10ft Shipping Containers
Side access is pinched, the setback leaves nothing to manoeuvre in, or all that is needed is a lockable spot for the mower, an air compressor and a wall of hand tools.
Toowoomba, QLD
Shipping containers Toowoomba
Everything about a Toowoomba job starts with the range. Seven hundred metres of altitude between our yard and your street, on a climb that has been the pinch point for heavy vehicles since trucks were invented, and a bypass that changed the equation for the better without making the old road irrelevant. Then you get to the top and meet black soil, which cracks wide enough in October to lose a fence post down and turns to grease in February. A container will sit on it happily for thirty years, provided somebody thinks about it on day one.
- Delivered from
- Our Cornubia yard, run west on the Warrego and up over the range
- Typical lead time
- Usually 3-5 business days; range runs get grouped, so ring early if you have a fixed date
- Usual truck
- Tilt-tray in 10ft and 20ft; crane for 40ft, escarpment driveways and anything lifted over a fence
Every enquiry answered within one business day.You hear back from a person, not an autoresponder. Enquiries that land on a weekend are answered the next business day.
Here is the honest version of buying a container here.
What locals buy them for
Around Toowoomba we deliver containers for grain, seed and chemical storage on the farms out through Cambooya, Westbrook, Pittsworth and Oakey, parts and workshop storage for the mining and agricultural machinery trade around Torrington, Charlton and Wellcamp, site stores on the estate builds at Highfields, Glenvale and Kearneys Spring, secure storage for the constant renovation work on the old houses through East Toowoomba, Newtown and Rangeville, gear for the show, carnival and event circuit that runs through the city each year, and feed, tack and fencing on the small holdings toward Crows Nest, Hampton and Cabarlah.
Getting a truck in
The climb is the first thing to understand and the bypass is the reason it is no longer the headache it once was. Heavy vehicles now have a graded route around the city that avoids dragging a loaded truck up the old range road through traffic, which makes a Toowoomba delivery more predictable and easier to schedule than it was a decade ago. It does not make it a short run. It is a couple of hours each way from Cornubia, so range work gets grouped and it pays to ring early if you have a date that cannot move. Once you are up, the city divides. West and south through Glenvale, Westbrook, Wilsonton, Harristown and Kearneys Spring the country is flat and open, the streets are wide, and a rigid truck has room to line up and unload without anybody breaking a sweat. East along the escarpment is a different job. Rangeville, Prince Henry Heights, Redwood, Mount Lofty and the streets running off the top of the range have short driveways that pitch away hard at the kerb, so a tilt bed grounds out before the container is clear, and the ground behind the house often falls away steeply toward the edge. Those are frequently crane jobs. The older streets through East Toowoomba and Newtown carry a hundred years of camphor laurel, jacaranda and plane tree at exactly truck height, along with low service lines and narrow side access. Out on the Downs proper the access is generally excellent, wide farm gates, hardstand near the sheds, and room to turn anywhere, with one caveat: black soil after rain is not something a loaded truck negotiates, it is something a loaded truck waits out. Frost is a genuine factor through winter as well, since a shaded driveway can hold ice well into the morning up here in a way it never does at sea level.
Grade moves the price more than size does, and it is what decides whether a unit is sold watertight — the full rundown is on the grades page.
The range
Containers we deliver to Toowoomba
Priced with delivery to your address - one call, one number.
20ft Shipping Containers
There is about seven metres of straight, reasonably level ground for it to sit on, and you would rather not discover in half a year that the bigger box was the answer.
40ft Shipping Containers
You have the space, the approach is genuinely open, and the aim is the largest amount of storage per dollar spent that anybody sells.
Toowoomba
Up the range, and why it pays to book early
Our containers come from the yard at Cornubia, which means a Toowoomba delivery is a proper run rather than a local drop. That is not a drawback, it just changes how it is scheduled. Range work gets grouped so trucks are not running half empty over the escarpment, which keeps the cartage sensible and makes the timing more predictable, and it means the useful thing you can do is tell us early. Where a settlement date, a shed coming down, a harvest window or a site start is driving the timing, say so up front and the range run gets built around you instead of an explanation arriving afterwards about why it did not fit.
It also means getting the specification right before the truck leaves matters more than it does on a suburban job. A wrong size or a missing lockbox on a Logan delivery is a short trip back. Over the range it is a day. So we ask more questions up front about what is going inside, how long for, what the site looks like and what will be opening the doors, and we would rather sort out a modification in the yard than discover the need for it at your gate. If you want to see a unit before it goes, Cornubia is open Monday to Friday 7:30am to 5pm and Saturday 8am to 12pm. If the drive down the range is not worth making, we will photograph the exact unit on request and send it through before delivery.
