Boom truck and picker rental in Edmonton

R 03 mPicker truck, not pickup truck

"Picker" is the Western word for a boom truck, and search engines read it as "pickup". When you call or fill in a form, say picker truck or boom truck and describe the load. Three other machines get confused with it:

• Boom lift. Alberta calls it an aerial device: a unit that positions a personnel basket, bucket or platform at height¹. It lifts people, not loads.
• Digger derrick. Alberta's crane trades exclude lifting devices built only for power-line and utility work, such as digger derricks that auger holes and set poles². Setting a pole? Ask for that machine.
• Mobile crane. Alberta's hydraulic mobile crane trade starts at 13.6 tonnes (15 tons) of lifting capacity², so a large boom truck and a small mobile crane overlap. The load chart at your radius decides.

Suppliers will ask whether you want a stiff boom (telescoping) or a knuckle boom (articulating, folding at a joint); the answer changes who may operate it. Oilfield wellhead work is a separate compulsory branch, with an apprenticeship of 100 hours and 5 days of classroom training³, and is not priced like a street delivery.

See picker trucks, knuckle boom trucks and boom truck vs crane vs boom lift.

R 06 mWho can operate it in Alberta

Boom Truck is a compulsory trade in Alberta⁴, and the lines follow the crane's lifting capacity:

• Telescoping booms, and articulating booms with live lines: a certificate over 4.5 tonnes (5 tons) and up to 59 tonnes (65 tons)⁴.
• Articulating (knuckle) booms without live lines: a certificate over 7.3 tonnes (8 tons) and up to 59 tonnes (65 tons)⁴.
• Below those lines: a competent worker authorized by the employer, able to show knowledge of the load charts and hoisting signal code on request (s.64)¹.

Certification takes one apprenticeship period: 1,200 hours of work experience and 6 weeks of classroom training at NAIT or SAIT⁴. On a bare rental (operator not included), check your operator's certificate against the rated capacity and boom type the supplier gives you in writing.

Every lift carries two rules. The truck must have load charts showing rated capacity at all permitted boom angles and radii (s.63(1))¹, and a lift above 75% of rated capacity needs a lift calculation¹. See lift planning.

Inspection. The OHS Code's 12-month non-destructive testing rule, s.89, is written for mobile cranes¹. The Code defines a mobile crane as a crane other than a boom truck, and s.88 adopts CAN/CSA Z150-98 (R2004) for mobile cranes on the same terms¹. So Alberta has no annual NDT rule that names boom trucks. Ask what the truck's inspection record shows; see boom truck inspection.

R 09 mWorking near power lines in the city

1. Is any line within 7 m? Before work is done or equipment operated within 7 metres of an overhead line, the employer must determine its voltage and set the limit of approach from Schedule 4¹.
2. What voltage? Only the line's operator can say for certain.
3. What distance? For 0 to 750 V, 300 mm if the conductors are insulated or polyethylene-covered and 1.0 m if bare¹; the 300 mm holds only if they are insulated or covered along their entire length and made to rated, tested insulation levels. From 750 V to 40 kV, 3.0 m¹. At 69 and 72 kV, 3.5 m¹; at 138 and 144 kV, 4.0 m¹; at 230 and 260 kV, 5.0 m¹; at 500 kV, 7.0 m¹.
4. Need to be closer? The employer must first notify the line's operator (a utility, a rural electrification association or an industrial power producer) and get its help protecting workers¹. Build that lead time into the job.

The distances do not apply to equipment transported under power lines when its total height, carrier included, is under 4.15 m¹. Edmonton uses the same 4.15 m height in its over-dimensional permit rule⁵, so a load tall enough to need a permit also needs a plan for the wires on its route. The power-line lookup gives the distance for your line.

R 12 mSetting up on a street or lane

Edmonton runs road use through the On-Street Construction and Maintenance (OSCAM) permit, required for most work on City road rights-of-way, including roads, sidewalks and boulevards. Apply at least 10 working days ahead for high traffic impact and 6 for low; processing averages 6 business days and runs longer from March to October⁶.

The City's hoarding guide, under Traffic Bylaw 5590, lists hoisting by mobile crane among the activities on public land this process coordinates. The separate Crane Building Permit is for stationary hoisting gear that can project over the right-of-way, and mobile cranes are not typically included in it⁷.

The City defines an obstruction as an object placed so that it interferes with a sidewalk, bike facility, parking lane or travel lane⁸; a boom truck with its outriggers down is one. The appropriate level of temporary traffic control is required at all times, permit or not⁹. Ask the supplier who sets out the cones and signs.

Ground. Alberta requires a boom truck's outriggers to be extended and supported by solid footings before use¹. For mobile cranes, the Code also requires floats or pads of adequate size, strength and rigidity¹; ask for pads on a boom truck as well. See outriggers and ground bearing.

