7 reasons why a storage unit at home is better than a self storage facility

A room at a storage facility and a unit on your own driveway solve the same problem in very different ways. We build the second sort, so take the following with that in mind. We have tried to be straight about it, including the last section, where the facility wins.

1. Your things move once

With a facility, everything is handled five times: packed, loaded, unloaded, stacked, and all of it again in reverse. Handling is when furniture gets chipped and boxes get dropped. With a unit on your property, it goes from the house into the unit and later back again. That is it.

2. No van, no second trip

Hiring a van at both ends of a storage period is a real cost that never appears on a facility’s rate card, along with the fuel and the day off work. Our transport is included within 30 road miles of the Luton depot, and £2 plus VAT per extra mile each way beyond it.

3. Access at any hour, without a drive

The unit is on your land. There are no opening times, no access codes and no trip across town to fetch one box. For a renovation or a business with stock, this is usually the reason people choose it.

4. You hold the only keys

Two deadlocks are built into the door and the keys are yours. There is no padlock to buy and no site staff with a master key. The unit is steel throughout, and because it sits on your property you can see it from the window.

5. You load at your own pace

There is no van on the meter and no closing time, so most people fill a unit over several evenings. Packing done calmly is packing done better: heavy things low, fragile things protected, boxes labelled on the side where you can read them.

6. It fits where a container cannot

The panels arrive flat-packed on a van and are carried in by two people, so a back garden through a side gate works as well as a driveway. No crane and no HGV. We need 2,150 mm of height clearance along the route and a firm, reasonably level spot; grass, gravel and concrete are all fine.

Eight sizes, from one that fits a parking space to one that takes a house:

Prices exclude VAT. Billed every four weeks, four week minimum. Installation and collection are half price on a six month prepayment and free on twelve months, and booking online takes 10% off the hire.

7. The total cost is usually lower

Not always the weekly rate, the total. The Self Storage Association UK’s 2026 report puts the industry average at £27.40 per square foot per year, about £53 a week for a 100 sq ft room. Our 2 × 6 m at 120 sq ft is £80 a week. On paper the room looks cheaper; add the van at both ends, the insurance, the fuel and every journey over four months and most of our customers find the delivered unit comes out ahead.

Work out your own numbers rather than taking ours. Rent plus transport plus insurance plus time, for the length of the job.

When a facility is the better choice

Three cases, and they are common enough to say plainly.

• No outdoor space. A flat with no driveway, garden or allocated parking has nowhere for a unit to go, and the unit has to sit on private ground.
• A small volume for a long time. A few boxes of documents for three years is cheaper in a locker than in a 2 × 2 m unit.
• You want it away from the property. Sometimes that is the point, during a house sale for instance.

Two other things worth knowing about a unit at home: it cannot be moved while loaded, so it has to be emptied and dismantled if it needs to go elsewhere, and there is no climate control. It is steel and weatherproof rather than heated, so for fabrics and timber over a winter, add Absorpoles at £25 each.

If you have somewhere to put one, get an instant quote with your postcode. If you have not, a local facility is genuinely the right answer, and we will tell you that if you call 0800 043 9302.