Shipping containers Mandurah.

The City of Mandurah and the verge

The City of Mandurah manages the verges in its streets, and along the canals and foreshore neighbours tend to notice anything that changes the look of the street. If the container will sit anywhere other than your own driveway or yard, check with the City before booking. Mention how long it will be there; a few weeks while a kitchen is replaced is a different request from a permanent store.

Holiday-home owners should also think about who is on site on delivery day. The driver needs someone to confirm the position, and a container left in the wrong place on a tight canal frontage is hard to shift once the truck has gone. If you live in Perth and the house is a weekender, arrange for a neighbour or property manager to meet the truck.

Downsizing, renovating and the canal houses

Many Mandurah households move furniture out for a renovation, or while selling one house and settling on the next. A container on the driveway keeps everything on the property, which suits a slow renovation better than trips to a storage unit. The catch is usually the driveway length. A 20ft is a little over six metres long, and many canal-estate driveways are short, so measure from the garage door to the boundary before choosing.

Salt air around the inlet and on the ocean side at Halls Head and San Remo is hard on bare steel over time. For long-term storage, a new single-trip unit with sound paint will hold up better than a tired used one. Keep an eye on the hinges and locking bars and give them a little grease every few months.

Trades and small businesses

Plenty of Mandurah tradespeople run their business from home and need somewhere secure for tools and materials that is not the garage. Before putting a container on a residential lot for business use, ask the City whether home-business or outbuilding provisions apply under your zoning. A quick phone call now beats a letter after a neighbour complains.

For businesses on commercial and light industrial land along Pinjarra Road and around Greenfields, check the lease and the approved parking layout. A container parked in a marked bay can leave a tenancy short of its required parking, which landlords and councils both notice.

Building sites in the northern estates

Lakelands, Madora Bay and the growth fronts at the northern edge of the city see a steady flow of house construction. A site container on a narrow lot needs planning around the slab, the crossover and the neighbour’s fence, and in estates with rear laneways the laneway may be the only practical truck access. Estate developers sometimes have their own rules on bins, signage and site storage, so check the building agreement.

The ground here is sand, much like the rest of the coastal plain. Set pads or sleepers under each corner so the container stays level once it is full of tools and materials. Doors that jam on a twisted container are the most common complaint on a building site, and it is easily avoided.

Foreshore events, clubs and boat owners

The foreshores host plenty of events through the year, and the sailing, rowing and sporting clubs around the estuary use containers for gear. On reserve land, the City or the club’s lease sets the rules, so ask where the truck may drive on grass and whether the ground is firm, especially after a wet winter.

Boat owners are the other big group. A container beside a trailer boat can fill a side yard quickly, so measure the combined width before choosing a size. Let us know the dates you are working towards; the actual delivery date is confirmed once you place the order.

What to send with your enquiry

The suburb, whether it is a canal-estate or rear-laneway lot, the driveway length from garage to boundary, and photos of the street and the spot. Tell us too if nobody will be home on the day.