There are plenty of reasons to store your household and personal effects: maybe you are between houses, perhaps you are travelling and want to let your house while you are away, you could be decorating, you might want to re-claim valuable garage space for a second car, or maybe you just want to de-clutter while you are trying to sell.
Whatever the reason, you have a choice to make: self storage or storage in a traditional warehouse. Here we look at the pros and cons of both methods.
Until a few years ago, making a decision about storage was easy enough: you needed it or you didn’t. If you did, you just called your removal company and they came along with a big lorry, packed everything for you, looked after it then delivered it back when you asked them to. Simple!
Of course you can still do this but there is now a choice. It’s called ‘self storage’ and companies have sprung up all over the country offering you your own private ‘lock up’ area within a storage environment.
This ranges from ‘lock ups’ inside a large building over two or three floors or more to shipping containers placed on a piece of land in an open area. But which do you want? How do you decide?
It’s not easy in making this decision not only do you have ‘self storage’ companies you also have ‘removal companies’ springing up all over the place. In order to sort the wheat from the chaff, we offer the following advice.
Visit the storage facility before you commit to it; not all removal companies have their own storage and sub-let your furniture to a third party which may be at a sub standard facility. Bear in mind when storing your household goods, you are probably storing everything you own in the world, from the furniture which you have paid good money for, to all your memories; you really do want it taken care of properly. When looking at self storage you really want furniture and effects stored in a building and not in a steel container left in a yard open to fluctuating changes in the weather.
It all depends on what you are looking for and how much work you want to do yourself.
If you just want to open the front door and let someone take everything away, you really need the traditional method. If you are prepared to lend a hand, self storage might be the answer. Similarly, if you don’t need access to your goods while they are in store. Choose the traditional method. If you want to be adding and taking away every few days, self storage is what you need.
Goods stored in a traditional warehouse need to be collected, inventoried, and handled by professionals. They are stored in timber containers safely until they are required again. Charges are made for collection and redelivery plus a monthly fee based on the space your goods occupy. You may want to take out in-storage insurance, you may find that your existing household insurance covers this.
Self storage on the other hand gives access to your own container. All the packing, handling, and transport is down to you. But you do have access to come and go as you like. No handling or delivery costs; you do it all yourself. For short term storage or if you need regular access, it’s the obvious choice.
Whatever the reasons for storing your goods, you can rely on good quality self storage companies to deliver a professional service.