From the Sydney Harbour Tunnel to hospitals, airports and film sets, Macfarlane has powered Australia's most demanding jobs.
When the job is a hospital, a data centre or a shutdown with a fixed window, the generator is not the hard part. Getting it connected, proven and running before the window closes is the hard part.
Our industrial hire fleet is skid-based and containerised diesel, available in silenced acoustic canopies, single or three phase. Every set leaves the workshop fuelled, oiled, run and load-tested, and our licensed electricians connect and commission it on site.
The people who hire it also service it
Most industrial hire is a logistics business. The set arrives, someone else connects it, and if it stops you're calling a call centre.
We've sold, installed and serviced industrial generators since 1949. Every branch has a workshop, genuine parts and technicians who know the equipment, because they work on the same sets we sell. When you hire from us:
- Our licensed electricians connect to your changeover switch. Not a second contractor, not a second invoice
- Load tested and commissioned on site before we leave
- Bunded fuel tanks and fuel management for extended runs
- In-house servicing and genuine parts at all four branches
- Removal and off-hire when the job's done
Every unit is PDI-tested before dispatch - fuelled, oiled, run and load-tested in our workshop. What arrives on site is a machine we've already proven works.
Also available to hire
Why hire from Macfarlane
Powering Australia since 1949
Founded in Melbourne, still 100% Australian owned and operated.
Every unit PDI-tested
Fuelled, oiled, run and load-tested before dispatch. Most competitors just send the box.
We hire and install
Licensed electricians connect, load-test and commission on site. Not a delivery driver.
4 branches, 1 supplier
Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane & Perth. National delivery, in-house servicing and genuine parts.
Sizing an industrial set
Get this wrong and it's expensive in both directions. Undersize it and you're nuisance-tripping on motor start. Oversize it and you're wet stacking - running a diesel at light load glazes the bores and fouls the exhaust, and it will cost you an engine.
Send us your load list, tell us single or three phase, and tell us whether it's prime or standby duty. We'll size it. If you want a starting number first, the Power Calculator handles motor starting loads and kVA/kW/amp conversions.
What our customers say
Industrial generator hire FAQs
Both. We can deliver only, or have our licensed electricians connect, load-test and commission the unit on site, then remove it at the end of hire. It's the main thing that sets us apart from hire-only suppliers.
Skid sets are lighter and cheaper to move, and suit sites with hardstand and craneage where the set stays in one spot. Containerised sets are weatherproof and lockable, and are the right call for anything sitting outside for months. Tell us the site and the duration and we'll tell you which.
It depends on your total load and whether you need single or three phase. Motors, compressors and pumps draw far more on start-up than when running, so a simple wattage total usually undersizes the unit. Use our Power Calculator for an estimate, or send us your equipment list and we'll size it properly.
Yes. Our industrial sets are available in silenced acoustic canopies, for sites where noise is a planning condition rather than a preference - hospitals, film and TV, events and built-up areas.
Yes. We hire bunded fuel tanks alongside the set, plus cables, cable guards and junction boxes. We design and build our own bunded tanks, so they're specified to suit the generator by the people who made both.
Call us. Every branch has in-house servicing, genuine spare parts and technicians who know the equipment.
Every hire is quoted per job, because size, duration, delivery, installation and fuel all vary. Longer hires reduce the daily rate. Send an enquiry for a free, no-obligation quote.
Yes. We hire from single-day jobs through to long-term site contracts.
We hire and deliver from our Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth branches. Call 1300 MAC GEN and we'll connect you to your nearest team.