A Sydney forklift dealer has developed a new forklift hire program to meet the needs of very small Australian businesses.

Pride Forklifts has developed the "power by the hour" program in which clients are charged A$2 (USD1.50) per hour of usage.

Company owner Darrin Pride said each forklift was fitted with an hour meter and clients were visited monthly to record machine usage.

"A traditional hire will cost between A$160 (USD122) and A$200 (USD152) a week whereas our "power by the hour" charge, on average, is $109 (USD83) a week. There is a minimum charge of five hours a week," Pride said.

He said Pride Forklifts had identified a large market of small Australian businesses that employed less than three people.

"This type of business may only use the machine for a few hours a week and on the whole has been penalised by other forklift companies by being charged a fixed rate based on a 40-hour week," Pride said.

All brands of forklifts, with lift capacities ranging from 1.5 tonnes to 2.5 tonnes, were available, he said.

"We use late model machines that are OH&S compliant and mechanically reliable."