People buy a container, get a delivery date, and then start wondering what is actually going to happen. It is a fair question if you have never seen one delivered. Here it is from start to finish.
Before the day
We will have asked you what size the container is, where it is going, and what the way in looks like. From that we decide which vehicle comes and roughly how long we will be with you.
The thing worth spending five minutes on is the standing position. The lorry has to park close enough to lift the container to where you want it, get its legs out sideways, and have clear air above. So the day before, have a look at where you want the container to sit and ask yourself whether a full size lorry could get within reach of it, with nothing overhead.
Then get the spot itself ready. Containers want to sit level and they want to sit on something firm. Most people put them on paving slabs, concrete blocks or short timber sleepers at the corners. Have those in place before we arrive rather than sorting them out with the container swinging above your head, and check there is nothing under the spot you will want to get at later, like a drain or a stop tap.
On the day
The lorry arrives and the driver has a look round before anything comes off. He is checking the standing position, the ground, what is overhead and the route the container will travel through the air.
Then the legs go down, on spreader plates if the ground needs them, and the lorry is levelled. Chains or strops go on the container's lifting points, four of them, one at each corner.
The container comes up off the bed, clears it, swings across and comes down slowly onto the spot. That last part is the slow bit. Getting a container onto its blocks square and level takes a few minutes of small adjustments, and it is worth doing properly because a container that sits twisted will not have doors that close nicely for the rest of its life.
Chains come off, legs come up, and the lorry goes. From arriving to leaving, a straightforward one is not a long job.
What we need from you
- Somebody on site who can say where it goes, and who can decide if we need a plan B.
- The standing area kept clear. No cars, no skips, no pallets.
- Blocks or slabs ready, if you are using them.
- The keys or the paperwork if the container is being collected from a supplier's yard.
That is the whole of it. Our container transport page covers the sizes we move, collections from suppliers, and repositioning a container you already have, and our secure storage page is there if the container needs somewhere to sit before the ground is ready for it.
If you have got a delivery coming and you are not sure the access works, email us at info@manchesterhiabshire.co.uk before the day. It is a five minute conversation and it saves a wasted delivery.
Need a lorry? Ask for a quote or email us and tell us what needs moving.
