Boom truck vs crane vs boom lift

R 03 mThe short answer

A boom truck is a crane built on a commercial truck that can still carry cargo. A mobile crane is a machine that exists to lift. A boom lift and a bucket truck put people at height. A digger derrick augers holes and sets utility poles. They share booms and hydraulics; they do not share rules.

The rest of this guide explains each line, and why the words matter: in Canada, what a machine is called decides which operator credential, standard and inspection rules apply to it. Lifting people with a crane is outside what this guide covers.

R 06 mIs a boom truck a crane? Most provinces say yes

Yes, in most of Canada, and the national standard agrees. CSA Z150:26 lists commercial truck-mounted cranes and boom truck cranes in its scope¹. IHSA describes boom trucks, in their two common configurations, as mobile cranes mounted on a commercial truck chassis strengthened to accept the crane³.

• Saskatchewan defines a mobile crane as a crane on a truck, wheel or crawler base that moves under its own power without a fixed path, so a truck-mounted crane is a mobile crane⁴.
• British Columbia has put boom trucks under the same certificate rule as mobile and tower cranes since July 1, 2007⁵, and under one standards rule for mobile cranes and telescoping or articulating boom trucks, citing CSA Z150-1998 among others⁵.
• Manitoba gives the machine its own name, boom truck hoist, for a truck-chassis boom rated over 7.3 tonnes (8 tons) and not over 40.8 tonnes (45 tons)⁶. Its operator rule still covers a boom truck hoist or a mobile crane at 7,300 kg or more alike⁷.
• Ontario's construction regulation speaks of a mobile crane or similar hoisting device, with the top certificate needed above about 13,608 kg (30,000 lb as written)⁸.

Alberta is the exception. Its OHS Code defines a boom truck on its own, as a truck with a hydraulically driven, turret-mounted, stabilized structure and a telescoping or articulating boom⁹. It defines a mobile crane as a crane other than a boom truck, so the s.88 requirement to meet CAN/CSA Z150-98 (R2004) does not by its terms cover boom trucks⁹.

The same goes for the 12-month NDT rule in s.89, which applies to mobile cranes as the Code defines them⁹: Alberta's Code has no annual NDT rule that names boom trucks. Other sections name both machines. Under s.63(1), a mobile crane or boom truck must carry its load charts at all times⁹, and outriggers on either must be extended on solid footings before use⁹.

So is a boom truck a regulated crane? In most provinces, yes: the crane rules decide who may operate it and what it must carry, even where the definitions differ. The thresholds are in operator certification by province.

R 09 mBoom truck vs mobile crane

The difference is what the machine is for. A boom truck is a truck first: Alberta's trade description puts the crane on a commercial truck or trailer chassis that typically keeps a payload hauling capacity¹⁰. A mobile crane is a crane first: Alberta's mobile crane trade defines a hydraulic mobile crane as a hydraulic-drum, telescoping-boom crane on a crawler, trailer or wheeled base rated 13.6 tonnes (15 tons) or more².

The rates row is a suggested minimum from Vancouver Island's equipment owners' association, operator included and transport extra¹⁵: a benchmark, not a quote. See boom truck rental rates.

Other crane types sit further out. IHSA describes rough terrain cranes, with oversized tires, a short wheelbase and crab steering for broken ground³, and industrial cranes such as carry-deck types, built for the better surfaces of industrial sites³. In a non-Canadian reference, the United States construction crane rule lists boom truck cranes among mobile cranes, carry-deck cranes as industrial cranes and knuckle-boom cranes as articulating cranes¹⁶.

When does a job need a mobile crane instead? When the boom truck's chart cannot make the lift at your radius with a working margin, or its boom cannot give the height. Ask for the chart capacity at your radius from both machines, and compare rates like with like: operated or bare, and the same edition.

R 12 mBoom truck vs boom lift, bucket truck and cherry picker

In boom truck searches, boom lifts are the usual mix-up, and the answer is short: a boom truck lifts loads; a boom lift lifts people.

