewire if I get in there before or after the scafolding is gone (rare but its happened)

a days rental around here is around $120, and I have to make sure i get it back on time yada yada. I have spot that i could keep it that would be absolutely perfect when I dont need it. I called the guys at scaffoldmart and i liked what they had to say, If i do order from them it will be the 11ft w/guardrail and safety harness kit!

11' is perfect....because if you need to go higher, you just throw your 8' ladder on it and now you can go 19'+ :)

Dude! thats exactly what i was thinking, no need to get anything bigger :)

Mwahahahah osha would have a field day if they saw that lol!

Ordered the 11ft scafolding with guard rail from scaffoldmart! ill post a review after a few uses!

Like these
[Link: amazon.com] ?

Yep, that is very similar to what I rent. The main difference in the rental is that you can enter from the side via a removable safety bar.