Removal Storage, for When Plans Don’t Line Up
Sometimes the move out and the move in don’t happen on the same day. The chain collapses. The completion date shifts. The renovation runs over. The new flat is smaller than the old one and you need somewhere to keep the stuff you haven’t decided to sell yet. We handle storage for customers across Kent and South East London, from one week to over a year.
Why People Actually Need Storage
Very few people wake up one morning and decide they need storage. It’s almost always a knock-on effect of something else. Here are the four scenarios we handle most often, in case one of them sounds familiar.
The Chain Collapsed: You’ve completed on the sale of your old home but the purchase of the new one has fallen through or been delayed. You’re out of one house without being into the next. This is the most time-sensitive reason people ring us, often mid-move. We can collect everything from the old property, store it, and redeliver once your new purchase completes. Storage from one week upwards.
You’re Renovating the New Place Before Moving In: You’ve bought the new house but want to rewire, kitchen-out, or redo the floors before moving your furniture in. Living among builders is grim. Our storage holds everything from the old property for the weeks or months it takes, and we deliver when you’re ready. This is the most common ‘planned’ storage scenario.
Downsizing but Undecided: You are from a four-bedroom family home into a two-bedroom flat after the kids have left. You know you need to shed furniture. You haven’t decided what to keep and what to sell. Storage buys you time. Put the ‘maybe’ items in storage, live in the new flat for six months, then decide what you actually miss and want back, versus what can go to auction. Beats panicked decisions in the last week of a move.
Moving Abroad, or Between Rentals: If you’re moving overseas for a fixed-term contract and don’t want to ship everything with you, UK storage is cheaper and simpler than international relocation. If you’re between rental properties, storage bridges the gap. Both are long-term use cases where monthly rates matter more than short-term flexibility.
How Our Storage Works
Most of our storage is containerised. Your belongings are loaded into purpose-built timber storage containers, roughly two metres by two metres by two metres each. One container holds the contents of a small flat. A three-bedroom house usually fits into three to four containers. Each container is numbered, weighed, and photographed at the point of loading, and an inventory is taken.
Once loaded, containers are sealed and stored in our warehouse, stacked on heavy-duty racking. The warehouse is alarmed, fire-sprinklered, and under 24-hour CCTV. Temperature is monitored, humidity is controlled to levels appropriate for furniture and personal effects (not museum-grade, but well within range for everything except very sensitive antiques or certain musical instruments, if you have those, talk to us).
When you’re ready to receive your belongings, we retrieve the containers, deliver to the new property, and unload. Most people don’t actually visit the warehouse during the storage period, the containerised system is designed so you don’t need to. For customers who do want access during storage, we offer scheduled visits (see next section).
Alternative to containerised storage: some customers have specific large items (a grand piano, an antique wardrobe, a car) that don’t fit the container model. For those, we offer secure warehouse racking storage where items are individually blanketed, tagged, and stored on racked shelving. Priced differently but same facility, same security.
Access, Terms, and Adding Things Later
Minimum TermsMinimum: storage is one week. Most customers end up staying two to twelve weeks. After twelve weeks we switch to a discounted monthly rate because long-term storage is cheaper to operate. If you know upfront you’ll be storing for six months or more, tell us, we’ll price it that way from the start.
Access During Storage: Containerised storage isn’t 24-hour self-access like a self-storage unit. It can’t be, because your container is stacked on racking and needs to be retrieved. We offer scheduled access visits with 48 hours’ notice. You come to the warehouse during business hours, we bring your container down to ground level, you can open it, retrieve what you need, and we reseal it. Most customers use this once or twice during a storage period. No charge for two visits. Additional visits are £30 each.
Adding Items Mid-Storage: You can add things later. If you later decide you want to store an additional item, a wardrobe, a set of garden furniture, a box of paperwork, we either add it to an existing container (if there’s room) or open a new one. Pricing is per container per week, so adding a half-empty extra container costs the same as a full one. If you’re likely to add more later, tell us when we load so we leave capacity.
InsuranceInsurance: in storage is separate from insurance in transit. Transit insurance covers items while they’re moving. Storage insurance covers them while stationary. We include basic cover up to £15,000 per container as standard. For high-value contents (fine art, antiques, musical instruments) you can extend the cover or arrange your own specialist policy. We recommend the latter for anything collector-grade.
Ending StorageYou: can end storage whenever suits you. Give us two weeks’ notice of your delivery date (longer if you can) and we’ll schedule retrieval and redelivery. The same crew that loaded your containers often handles redelivery, which means they know what’s in them and how it fits together. No end-of-term fees, no cleanup charges, no surprises on the final invoice.
Storage FAQs
Can I store things I’m not moving, even if I’m not moving house at all?
Yes. You don’t need to be in the middle of a move to use our storage. We have long-term customers who store seasonal items (garden furniture over winter, Christmas decorations for eleven months of the year) or who’ve inherited a parent’s belongings and need time to sort through them. The containerised system suits these use cases well.
Can I store a vehicle?
Yes, but not containerised. Cars, motorbikes, and classic vehicles go into warehouse racking storage or a dedicated vehicle bay depending on size. The vehicle needs to be drivable in and out or have a flatbed arrival arranged. Insurance for the vehicle itself is your own policy, we cover the storage environment.
What about climate-sensitive items like wine or musical instruments?
Our standard storage is warm and dry but not climate-controlled to wine-cellar or concert-grade standards. For a handful of bottles or a guitar, it’s fine. For a serious wine collection or a cello, we’d recommend a specialist climate-controlled facility. We can refer you to one.
How is storage priced?
Per container, per week (or per month after twelve weeks). A rough guide: a small flat’s worth of contents in one container costs around £15 to £20 per week. A three-bedroom house across three containers runs to £45 to £60 per week. Long-term rates are lower. Full pricing is in your quote, which factors in the specific items, the access both ends, and the expected duration.
Get a Storage Quote
Tell us what you need stored, how long for, and whether this is attached to a move or standalone. We’ll come back with a per-week and per-month figure so you can compare.