How much for storage?

wondereyes

I'm going to be phoning storage companies in the next few days to find out how much it would cost to store the contents of a five apartment house (for about a month). But it would be good to have some sort of ballpark figure before I make the phone calls.
I've checked out a few storage companies websites and there seems to be a reluctance to be clear on the total monthly cost of each of the different sized units (I reckon we're going to need one of the bigger units).

So far I've worked out we would have to for pay insurance and a lock, in addition to whatever it would cost for a large unit. It also looks like we'd have to pay a months deposit too. I dread to think what all this will come to and would appreciate some prior knowledge to soften the blow.

Would any of you let me know what you made per month for storage? And did you have to pay it all at the time of booking -- or can some of it be payable on the day? Is direct debit always necessary? Information on any more 'hidden charges' would also be good to know. Thanks in advance.

mostlycheerful

Might be worth considering using garages. You can rent privately owned garages in London for as little as £70 per month and via councils for as little as £40-70/month and I heard of someone in Brighton renting them for just £10 a month a few years ago. You have to hunt about a bit to find £70, there’s others that are more expensive but still mostly a lot cheaper than commercial storage. Some councils don’t want them to be used for storage other than cars for their insurance reasons but some of them also say that they don’t particularly check and that once you’ve got it you can do what you want. Some of them rent them weekly or monthly or quarterly ie 3 months. Perhaps they’re less secure than storage units but they don’t particularly necessarily get broken into often (famous last words). Perhaps you ought to put any expensive stuff into secure storage but if there’s a lot of relatively cheap or worthless stuff then a garage or two might be a solution that could save some money over using commercial storage.

dacouch

If you use a self storage company they are heavily targeted so don't be scared to play one against the other on price as they have a lot of scope to discount if they are up against a competitor.

A lot will give you the first month free, so it might be worth not mentioning you only want one month.

Bear in mind most will quote you without Insurance which they add on when you get their as well as a trying to insist you have to buy one of their over priced pad locks (Normally £13).

It's often cheaper to use containerised storage from a removal company which costs circa £10 per container (About the size of a small transit van) a week. This is much cheaper than a self storage company charges. As well as being cheaper to use a removal companies storage they will normally give you a discount for the moving it from your current house and then delivering to your new home. They will also normally wrap your sofa and other relevant items.

Where abouts in the country are you as the price varies for self storage

budgetboy_2

I don't know about £40-70 a week being very cheap. These people who offer storage warrington and a few other places in Cheshire and Lancashire say their prices are from £5 upwards, but I suppose it depends if you're in the North West...