Do You Really Need To Buy Your Own Air Tightness Testing Equipment?

If air tightness testing is becoming a regular part of your work, buying your own equipment can feel like the obvious next step.

You own the kit, it is there when you need it and you are not arranging a hire every time another project comes in.

But ownership also means taking responsibility for equipment that may spend weeks sitting unused, while calibration, maintenance, storage and replacement remain your problem.

For contractors, retrofit professionals and testing businesses, the better question is not simply whether you can afford to buy the equipment.

It is whether you will use it often enough for ownership to make commercial sense.

This guide compares buying and hiring air tightness testing equipment so you can decide which approach suits the way your business actually works.

AVT UK provides air tightness testing equipment hire alongside professional testing services for organisations that need additional capacity or do not want to invest in their own equipment.

When Does Buying Air Tightness Testing Equipment Make Sense?

Buying becomes much easier to justify when testing is a regular, predictable part of your workload.

That might apply if you:

• Carry out air permeability testing every week.
• Have a steady pipeline of suitable projects.
• Employ trained testers who will use the equipment regularly.
• Need equipment available at short notice across multiple sites.
• Expect testing demand to remain consistent over the longer term.
• Have the systems in place to manage calibration, servicing and storage.

In these circumstances, owning the equipment can reduce your reliance on hire availability and give your team more control over when tests are carried out.

You also know that the equipment is available whenever a project reaches the testing stage.

However, the purchase price is only one part of the cost.

What Does Owning Air Tightness Testing Equipment Actually Involve?

Specialist testing equipment cannot simply be bought, put in the van and forgotten about.

If you are using it for compliance testing, you need to know that the equipment remains suitable, maintained and correctly calibrated.

Depending on the system, ownership may involve:

• The initial equipment purchase.
• Calibration and supporting certification.
• Servicing and repairs.
• Software or system updates.
• Replacement components.
• Secure storage.
• Transport between projects.
• Insurance.
• Staff training and competence.
• Time spent managing equipment records.

For air pressure testing carried out under Part L, current government guidance requires evidence that relevant pressure-testing equipment has been calibrated by a UKAS-accredited facility or the original manufacturer in line with the required periods.

The person providing the pressure-test certificate must also have appropriate training and be registered to test the relevant class of building.

You can read the current Approved Document L guidance on GOV.UK.

When Is Hiring Air Tightness Testing Equipment The Better Option?

Hiring can make much more sense when testing is needed regularly enough to justify doing it yourself, but not often enough to justify owning the equipment.

It can work particularly well when:

• You only test on certain projects.
• Your workload changes throughout the year.
• You need extra equipment during busy periods.
• You are starting to offer air testing and want to understand demand first.
• Your own equipment is being serviced or calibrated.
• You need a particular testing system for one job.
• You do not want capital tied up in specialist equipment.

With hire, the cost is attached much more directly to the projects where the equipment is needed.

AVT UK supplies professional testing equipment that is checked and ready for use, helping you avoid taking on the longer-term maintenance and calibration responsibilities that come with ownership.

Buying vs Hiring Air Tightness Testing Equipment

Start With How Often You Will Actually Use The Equipment

Testing frequency should be one of the biggest factors in your decision.

If the kit would be used several times a week across a reliable pipeline of work, ownership becomes easier to justify.

If you only need it for a handful of projects each month, or demand comes in bursts, the calculation changes.

There is little benefit in owning specialist equipment purely so it can spend most of its time in storage.

Look at your real testing workload over the past six or twelve months.

How many tests did you carry out? How often did you need equipment? Were those projects spread evenly across the year or concentrated into a few busy periods?

That gives you a much better basis for comparing the cost of ownership against ongoing hire.

Consider What Happens When Your Workload Suddenly Increases

Buying does not necessarily remove the need for hire.

A testing business may own equipment for its normal workload and still need additional kit when several projects reach completion at the same time.

Hiring can therefore work as extra capacity rather than an alternative to ownership.

For example, you might own one testing system but temporarily hire another when:

• Several sites need testing during the same week.
• A large development requires repeated visits.
• Your normal equipment is unavailable.
• A new contract increases testing demand unexpectedly.

This gives you flexibility without investing in equipment based around occasional peaks in workload.

Are You Buying Equipment Or A Complete Testing Capability?

This is an important distinction.

Owning the equipment does not automatically mean your business can provide every type of compliant air tightness test.

You also need the right:

• Training.
• Competence.
• Registration where required.
• Testing procedure.
• Calibration evidence.
• Reporting process.
• Understanding of the building and test method.

If you simply need an air tightness result and do not already have appropriately trained people within your team, bringing in a specialist may still be the better option.

Our guide on whether to hire air tightness testing equipment or use a specialist looks specifically at that decision.

What About Pulse Air Testing Equipment?

AVT UK uses and hires Pulse air testing equipment for suitable projects.

Rather than relying on a large fan installed across a doorway, the Pulse system uses controlled pressure pulses to measure air permeability at low pressure.

For contractors and assessors, hiring Pulse equipment can be useful when you need access to the system for a particular project without purchasing your own unit.

You can find out more about Pulse air testing and discuss with AVT which testing approach is appropriate for the building and the evidence you need to provide.

Should You Buy Equipment Before You Have A Regular Testing Pipeline?

For a business introducing a new testing service, hiring first can be a sensible way to establish how much demand actually exists.

It gives you an opportunity to understand:

• How frequently clients request testing.
• Which types of building you are working on.
• How much staff time each test requires.
• Which equipment suits your projects.
• Whether demand is likely to be consistent.

Once testing becomes a regular part of the business, you can review whether purchasing equipment would reduce your longer-term costs.

You do not have to make that investment on day one.

What If You Need Different Types Of Building Performance Equipment?

Air tightness equipment may not be the only specialist kit you need.

A contractor, consultant or retrofit professional may also occasionally need:

• Ventilation testing equipment.
• Thermal imaging equipment.
• Specialist equipment for investigating heat loss.

Buying every piece of equipment needed across occasional projects can quickly increase both capital costs and the amount of equipment your business has to maintain.

AVT UK provides air tightness, ventilation and thermal imaging equipment hire, allowing you to access different equipment as project requirements change.

A Quick Buying Or Hiring Checklist

Before investing in your own equipment, ask:

• How many times will we realistically use it each month?
• Do we have enough confirmed work to justify the investment?
• Do we have suitably trained people to operate it?
• Can we manage calibration, servicing and equipment records?
• Do we have secure storage and transport?
• What happens if the equipment is unavailable due to repair or calibration?
• Will our testing requirements change between projects?
• Would hiring allow us to put the purchase budget somewhere more useful?
• Could we hire initially and review the decision once demand increases?