Sometimes the dates do not line up. Settlement on the new place falls three weeks after the lease ends on the old one, and everything you own needs to be somewhere in between. Storage is the obvious answer, but it is not always the right one. Here is how to work out whether it is worth it for your move.
First, one thing to be clear about: Movers4Melbourne does not provide storage. We are a removalist, not a storage company. What we can do is move your belongings into a storage facility you have arranged, and move them out again when you are ready. The advice below is the same advice we give customers who ask us about it on the phone.
When storage genuinely makes sense
There is a real gap between your dates. If you are out on the 30th and in on the 20th of the following month, storage is usually cheaper and less stressful than a short-term rental big enough to hold your furniture.
You are downsizing and have not decided what goes. Storing the uncertain items for a couple of months beats making rushed decisions in the last week before a move, and beats paying to move things into a home with no room for them.
The new place is not ready. Floors being sanded, a kitchen going in, a rental that will not be vacated on time. Furniture and trade work do not mix well.
You are moving interstate in stages. If you are heading to New South Wales, the ACT or South Australia and cannot take everything at once, holding part of the load makes the logistics simpler.
When it is usually not worth it
The gap is only a few days. Storage means loading, unloading, then loading and unloading again. That is double handling, and you pay for the labour twice. For a short gap, it is often cheaper to negotiate a few extra days of access with one of the two properties, or to leave the load on a truck overnight if your removalist can arrange it.
The items are not worth the storage fees. Six months of storage can quietly cost more than replacing a flat-pack wardrobe and an old mattress. Do the arithmetic before you commit, not after.
You are storing because you have not decided. Storage is very good at postponing decisions, and units have a way of staying rented for years. If nothing in there has been missed in six months, that is useful information.
The cost people forget: double handling
The storage fee is the visible cost. The hidden one is that a stored move is two moves. Instead of one job from A to B, you pay for A to storage, then storage to B. Because our work is charged at upfront hourly rates, that difference is easy to see in advance rather than as a surprise at the end. It is worth asking for both scenarios to be priced before you decide.
Access matters too. A ground-floor unit you can drive a truck up to loads far faster than a unit down a corridor and up a goods lift. When you are comparing facilities, compare the access as carefully as the monthly rate.
Packing differently for storage
Things that sit in a unit for months need more care than things that travel across town for an hour.
- Use uniform, sturdy boxes that stack squarely. Odd-shaped supermarket cartons collapse under weight over time. We sell moving boxes and packing supplies if you need them.
- Label every box on two sides, not the top. In a packed unit you will only ever see the sides.
- Leave a walkway down the middle. The one thing you need will be at the back, and it always is.
- Do not store anything perishable, and empty and dry the fridge and washing machine thoroughly before they go in.
- Mattresses and lounges hold their shape better standing than stacked under weight.
Check what is covered while it is in storage
Your removalist insurance and your storage facility insurance are two different things covering two different periods. We are fully insured for the moving work we do, which is explained on our insurance page, but that cover applies while we are handling your belongings, not while they sit in a third-party unit. Ask the facility directly what their cover includes, and check whether your contents insurance extends to goods stored away from home.
If you decide to go ahead
Book the removalist and the unit for the same day where you can, and make sure the access hours at the facility actually cover your booking. Facilities that close at 5pm cause real problems for afternoon moves.
We work seven days a week across Melbourne from our base in Campbellfield, and we supply furniture blankets, trolleys and straps on every job, which matters more than usual when items are going to be stacked for a while. For a quote on either leg of a stored move, request a quote online, call 0452 490 078 or message us on WhatsApp.
If your move is a straightforward one after all, our house removals and apartment moving pages explain how those jobs are priced.