Storing up a solution
21 March 2007
Putting your goods into storage can be the answer to all sorts of problems
Fed up with falling over boxes? Run out of space in your attic or garage? Can't accommodate guests because your spare room is full? Don't know what to do with that motorbike that you only get to ride in the summer months?
In these circumstances and many more besides, placing your goods in short-term storage is the ideal solution. Yet many people are still unaware that storage is an integral part of the service offered by removals specialists such as Bristol based Robinson's International.
As one of the UK's leading removals and storage companies, established for over 100 years, Robinson's offers the whole range of storage services - and no amount is too small or too large, according to Robinson's Head of Moving & Storage Stephen Gray:
"Whatever you need to store, long-term or short-term, from a document or IT equipment to a grand piano, we've got room for it."
Traditionally, storage has been used to bridge the gap between selling a property and moving into a new home. Robinson's will simply hold your household items in storage then deliver them on to your new home when you are ready and able to move in.
Of course, selling first, having cash in hand and not being part of a chain makes you a very attractive buyer in the property market, whether in the UK or abroad, and may enable you to negotiate a better buying price later.
But people use storage for many other reasons, and the need is growing rapidly, reflecting in part many changes of habit and attitude amongst people in Britain today.
For example, how many have watched TV programmes like 'A Place in the Sun' and 'Living the Dream', and started pining for their own place in the sun? For the increasing number of Brits who decide to follow their dreams of living cheaply abroad, releasing the equity in their UK property is usually the first stage - and when the property is sold, you need somewhere to keep your belongings whilst you work out the purchase of your gite, finca or villa in the sun (incidentally, if you're contemplating a move abroad you may like to know that Robinson's has vast experience of international removals too, not just to mainland Europe but throughout the world, including the USA, Australia and New Zealand).
In the current UK property climate, with prices and stamp duties high, many people are opting to extend their existing properties instead of moving, and of course there is an explosion of interest, again TV-led, in giving your home a style makeover. Those items that you don't want to sell or can't bear to throw away, putting them in storage is usually the best option. It gives you time to consider what to do with them next and the option to revert back to them later if you move again or they come back into fashion! Similarly, if you are building an extension, you may want to move some furniture out of the way temporarily into storage for safekeeping, away from the mess of building work.
For those who are in the process of trying to sell, the TV programmes all seem to agree that a feng shui-style de-cluttering will make your house more appealing to potential purchasers - another way in which storage can play a part!
Changes in personal circumstances can also create a need for storage. Sometimes two homes have to be consolidated into one through bereavement, with a surfeit of household goods a likely outcome. In happier circumstances, if you have found your true love and decided to move in together, you'll suddenly be faced with a duplicate of just about everything, with one set of furniture likely to be superfluous to requirements. So once you have decided whose ironing board and TV you'll keep, it's time to put the spares into storage!
There are so many ways in which storage can be a huge benefit to the homeowner - but how safe are your goods, and how much will it cost? Very safe, and not as much as you might think, says Robinson's Stephen Gray: "Our huge, modern warehouse is fully managed, making it a safe, secure, dry and clean environment. It offers easy and quick access, with labour assistance available if required, and we also offer a full collection and wrapping service. As for costs, it all depends on how much space your goods take up and what type of storage you need, but generally people are surprised at how low the cost is."
Robinson's has all the best solutions for storage. So if you would like to discuss storage and get an idea of costs and what's involved, call Robinson's International on 0117 980 5800 or contact us through this website.
