Container Delivery Access Checklist

How the container arrives

Containers travel on a lorry with a crane mounted behind the cab. The driver parks alongside the spot, extends the legs to stabilise the lorry, lifts the container off the bed and places it where you want it. That means the lorry has to get close to the final position - the crane has reach, but it is not unlimited, and it cannot lift over a house.

The clearances to check

• Width: at least 10 feet (3 metres) of clear width along the whole approach, including at gateposts, bollards and parked cars.
• Height: at least 13 feet (4 metres) of overhead clearance. Watch for branches, telephone and power cables, signs and archways.
• Length: a straight run roughly twice the container length, so the lorry can line up and the crane can work without swinging round obstacles.
• Turning: somewhere for an articulated or rigid lorry to turn or reverse out safely. Dead-end cul-de-sacs and tight farm entrances are the usual pinch points.
• Surface: firm ground that will take the lorry's stabiliser legs. Soft verges, new tarmac in hot weather, gravel over soft soil and recently laid drainage all cause trouble.

Call us if any of these are tight or you are not sure. We would far rather spend five minutes on the phone than send a lorry that cannot unload.

Things people forget

• Door swing: the doors need roughly 8ft of clear arc at one end. Decide which way the doors face before delivery day, and tell the driver.
• What is underneath: drain covers, soakaways, septic tanks, cesspits, service ducts and cable runs. A loaded container is heavy and concentrated on four corners.
• What is overhead: the crane lifts the container well above the final height. Anything above the drop spot has to be clear, not just the approach.
• Parked cars and skips: on residential streets, ask neighbours the day before rather than the morning of.
• Gradients: slopes make both the lorry setup and the final level harder. Tell us if the ground falls away.
• Permissions: shared driveways, estate roads, farm tracks and locked gates all need someone to say yes and hold a key.

Send us photos - we will check it for you

We review photographs of difficult delivery spots and tell you honestly whether we can deliver and site the container. It costs nothing and it saves an aborted delivery. Useful photos:

1. The road or track approaching the entrance, taken from the vehicle.
2. The entrance itself, straight on, with something for scale.
3. The run from the entrance to the drop spot.
4. The drop spot, showing the ground and anything overhead.
5. Anything you are worried about: a low cable, a tight corner, a soft verge.

Add the width of the narrowest point, the lowest overhead height and the postcode, and send them through the contact form. If you would rather talk it through, ring the yard.

On the day

Have someone on site who can make decisions about final position and door direction. Keep children, pets and vehicles well clear of the lift. Unlock gates in advance. If the ground has been wet, tell us before the lorry sets off rather than when it is at the gate.

Once the container is down, moving it is another crane job, so it is worth being certain about position and orientation before the driver releases the chains.

If access will not work

There are usually options. A smaller unit may fit where a 40ft will not - see container sizes explained. We can often place the container in an accessible spot on the same site, or you can collect from the yard with a suitable trailer and we will load you with the forklift. Details of both are on the delivery and collection page, and you can check coverage in your area.

Once you know the container is coming, spend ten minutes on preparing the ground so it sits level and drains properly from day one.