• Boom lift. Alberta defines an aerial device as a telescoping or articulating unit used to position a personnel basket, bucket, platform or other device at an elevated work location⁹.
• Bucket truck. An aerial device on a vehicle. Alberta requires vehicle-mounted telescopic or articulating aerial devices, aerial ladders, vertical towers and material-lifting aerial devices to meet CSA C225-00 (R2005)⁹.
• Cherry picker and manlift. Common names for the same kind of personnel lift. Neither is a crane, and neither is a "picker" in the Western Canadian sense.

The crane codes draw the same line from their side. CSA Z150:26 excludes vehicle-mounted aerial devices and points to CSA C225¹. CSA Z150.3:17 excludes them too, along with booms that do not articulate, non-conductive-boom cranes, forestry and logging cranes, scrap handlers and concrete pumpers¹⁷. Alberta's crane trade definitions exclude personnel-lift aerial devices².

Two details settle common arguments. Alberta's aerial device list includes material-lifting aerial devices⁹, so "it lifts material" does not by itself make a machine a crane. And a "concrete boom truck" is a concrete pumper, which the articulating crane code leaves out¹⁷.

If the work is at height, ask for an aerial device. If people and materials both go up, say so in the request so the supplier can propose the right machines.

R 15 mBoom truck vs digger derrick

A digger derrick looks like a boom truck with an auger, and in utility work the two are easy to confuse. The standards keep them apart.

• CSA Z150:26 excludes digger derricks, also called radial boom derricks, used to auger holes and set power and telephone poles, and points to ANSI/ASSP A10.31 instead¹.
• Alberta's crane trade definitions exclude mobile lifting devices built only for power line and utility work, digger derricks included².
• In a non-Canadian reference, the United States construction crane rule excludes digger derricks when they auger holes for poles carrying electric or telecommunication lines¹⁶.

Read the wording closely. The CSA and United States texts tie the exclusion to the task, augering holes and setting poles; Alberta's ties it to machines built only for utility work. If a derrick will do general lifting as well, ask the supplier which standard and which operator credential apply to that work.

The reverse question: can a boom truck set a post or pole? It can lift and hold one, but it has no auger, so the hole is dug separately, or a digger derrick does both jobs.

Pole work usually means overhead lines. The limits of approach by province are in power-line clearance and the power-line lookup.

R 18 mPicker truck vs crane: the words

Many "vs" searches are vocabulary questions. Picker truck vs crane, crane truck vs boom truck, knuckle boom vs boom truck: in each pair, the first term names a kind of boom truck.

The words matter for budgets. Job Bank files "operator, picker truck" under NOC 83110, logging machinery operators¹⁹. Boom truck crane operators are NOC 72500, with a national median wage of $42.77 an hour (low $26.50, high $52.19)²⁰. A wage quoted for "picker operators" may describe forestry log loaders, not crane work.

The type pages go deeper: picker trucks, crane trucks, knuckle boom trucks, and the overview, what a boom truck is.

R 21 mWhich one to ask for

1. Putting people at height? Ask for an aerial device: a boom lift or a bucket truck.
2. Augering holes and setting poles? Ask for a digger derrick.
3. Delivering and setting materials, or lifting close to where a truck can park? Ask for a boom truck: stiff boom, knuckle boom or crane truck.
4. A heavy load at long radius, or a lift the boom truck's chart cannot make with margin? Price a mobile crane as well.

Whichever you ask for, send the same facts: the load weight with rigging, the radius at the pick and the set, the height to the landing, the ground, any overhead lines, the dates and the province. With those, a supplier can say which machine makes the lift. A supplier quotes the job; this page explains what goes into the quote. The size estimator turns those facts into a chart capacity.

BoomTrucks.ca takes requests for boom trucks, picker and knuckle booms, and crane trucks, with a not sure option. We do not rent, sell or lease equipment. Request a quote; it only goes to a company with your consent. With your consent, your request goes to one company that rents, sells or finances boom trucks in your area. That company may pay BoomTrucks.ca for the referral.