20ft20ft Shipping Containers
There is roughly seven metres of flat, straight ground for it, and you want the size most people end up glad they picked.
Used from$2,200
New from$3,300
10ft containers
10ft Shipping Containers for sale and hire — delivered Australia-wide
The one people ring about when the block is tight and the fence line is close. A 10ft is rarely a cut-down 20ft in the way people assume — most are purpose-built or factory-shortened, and that is exactly why they cost more per cubic metre than the box twice their length.
- External
- 2.99m × 2.44m × 2.59m
- Internal volume
- 15.9m³
- Used from
- $4,350 ex GST
- New from
- $6,400 ex GST
Every enquiry gets a reply within one business day.A person from our team writes back, not an autoresponder. Anything that arrives on a weekend or public holiday is answered on the next business day.
Why this one
When a 10ft is the right call
- Goes down the side of a suburban house where a 20ft never will. On a standard side passage that one fact is often the whole decision.
- Lands off a plain tilt-tray and needs roughly half the run-in a 20ft does, so the delivery is cheaper and a great many more sites work.
- Costs more per cubic metre than a 20ft every single time. If the room exists for the bigger unit, the bigger unit is nearly always the better buy — and we will say so on the phone rather than sell you the small one.
What fits inside
A ride-on, a workbench and wall shelving. Roughly a single garage's worth of gear. Two-bedroom unit's furniture at a squeeze, if it is packed properly and nothing is precious.
Worth knowing before you order
Ten-footers are the scarcest size in the country. Used stock moves through the yard in days rather than weeks, so a price quoted a month ago is not a price today. Ring and ask what is actually standing on the ground this week.
| Outside, length by width by height | 2.99m × 2.44m × 2.59m |
|---|---|
| Inside, length by width by height | 2.83m × 2.35m × 2.39m |
| Doorway, width by height | 2.34m × 2.28m |
| Cubic capacity | 15.9m³ |
| Empty weight | approx 1,300 kg |
Check the grade before you compare prices. Cargo-worthy is the grade we check wind and watertight before it leaves the yard. As-is units are cheaper again and are not sold watertight — one may carry a patched repair, a soft spot in the floor, or a door seal that no longer seats properly, and we will tell you exactly what is wrong with a particular unit rather than let you find it out on delivery day. New single-trip containers are unmarked, sealed, and have made one loaded voyage. If the container has to keep rain off whatever goes inside it, buy cargo-worthy or better.
Guide prices — 10ft
- Cargo-worthy used, from
- $4,350
- New single-trip, from
- $6,400
- Hire, from
- $22 / week
Guide prices in AUD, ex GST. Delivery is quoted with the container — it moves with distance and access, and one phone call gets you an exact number.
Get a price for your addressPrices on this page are guide prices in AUD and exclude GST. They are starting figures for the grade named, they move with condition, availability and which depot the unit has to come out of, and none of them is a quote until the cartage to your address has been worked out.
What fits
What fits in a 10 foot shipping container
Fifteen point nine cubic metres is easy to say and hard to picture, so here is the same volume described five different ways. Pick whichever one is closest to your job.
- A ride-on mower, a wheelbarrow and a rack of long-handled tools, with room left to walk in and get at them without shuffling everything else out first.
- About four standard Australian pallets on the floor in a single layer — the internal width takes two side by side and the length takes two deep. Stack them and you double it.
- A compressor, a welder, a parts bench down one wall and shelving above it. A tidy one-man workshop, minus the room to swing anything long.
- Roughly a single garage of household gear: forty to fifty removalist cartons stacked to head height, plus the awkward things — bikes, a fridge, a mattress on its edge.
- A two-bedroom unit's furniture at a squeeze, packed properly, with nothing in it you would be upset to see scuffed.
Value
Is a 10ft container worth it, or should you buy a 20ft?
