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Sell Portable Cabins logo Sell Portable Cabins Portable buildings & containers

Bought · Removed · Cleared

Sell your portable buildings, cabins and containers

Send photographs, rough dimensions and the postcode. You get a figure and a collection date, paid on collection, on our own transport. Buildings that are past saving get removed and disposed of instead, and we will tell you plainly which of the two you have.

We buy used portable cabins, site cabins, welfare units and containers outright, and we sell refurbished portable cabins and modular buildings back out across England, Scotland and Wales.

  • One unit or a whole compound cleared
  • Paid by bank transfer on collection
  • Own lorries, no subcontracted haulage
  • England, Scotland and Wales
Used portable building being lifted onto a lorry during a site collection

Why now rather than later

Buildings standing idle cost money

A modular block left after a contract finishes occupies ground, attracts damage and eventually becomes a disposal bill. Selling it while it is still sound is nearly always better than waiting until it is not.

We do not take everything. Condition decides, and we will say plainly when something is not worth buying. Where a building is past saving we can usually still quote to clear it away instead.

Who we buy from
Contractors, fleet operators, schools and academy trusts, NHS estates, local authorities, farms and private individuals.
How many
One building, several, or an entire compound cleared in a planned sequence.
What we need first
Photographs, rough dimensions, the postcode it is standing on, and an honest word about condition.
Payment
Bank transfer on collection, unless something else is agreed in writing beforehand.

Send photographs, get a price

Multi-bay modular building compound standing on a cleared site
Used twenty foot storage container standing on a hardstanding yard

Not just buildings

We buy containers too

Shipping and storage containers, from a 6ft store up to a 40ft high cube, taking in 10ft, 16ft, 20ft, 24ft, 30ft and 32ft along the way. Wind and watertight units are worth more because they can be resold as they stand, but tired ones and containers cut about for offices, canteens and workshops are all bought as well.

Containers rarely stand on their own. If yours are sitting alongside portable buildings or welfare units, all of it can be quoted and collected as one job on one visit rather than three separate arrangements.

What we pay for containers

How it runs

The sequence, either direction

  1. You describe it

    Selling: photographs, size, postcode, condition. Buying: the size, layout and roughly what you want to spend. Either way it takes about five minutes.

  2. We answer properly

    Normally the same working day. A figure and what it covers, or an honest explanation of why we are not the right people for it.

  3. We look at what needs looking at

    Larger modular blocks, awkward access and anything where the way the bays are joined matters need eyes on site before anything is agreed. We will tell you when that applies.

  4. We book it in and move it

    Our own transport, so the date is one we control. Bank transfer on collection for what we buy, delivery and siting arranged for what you buy.

Where we work

Manchester based, and the North West is our own patch

The yard and the vehicles are in Manchester, which is why the North West — Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria — carries the shortest transport line we quote, and why a single unit standing there is still worth putting in front of us.

Everywhere else in England, Scotland and Wales is covered on the same lorries. Distance changes what a move costs. It does not change whether we are interested in the building. Several units travelling together, or a delivery that creates a return leg, is what makes a long run work.

See the full coverage · How collection works

Used modular and portable buildings standing in the Manchester yard
Used modular building being refurbished in the yard

Looking to buy instead

Most of what we sell is something we bought

Tell us what you need and we will tell you what we can supply, what condition it is in and what the building and the haulage each cost as two separate figures. Refurbishment — new flooring, a repaint, replacement windows, a revised partition layout — is far easier while the building is still in the yard than after it has landed on your site.

The category labels below overlap in everyday use, so do not worry about picking the right one. Start wherever seems closest and we will work out what you actually need.

Tell us what you are looking for

Everything we handle

Categories, both directions

Portable buildings

Single self-contained units that lift and move whole. The most common and most flexible option.

See details →

Containers

Shipping and storage containers, plain or converted, 6ft, 8ft, 10ft, 16ft, 20ft, 24ft, 30ft, 32ft and 40ft.

See details →

Toilet & shower blocks

Toilet blocks, shower blocks and welfare units bought outright, working or long out of use.

See details →

Portable offices

Fitted out to work in all day — flooring, heating, lighting and enough power for a real team.

See details →

Temporary buildings

Short-term accommodation for decants, expansions and works. Bought outright rather than paid for by the month.

See details →

Prefab buildings

Prefabricated classrooms, offices and clinics. Often ex-education or ex-healthcare stock.

See details →

Portable accommodation

Sleeping, messing and welfare accommodation for sites, farms, events and remote work.

See details →

Relocatable buildings

Built to be moved repeatedly without losing their integrity. Worth paying for if it will move again.

See details →

Welfare units

Canteens, drying rooms and messing units. Seating, a servery and drying space, as single units or a full set.

See details →

Anti-vandal cabins

Steel clad, shutters over the glass and a steel door. The standard for anything left on an unmanned compound.

See details →

Jackleg cabins

Adjustable legs at each corner, so the unit levels itself on ground that has not been prepared.

See details →

Modular buildings

Factory-built bays that join on site. Multi-room, semi-permanent, from single blocks to large complexes.

See details →

Common questions

Before you enquire

What do you buy?

Portable buildings, modular buildings, portable offices, welfare and messing units, stores, drying rooms and containers. One unit standing in a yard is worth a conversation. So is a fourteen-bay modular block coming off a school site.

How quickly do I get a figure?

Normally the same working day, from photographs, rough dimensions, the postcode and an honest word about condition. Larger modular blocks, awkward access and anything where the way the bays are joined matters need eyes on site before anything is agreed, and we will tell you when that applies.

How and when are we paid?

Bank transfer on collection, unless something else is agreed in writing beforehand. The figure is settled before the lorry is booked rather than renegotiated on your yard.

What if the building is past saving?

We will say so. Buying a building pays you money; removing one costs money. Where something is finished we quote to clear it away instead, and we separate the mixed sites rather than pricing everything at the worst unit standing on them.

Do you sell buildings as well as buy them?

Yes. Much of what we sell is stock we have bought in, checked over and put right before it goes out again. Describe what you need and we will tell you what we can supply, what condition it is in and what the building and the haulage each cost. What is standing in the yard changes from week to week, so it is worth telling us what you are after rather than working from a list.

How far do you travel?

England, Scotland and Wales. We are based in Manchester and run our own transport, so distance affects the cost of moving something rather than whether we will do it.

Tell us what you are clearing

Photographs, rough dimensions and the postcode. That is enough for a figure on a building or a container, and enough to tell you whether it is a sale, a removal or a disposal.

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