Used portable accommodation for sale
Sleeping, messing and welfare buildings for construction sites, farms, events and remote work. This is the category where the difference between a unit people occupy and a building people visit matters most, so it is worth a few minutes before you buy.
What it is used for
Three jobs, often in the same building
Most enquiries fall into one of three uses, and a long unit will frequently be split to do two of them at once. Knowing which you are buying for changes the specification you should be asking about.
- Sleeping accommodation
- Bedrooms, sometimes en-suite, for site staff, seasonal farm workers, event crew and remote projects. Built to be occupied overnight, with the ventilation and lining that implies.
- Messing accommodation
- Canteen and rest space — seating, worktop, sink, hot water, microwave and boiler point. Heavily used at two points in the day and empty the rest of it, which is hard on the fit-out.
- Welfare accommodation
- WCs, wash basins, showers and drying space. Plumbed throughout, so condition of the pipework, the water heater and the floor around it decides whether the unit is a bargain or a project.
- Combined units
- A single building partitioned into mess at one end and washrooms at the other, with a drying area between. The most common arrangement we handle, and the most useful on a small compound.
Specification
Heat, air and water
Heating and ventilation
These two are one problem, not two. Warm air holds moisture; cold surfaces condense it out. A unit with a big heater and nowhere for the moist air to go produces streaming windows, damp bedding and mould in the corners within a fortnight of cold weather starting. A unit with continuous background ventilation and extraction where the moisture is made does not.
When you look at a unit, put your hand on the wall lining on a cold day and look hard at the corners, the window reveals and the underside of the roof. Staining there tells you more about how the building has performed than any specification sheet.
The majority of refurbished buildings leave the yard with new heating fitted and their electrical certification supplied, so what you are judging on a refurbished unit is the shell, the glazing and the layout rather than the kit bolted to the wall.
Water, waste and power
Buildings with washrooms or kitchens come with internal pipework, an inlet, a waste outlet and usually a water heater. What they do not come with is a connection to anything. Mains water or a tank, a drain or a treatment arrangement, and an electrical supply of the right size all have to be organised on your site.
We will give your electrician the consumer unit rating, the circuits and the fitted loads. Sizing the incoming supply and making the final connection on your base is their work.
Tell us how the unit will be used and how many people it has to hold at the enquiry stage. Layout, partitioning and the fit-out are all far easier changed here than after the unit has landed on your site.
Related
Nearby categories
Portable buildings
The wider category. Single units that lift and move whole, in every fit-out from bare store to fully plumbed welfare.
See the range →Relocatable buildings
Built to be moved repeatedly. Worth the extra if the accommodation will follow the work from one site to the next.
See the range →Modular buildings
Multi-bay blocks, where a single wide open-plan space matters more than the flexibility of separate units.
See the range →Clearing accommodation rather than buying it? See what we take and how we value a unit.
What are you looking for?
What is standing in the yard changes from week to week, so the useful conversation starts with what you need rather than with a list. Describe the size, the layout and where it is going, and we will tell you what we can supply, in what condition, and what the building and the transport each cost.
Have something to trade in? Tick the part exchange box. A building coming the other way usually improves the arithmetic in both directions.
- Two figures — the building and the haulage — so you can see what you are paying for
- Refurbishment to your specification before delivery is usually possible
- Part exchange welcome — a building coming the other way is part of the deal
Common questions
Portable accommodation
What counts as portable accommodation?
Any relocatable building intended for people to occupy rather than store things in. In practice that covers three families: sleeping accommodation with bedrooms, messing accommodation with a kitchen and seating, and welfare accommodation with WCs, showers and drying space. Plenty of buildings combine two of the three, and a long unit split into a mess room at one end and washrooms at the other is very common.
Why do these buildings suffer from condensation?
Because a small, well-sealed, steel-skinned box with people asleep in it produces a great deal of water vapour and has nowhere to put it. Cooking and drying wet clothing make it worse. The remedy is a combination of heating that keeps internal surfaces warm, background ventilation that runs continuously, and extraction where the moisture is generated.
What condition is the accommodation in?
It varies and we describe each building individually rather than applying a grade. Units are put right in our own yard before they go anywhere: floor coverings, decoration, doors and windows, new heating fitted to the majority of them and electrical certification supplied with the unit.
How are water, waste and power connected?
Buildings with washrooms or kitchens arrive with internal pipework, an inlet and a waste outlet, and usually a water heater. Connecting them to a supply, a drain or a tank is site work arranged by you. Power is the same principle: we tell you the consumer unit rating and the loads fitted, and your own electrician sizes and makes the incoming connection.
Can several units be joined into one block?
Yes, and for anything above a handful of occupants it is usually the sensible route. Units can be laid side by side and linked, or stacked with an external staircase and walkway where ground is tight. Groundworks, foundations, linking and any stacking arrangement need designing for your particular site before anything is ordered.
Tell us who is using it and for how long
Occupant numbers, whether anyone sleeps in it, the services available on site and the postcode. We will tell you what suits, and what the unit and the transport each cost.