This is the question we get asked most often about the size, and the honest answer is arithmetic rather than opinion. Divide the starting price of a cargo-worthy unit by the volume you get for it and the ranking never changes.
| 10ft · 15.9m³ | from $4,350 · $274 per m³ |
|---|---|
| 20ft · 33.2m³ | from $2,200 · $66 per m³ |
| 40ft · 67.7m³ | from $2,600 · $38 per m³ |
If a 20ft will physically fit and a truck can get to the spot, the 20ft is the better buy nearly every time — well over twice the room for roughly half the money. That is not a sales line, it is the reason we talk a fair few people out of the 10ft on the phone. The 10ft earns its price in exactly one situation: when the bigger unit will not fit, or will not get in. A narrow side passage, a setback that leaves nothing spare, a courtyard with one gate. In that case the comparison is not a 10ft against a 20ft at all — it is a 10ft against no container.
Siting
Siting a 10ft storage container on a tight block
A 10ft weighs about 1,300 kg empty, so it does not need a slab. What it needs is four firm points. Timber sleepers, concrete blocks or a couple of pavers under each corner casting, levelled to within about 25mm end to end, with the ground under it draining away rather than holding water. Level matters more on a short container than people expect: the doors are the same size as a 20ft's and they are hung on the same frame, so a twist that a longer box would shrug off will stop a 10ft's doors lining up.
Two things go wrong more often than everything else combined. The first is setting the unit straight onto lawn, where the corners sink unevenly through a wet summer and the doors start to bind. The second is the door swing — each leaf opens out about 1.2 metres, so a unit backed hard against a fence or a wall is a unit you cannot open. Work out which way the doors face before delivery day, not after.
Ground clearance is worth a thought too. Sitting the container 100mm or so up on blocks keeps air under the floor, keeps the bearers out of standing water and makes it far easier to get a jack or a set of forks under it later.
Moving it later
Can a 10ft container be moved later?
Yes, and it is one of the quiet advantages of the size. A 10ft comes off a plain tilt-tray, so shifting it later is a straightforward job rather than a crane booking, and it will fit back out through the same gap it came in through.
Empty it before it is lifted. The frame carries the load through the four corner castings, not through the floor, and a container packed to the roof is being asked to do something it was not designed to do while it is on the tray. Check the doors close and latch first as well — if a unit has been sitting on soft ground for a few years the corners will have settled into it, and that is much easier to sort out before it moves than after. Ring us and we will tell you what the job actually needs.
Grades
Which 10ft containers are sold watertight
Cargo-worthy is the grade we check wind and watertight before it leaves the yard, and a new single-trip unit has seals that have barely seen weather. Those are the two grades to buy if the container has to keep rain off whatever goes inside it. As-is 10ft units are cheaper again and are not sold watertight — they are sold on their faults, and we photograph those faults and tell you what they are rather than let you find them on delivery day. On a 10ft the grade question is sharper than on any other size, because the size is scarce and an as-is unit is often the only one on the ground.
Photos
10ft containers we have delivered
Real units from real jobs. Ask and we will send photographs of the specific container you are buying, before delivery.
Delivery
Getting a 10ft onto your block
A 10ft lands off a plain tilt-tray and needs roughly half the run-in a 20ft does — call it 12 metres of straight approach, 3 metres at the narrowest point and 4.5 metres of headroom for the tray to lift. That is the whole reason the size exists: it makes tight suburban blocks, narrow side passages and awkward inner-city courtyards possible where nothing longer works.
Send three photographs with your enquiry — one from the street looking in, one down the approach and one of the spot itself — and we will tell you which truck the job needs before anyone quotes.
Other sizes
If this one is not quite right
20ft
40ft40ft Shipping Containers
The site is roomy, the truck can get a long straight run at it, and storage per dollar is what counts.
Used from$2,600
New from$5,500
Not sure this is the right size? Compare 20ft shipping containers and 40ft shipping containers on the same figures, check every measurement on the shipping container dimensions page, or read what the three grades mean before you compare anybody's prices. If you only need one for a while, container hire starts from $22 a week ex GST.
