The Brunswick valley, with the town sitting on the flat and the country climbing away behind it towards the ranges. A place where a lot of people build their own things, and a lot of those things start as a container.
What people order for Mullumbimby addresses is generally workshop, studio and shed conversions on the hinterland blocks, storage on the small farms and market gardens through the valley, trade and building storage, storage during owner-builder projects that run for years rather than months, community and event equipment, and household storage between rentals. Whatever the job, the sequence does not change: work out the grade, then the size, then how the truck gets in. Ten minutes on the phone covers all three.
On condition: cargo-worthy is the working grade, checked wind and watertight before it goes on a truck. As-is carries no such claim and costs less accordingly. On request we photograph the actual unit and send it through before delivery.
| Size | Used from | New from | Hire from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10ft Containers | $4,350 | $6,400 | POA |
| 20ft Containers | $2,200 | $3,300 | $27/wk |
| 40ft Containers | $2,600 | $5,500 | POA |
Guide pricing, ex GST. We would rather give you an accurate number than a tidy one. Cartage to Mullumbimby is quoted with the container, so the number you are given is the number you pay.
Mullumbimby has more people building their own things than almost anywhere we deliver, and that produces a particular kind of container job: the one that is going to be there for years. A container arrives before the shed, holds the tools and the materials while a project runs at whatever pace life allows, and becomes the workshop afterwards.
That argues strongly for spending on grade rather than saving on it. An as-is unit is honest value for six months of site storage; it is a poor choice for a box that is still going to be there in 2035 holding your tools. Cargo-worthy is checked wind and watertight before it goes on a truck and it is what most of these jobs should be.
It also argues for a high cube if there is any chance of lining it. A lined standard container has about 2.2 metres of headroom and feels like a corridor; a lined high cube finishes near 2.5 metres and feels like a room. That decision is cheap now and impossible later.
The flat country through the Brunswick valley is productive, easy to work and genuinely soft after sustained rain. It is the ordinary condition of the district rather than a fault, and it means timing is part of planning a delivery here.
The practical version: a loaded truck needs more than a ute needs, and a farm track that has carried machinery all week may still not carry six tonnes on a rigid axle. Where the ground is marginal we will either wait for it to dry, place the container closer to the hard surface than you had hoped, or bring plates.
If your intended spot is on low ground, it is also worth thinking about where water goes across the block before the container is placed rather than after. A container sitting in a shallow depression collects a surprising amount of standing water around the door threshold, and that is the end of the box that matters.
The town itself sits on flat ground and the newer parts of it are unproblematic. The older streets are the usual story for a town of this age — narrow, planted, cars parked along them, and services strung on timber poles at a height that suited a different era of vehicle. Behind the town the country rises fast, and the roads up into the hills west and north are narrow, steep and heavily canopied, which puts real limits on what can physically get up them. The valley floor is the other consideration: this is Brunswick River country, low and flat, and it holds water. Ground that is entirely firm in September is a different surface after a wet fortnight, and the tracks onto the farm blocks are the first thing to go. None of this is unusual for the district. All of it is much better handled with a phone call and a couple of photographs than with a truck sitting at your gate deciding.
Standard requirements sit on top of all that — a surface that holds weight, an unobstructed approach, and no wires, limbs or awnings overhead. If you are unsure, photographs let us confirm the vehicle before quoting. The list is in our access guide.
Goonellabah · Ballina · Byron Bay · Casino · Kyogle · Alstonville
Size, grade, cartage and timing sorted in a single conversation.