On the ground
Black soil does not stay still
The vertosols across the Downs are some of the best cropping soil in the country and some of the least cooperative ground to park anything heavy on. They take up water and swell through a wet spell, then shrink and crack open through the dry, and they do not do either evenly across a paddock or a back yard. A container placed straight onto black soil follows that movement one corner at a time. It will not go back. Once the four corner castings stop sitting at the same height the frame carries its load unevenly, the door end racks, and doors that used to open with one hand need a shoulder and a bad word.
The fix is old fashioned and it works. Concrete pads or stacked hardwood sleepers under the four corner castings, bedded down onto firm material rather than sitting on the surface crust, checked level along both sides and both diagonals. Doors at the top of any slope so they open the easy way. Underside left open so water drains away and air keeps moving. Walk around it after the first solid wet and again after the first proper dry to see whether anything has shifted, because a unit re-levelled once in its first year will hold square for decades afterwards. That levelling is done on delivery wherever the site permits, so describe the ground at quote stage and the materials come up the range with the container.
Worth knowing
Escarpment blocks and the streets under the trees
Toowoomba has two very different kinds of hard delivery and they sit within a few kilometres of each other. The escarpment blocks along Rangeville, Redwood, Mount Lofty and Prince Henry Heights have short steep driveways, houses set high, and yards that fall away behind them toward the edge of the range. A tilt-tray grounds out at the kerb on a lot of those, and even where it gets in, the only usable ground is below the house rather than beside it. A crane truck lifting over the carport or the fence is usually the sensible answer, and it needs the same three photos any lift needs: the house from the street, the lines overhead, and the intended spot looking back toward the road.
The old streets through East Toowoomba, Newtown and the top of Ruthven are the other case. Mature camphor laurels, jacarandas and plane trees have been hanging over those roads for generations and the canopy sits at exactly the height a lifted tilt bed wants. Side gates were set out for narrower things. Service lines cross the frontage. Plenty of those blocks are perfectly deliverable with the right vehicle and a little notice, and a fair number are not tilt-tray sites at all. Give us the street and a photograph shot from out in the middle of the road facing the house, and the call can usually be made on the spot instead of guessed at.
What delivery to Toowoomba costs
There is no flat delivery rate here worth publishing. What the truck has to do at your end changes it too much, so we quote it per job.
Ring us, tell us what is going in it and what the access is like, and we will tell you which grade and which truck the job needs before anyone talks money.
Nearby towns we cover
We also deliver to Highfields, Oakey, Pittsworth, Crows Nest, Gatton and the surrounding district. If your town is not on the list, ring — it almost certainly still works.
Common questions
Buying a container in Toowoomba
Will a container stay level on black soil?
Only if you put it on something. Downs black soil swells when it is wet and cracks open when it is dry, and it does that unevenly across a site. Set straight onto the surface, a container settles corner by corner, goes out of square and starts binding its doors. Concrete pads or stacked hardwood sleepers under the four corner castings, bedded onto firm material and levelled on both diagonals, sorts it out. Check it once after the first big wet and once after a proper dry and re-level if anything has moved. Do that in the first year and it will stay square for decades.
How long does it take to get a container to Toowoomba?
Three to five business days is the normal window. The containers come up from our yard at Cornubia, so range runs get grouped rather than sent one at a time, which keeps the cartage sensible but means a bit of notice helps. If you have a fixed date, a settlement, a harvest window, a shed coming down or a site start, tell us at the enquiry and we will schedule around it. Wet weather on black soil will move a farm delivery, because a loaded truck on soft Downs country is not a risk anybody should be taking.
Can you deliver out onto the Downs, not just into the city?
Yes, and the access out there is generally better than in town. Oakey, Pittsworth, Cambooya, Clifton, Crows Nest, Highfields, Jondaryan and further west are all serviceable, with wide gates, hardstand near the sheds and room to turn. The two things that change a farm delivery are the surface after rain and the last few hundred metres to the shed. Give us the address, tell us what the approach is like and whether there is somewhere firm to put the truck, and we will tell you what is coming and when.
My driveway in Rangeville is short and steep. Can you still deliver?
Often, though not with a tilt-tray. Where the driveway pitches away hard at the kerb, the bed touches down before the container has cleared it, and on the escarpment blocks the usable ground is frequently below or behind the house rather than beside it. A crane truck lifting over the carport or the fence is generally the answer. What decides it is reach, height clearance and whether the street gives room for outriggers. Send a photo from the middle of the road looking up at the house and one from the intended spot looking back and we can usually give you an answer straight away.
Get a price
Get a price for your address
We deliver to Toowoomba and the surrounding district. Tell us what is going in it and what the access is like, and you will get a price with the cartage worked out. Every enquiry answered within one business day.
Or skip the form and ring us — 1300 467 776, Mon-Fri 7:30am-5pm, Sat 8am-12pm