Hours. Construction noise is permitted Monday to Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on Sundays and statutory holidays from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.¹⁰

R 15 mWhat Alberta rates are based on

Alberta is the biggest equipment rental market in Canada: the commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing industry had $6,372.9 million of operating revenue there in 2024¹¹, 35.3% of the national total¹². Even so, we found no free public hourly rate for a boom truck or picker in the province.

Alberta's public buyers pay a paid guide's rates. The Alberta Roadbuilders & Heavy Construction Association (ARHCA) sells its 2026 Rental Rates Guide & Membership Listings for $200¹³, and Red Deer County pays 100% of current ARHCA hourly rates on its 2026 work list¹⁴. We have not bought the guide and do not reproduce it. Alberta Wildfire sets its own rates only for fireline equipment the guide does not cover¹⁵, and those include the only free Alberta figure that names a picker. Published rates are benchmarks for public works, not quotes.

Those rows describe a small crane on a light hotshot truck hired for fires, not a large picker working in the city.

Labour. Job Bank's median wage for boom truck crane operators in the Edmonton Region is $45.27 an hour, from $29.00 to $51.25, for 2023 to 2024¹⁶; the Alberta median is $45.00¹⁷. An operated rate also carries the truck, payroll costs and travel, so never compare a wage with a quote.

Suppliers. In June 2026 the Edmonton census metropolitan area had 209 business locations with employees in commercial and industrial machinery and equipment rental and leasing; 88 had 1 to 4 employees¹⁸. The category is far wider than boom trucks, and no official count isolates them.

Some operators publish their own rates online; we do not quote them. GST is 5% in Alberta¹⁹. See picker truck rates and the rental rate converter.

R 18 mMoving the truck: licence, CVIP and road bans

Licence. A truck with 3 or more axles needs a Class 3 licence²⁰, and a two-axle truck falls under Class 5²¹. Air brakes need a Q endorsement from an approved course of at least 6.5 classroom hours²².

Carrier rules. A carrier needs a Safety Fitness Certificate for a truck registered at 11,794 kg or more operating only in Alberta²³, and a CVIP inspection every 12 months²⁴.

Truck routes. Heavy vehicles, over 8,000 kg gross vehicle weight or 12.5 m long, must use Edmonton's Truck Route Network. Where the site is off a truck route, the truck takes the most direct and practical road from the nearest one⁵.

Road bans. Edmonton's spring road ban runs March 1 to June 1 unless a shorter period is set, seasonal bans March 1 to December 17, and annual bans all year. Banned roads are posted with the axle-weight reduction, and the City issues no exemptions⁵. A heavy truck booked for April needs a legal route, not a permit. Outside the city, provincial bans follow thaw depth readings of at least 25 cm, and counties set bans on local roads²⁵. CivilConstruction.ca explains how spring road bans work by province.

Large loads. Over 2.6 m wide, 4.15 m high or 22.86 m long, vehicle and load included, needs an over-dimensional permit through the province's TRAVIS system; moves above 5.3 m high or 7.3 m wide pay a $140 coordination fee⁵. See licence and NSC rules.

R 21 mWhat to send for an Edmonton quote

Ask the supplier for the chart capacity at your radius. The rest of the quote follows from these:

• The load: weight in kilograms, size, pick points and rigging.
• Radius and landing height, and what the load must clear.
• The address, and whether the truck sets up on private land, a residential road, an arterial road or a lane.
• How long the outriggers will be down, and the time of day.
• Overhead lines within 7 m of the truck, boom or load¹.
• Operated or bare, and for bare, the operator's certificate.
• The route in: truck routes, and banned roads in spring.

Example. A knuckle picker lands a 900 kg pallet of shingles on a roof from a residential street, 7 m from the truck, on a weekday at 10:00, and the street is clear again in 40 minutes. On a residential road, an obstruction of one hour or less needs temporary traffic control but no OSCAM permit; past one hour it needs the permit and a transportation management plan⁸. If 900 kg is more than 75% of the chart capacity at 7 m, Alberta requires a lift calculation¹. If the house's service line is within 7 m of the boom, the voltage question comes first¹. These are example inputs; the City and the supplier make the calls.

The size estimator runs the load and radius for you.

R 24 mHow a request on BoomTrucks.ca works

We do not rent, sell or lease equipment. BoomTrucks.ca is an independent reference. Request a quote; it only goes to a company with your consent.

1. Tell us the job: picker or boom truck, operated or bare, load, radius, address, dates, and whether you hold an OSCAM permit.
2. It is stored first. You get a reference on screen; no confirmation email is sent.
3. It is saved, and nothing is sent to a company without your consent before anything is sent anywhere.
4. 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.
5. It quotes you directly. Price, permits and terms are between you and that company.

Request an Edmonton quote. Working down the QEII? See picker rental in Calgary or Alberta's rules.