Getting one to you: what the truck needs is set out on the delivery and access page. We deliver 10ft containers to Brisbane, Ipswich, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, Logan, Jimboomba and everywhere else we run.
Guides worth reading before you buy a 10ft: Shipping container dimensions — the full Australian reference, Buying a used shipping container — what to check and in what order and Preparing your site for a container — ground, footings and drainage.
Common questions
About 10ft containers
Can I see a 10ft at the Forest Hill yard before I buy?
Yes. The yard is at 24 Forest Hill Fernvale Rd, Forest Hill, QLD, 4342, open Mon–Fri 7:30am–5pm, Sat 8am–12pm. Ring ahead with the grade you are leaning towards so the right 10ft units can be reached, then open the doors, stand inside and check the floor yourself. If the drive is too far, ask and we will photograph the actual container before delivery.
How big is a 10ft inside and out?
Outside it measures 2.99m × 2.44m × 2.59m; inside, 2.83m × 2.35m × 2.39m. The doors open to 2.34m × 2.28m, it holds 15.9m³ and it weighs approx 1,300 kg empty. Those figures are fixed by the ISO standard, so two 10ft units from different makers measure the same — the condition of the floor and doors is where they differ.
What will a 10ft hold?
A ride-on, a workbench and wall shelving. Roughly a single garage's worth of gear. Two-bedroom unit's furniture at a squeeze, if it is packed properly and nothing is precious.
What is the guide price on a 10ft, and what changes it?
From $4,350 for cargo-worthy used and $6,400 for new single-trip, ex GST. Hire starts at $22 a week. The particular unit's condition and where it is loaded from move the figure. Delivery is worked out for your address and added to the same quote, never published as a flat rate.
Which grade of 10ft should I pick?
Cargo-worthy used for most storage, since it is checked wind and watertight before it is loaded. New single-trip when it will be on show or converted. As-is only for jobs that do not need it dry: as-is units are not sold watertight, and we tell you the faults on the unit before it is loaded.
What should I check on my site before a 10ft arrives?
A 10ft lands off a plain tilt-tray and needs roughly half the run-in a 20ft does — call it 12 metres of straight approach, 3 metres at the narrowest point and 4.5 metres of headroom for the tray to lift. That is the whole reason the size exists: it makes tight suburban blocks, narrow side passages and awkward inner-city courtyards possible where nothing longer works.
Is a 10 foot shipping container worth it?
Only when the space decides it. Per cubic metre a 10ft is the dearest container we sell, by a wide margin — a cargo-worthy 20ft holds more than twice as much for roughly half the money. If the block will take the bigger unit, buy the bigger unit. If it will not, the 10ft is a genuinely good box and the only one that will fit.
Can a 10ft container be moved once it is on site?
Yes. It comes off a plain tilt-tray and goes back on one, so relocating it later is a normal job rather than a crane booking. Empty it first — the frame carries the load through the corner castings, not the floor — and check the doors still close and latch before anything lifts it.
What ground does a 10ft storage container need?
Four firm, level points rather than a slab. Sleepers, concrete blocks or pavers under the corner castings, levelled to within about 25mm end to end, on ground that drains away. Sitting it 100mm up on blocks keeps air under the floor. And leave about 1.2 metres in front of the doors for the leaves to swing.
Which grades of 10ft keep the rain out?
Cargo-worthy and new single-trip units are — cargo-worthy is checked wind and watertight before it leaves the yard. As-is 10ft units are not sold watertight. No container of any grade is flood protection: water that reaches the door seals gets in, and an empty container will float.
Get a price
Get a price on a 10ft
Tell us where it is going and what the access is like. Every enquiry gets a reply within one business day.
Rather talk? Call us on 0477 410 500, Mon–Fri 7:30am–5pm, Sat 8am–12pm