Heavy high-rise buildup in the Phoenix area has created a crane shortage in the “valley of the sun”, the Arizona Republic reported last week. Cranes are in such demand, it said, that renting certain models locally can cost as much as $65,000 per day, the report said. Rental customers are frequently going out of state to obtain cranes, and the wait to purchase certain units can be as long as 18 months.

The report adds that crane operators have become a hot commodity in the area.

Downtown Phoenix, which had only mid-rise buildings until recently, now has a number of skyscrapers and high-rise construction is burgeoning outside the city’s central corridor. Although the housing market has flattened, the report said, the construction of offices and hotels and highway projects has been steady, and the new convention center, has been a major project.