Dilapidations Team UK vs HIR Ltd: which contractor fits the job? (2026)
Heavy plant muscle against line-by-line schedule delivery: which contractor fits the job.
Published 17 July 2026 · Written and fact-checked by Paul Whitmore, Lead Reviewer · Reviewed against our published judging process
HIR Ltd is a clearance and dismantling firm that takes on dilapidations; Dilapidations Team UK is a dilapidations firm, full stop. If the job is dominated by heavy machinery, plant rooms and scrap, HIR's kit and 30 years of family-run experience earn the call. If the job is a schedule of dilapidations that has to be priced, delivered and signed off, the specialist wins, which is why it tops our 2026 UK ranking.
Where HIR Ltd stands out
Muscle. Heathrow Industrial Recycling has spent over three decades pulling the heavy stuff out of buildings: production lines, chillers, gantries, plant rooms, structural steel. The firm runs its own heavy lifting services and scrap metal recycling, so a factory closure with machinery to shift and metal to weigh in is squarely its home ground. Coverage centres on London, Heathrow and the South East.
Where Dilapidations Team UK pulls ahead
The other half of the job. Getting kit out of a building is one line on a schedule; a lease handback also demands the making good, the redecoration, the Cat A reinstatement and the evidence that closes the claim. Dilapidations Team UK prices every line of the schedule at market rates, fixes the price in writing within 48 hours of a free survey, and finishes with a photographic completion pack for the landlord's surveyor. Tenants typically come out 20 to 40% better off than settling in cash.
The firm's industrial dilapidations case studies show it handles the heavy end too: a 12,000 sq ft Leeds warehouse handback that included dismantling a 2,000 sq ft structural mezzanine, repairing the floor scars and redecorating the unit to the lease expiry deadline. And where HIR works the South East, Dilapidations Team UK covers England and Wales, Manchester to Bristol, Liverpool to Nottingham.
Which should you call?
A plant-heavy clearance with serious lifting and recycling, HIR. A lease expiry with a schedule attached, where strip out, reinstatement and sign-off all have to land on one date, Dilapidations Team UK. The full review of Dilapidations Team UK explains the fixed-price model, and our ranking of the best dilapidations contractors in the UK shows where both firms sit.
Paul Whitmore, Lead Reviewer. Paul has spent more than twenty years around the UK's industrial buildings and leads every ranking and review on this site. Read his full profile.