Hiring vs buying a shipping container: which makes sense for your job?

If you need a shipping container, one of the first decisions is whether to hire one or buy one. There is no universally right answer, it depends on how long you need it, what you are using it for, and what happens at the end. Here is how to think it through.

When hiring makes sense

Hiring is usually the better call when your need is temporary or uncertain. You pay for the container while you have it, and it goes back when you are done, no resale, no disposal, no long-term commitment.

• Short-term projects, a build, an event, a seasonal peak, a renovation where you need storage for a few months.
• Uncertain duration, you are not sure how long you will need it, so you would rather not own an asset you have to offload later.
• Cash flow, hiring spreads the cost rather than paying the full purchase price up front.

When buying makes sense

Buying tends to win when the need is long-term or permanent. Once you own the box, there are no ongoing hire fees, and a container holds its value reasonably well if you ever want to sell it on.

• Permanent storage, an on-site shed, a farm store, a workshop annexe that is not going anywhere.
• Long durations, if you will need it for more than a year or so, buying usually works out cheaper overall than hiring for the same period.
• Conversions, if you plan to modify the container into an office, studio or similar, you need to own it.

The cost-over-time question

Hiring looks cheaper on day one because you are not paying the full price of the container. But hire fees add up. At some point, the total you have spent hiring passes what it would have cost to buy. Where exactly that crossover sits depends on the hire rate and the purchase price, but it is the single most useful thing to work out before you decide.

If you tell us your situation, how long, what for, we will give you an honest read on whether hiring or buying leaves you better off. We do both, so we have no reason to push you one way over the other.

Moving house with a shipping container

A self pack moving container is the hire case most people ask about, and it has its own page: moving interstate with a shipping container. We deliver an empty container to your current home, you pack it in your own time, and we move it to the new address, across town or interstate by rail, and collect it when you are unpacked. A packed home usually sits in the 5 to 10 tonne band for a 20ft, which travels on a tilt tray; larger homes go in a 40ft or a second container. What a move costs, and what moves the price up or down, is in our cost to move a shipping container guide. The calculator gives you an estimate for the move between your two addresses; the hire, the empty delivery and the collection are added in your confirmed quote within one business day.

Hire from a depot, or buy Australia wide

How hire works, what it covers and where it is available is on our shipping container hire page. We sell containers Australia wide and hire them from depots in the mainland capital cities and many regional centres, delivered to your site, so the hire or buy decision works the same way whether you are in Brisbane, regional Queensland or another state. In remote areas with no depot nearby, buying is usually the way to go. Hire runs month to month, so keep it as long as you need. Tell us the suburb and we will quote the container and the delivery together.

What about delivery?

Either way, the container has to get to your site, and come back if you are hiring. At FlowState this is handled as one job: we supply or hire the container and deliver it, with one contact coordinating the lot. You are not sourcing a box from one place and a truck from another.