Furniture is one of those essentials we can hardly do without. Yet there are moments in life when you wish you had a little less stuff. Moving house, renovations, inheritances and merging households are the most common circumstances in which the pile of furniture quite literally gets out of hand.
Fortunately, there are nowadays various options for storing surplus furniture for shorter or longer periods. Self-storage, full-service storage and rented cellar spaces or storage halls offer alternatives to free up space at home while protecting your belongings from the elements or unauthorised access. But the question remains: how much does it actually cost to store furniture?
As you can probably guess, there is no straightforward answer. The price for storing furniture depends on several factors, including:
- The number of furniture pieces to be stored
- The size and nature of the individual pieces
- Your location and the prevailing market price per square metre in your area
- How long you need storage for your furniture
- How the transport to the storage unit and any return transport is organised
- Additional costs and need for services, including insurance, security measures, climate control, etc.
In addition, prices for furniture storage can also vary considerably between providers in your area. As a starting point, however, you can assume that the national average for storage space is currently around €26 per m². The table below shows guide prices for different storage sizes and how these change depending on the surface area rented:
Average price per square meter by storage unit size
The cost of a storage unit per m² drops considerably when renting a larger size. A small storage box (up to 3 m²) has the highest price per m² at an average of €33 per month. For a large storage space for, for example, a complete move (20+ m²), the rental price drops to around €16 per m². Smartly combining household goods in one larger unit therefore directly results in a much lower price per square metre.
Which factors determine the price of storage?
As mentioned earlier, the amount of furniture, the duration of storage, your location and the services required are among the price-determining factors when storing your furniture. The biggest component in calculating your final rental price is the storage space you need to accommodate all your belongings.
When calculating the square metres you need in your storage unit, it is not only the number of pieces that matters, but also the size of individual items that cannot easily be disassembled or taken apart. Think of solid wooden wardrobes, large sofas or antiques made before the era of flat-packs. The more of this type of furniture you have, the more storage space you will need.
Your place of residence, or the desired location for the storage, can also have a significant impact on your rental bill. If you live in a large city where living space is scarce and expensive, storage space will also be less available. In cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam or The Hague, prices for storage units per square metre are considerably higher than in, for example, Groningen or Zeeland.
Price differences by city: the most expensive and cheapest storage locations
Location largely determines the rental price of a storage box. In the Randstad (such as around Amsterdam and Haarlem), rates are the highest at around €30 per m². Looking for affordable storage space? Then look at cities outside the Randstad, such as Heerenveen, Hengelo or Nijmegen, where you often pay just half the price. Choosing a location slightly outside the city centre is the easiest way to immediately save on your storage costs.
But even in Dutch cities there are still bargains to be found in terms of storage space, if you look outside city centres, in business parks outside the centre or near motorway junctions in the immediate vicinity.
How services influence storage costs for furniture
In addition to the actual rental costs per square metre, there are generally extra costs when storing furniture. Unlike other household items that can easily be divided up and packed into boxes, furniture consists of bulky objects that do not simply fit in the boot of a car.
In most cases, at least a van needs to be hired or, if the entire house or home is being cleared, a removal company needs to be engaged. On top of that come costs for removal helpers, the loss of valuable working time and possibly also the need for childcare.
There are exceptions to this, for example if you choose to use full-service storage. With this storage option, transport and removal helpers are already included in the rental price and you only need to pack your belongings safely and correctly, after which they are collected and taken to the storage location. With full-service storage, your furniture is stored professionally and space-efficiently in fully climate-controlled and well-secured facilities, to avoid damage and excessive rental costs from wasted space.
How much storage space do you need for your furniture?
The question of how much storage space you need for your furniture arises as soon as you want to request quotes from rental providers. If you book too few square metres, you will arrive on moving day with too little space and will have to organise extra space in an already stressful situation. This can easily lead to higher costs and the additional worry that your storage provider has no further space available. If you book too many square metres, you pay unnecessarily for space that stands empty and offers you no further benefit.
Determining the required storage space is therefore of the utmost importance. The required storage space depends on how much you want to store. The contents of one room naturally require less storage space than storing the full furniture of your household. Your lifestyle also plays a role, as a minimalist needs far fewer boxes than an antique collector.
As a rule of thumb for calculating a rough storage space:
Size of the living space/room in m² × 10% = m² of storage space.
To calculate the storage space for your furniture more accurately, there are several options:
- Use a storage space calculator, which many professional self-storage and full-service storage providers offer online. With a good storage space calculator you can determine the size of all your furniture in just a few clicks.
- Measure your furniture piece by piece and calculate how many extra boxes you need for the remaining items. Add everything together to calculate the space required for your belongings.
- Ask your storage provider for advice. Professional self-storage and full-service storage providers can help you calculate the required storage space with their expert staff.
What additional costs should you take into account when storing furniture?
When you search online for a suitable storage solution for your furniture, you will generally only see the price per square metre for the storage space. This price can vary depending on the size of the rented unit. As a rule, the price per square metre becomes cheaper as the rented unit gets larger. The rental period is also important for the final calculation of the monthly rent. The longer the rental contract, the lower the monthly rental amount at most storage providers.
However, in addition to the obvious price per square metre, there may be extra costs that many storage unit renters have not taken into account. These can be one-off or added to the price monthly throughout the entire rental period.
Possible additional costs include:
Transport
If you hire a removal company to transport your furniture to storage, or agree with the storage provider to arrange transport, these costs come on top of the rental price. Even if you organise the storage of the furniture yourself, you need to account for costs for removal helpers, hiring a van or small lorry and fuel for the vehicle.
Packing materials
You attach great value to your furniture, otherwise you would not be taking on the costs of storage. You therefore need to pack your belongings properly so they come through the storage period undamaged. Sturdy removal boxes, furniture blankets, bubble wrap, corner and edge protection and metres of tape will significantly increase your storage costs.
Insurance
Your contents insurance usually also covers stored goods, but only for a certain period. The duration varies per policy and you should check how long your belongings in storage are insured. Your provider may require additional insurance. Bear in mind that you may also need to take out transport insurance if you engage removal helpers.
Deposit
Some self-storage and storage providers ask for a deposit before you store your furniture. This can amount to one or two months’ rent. You will receive the deposit back at the end of the rental period, provided you leave the storage unit clean. The additional costs can nevertheless significantly affect your budget.
Service charges
Just as with rental contracts for properties and houses, the storage provider may charge for climate control, cleaning and security measures such as lock systems and video surveillance. Therefore read your contract thoroughly and pay attention to the small print.
How can I save money when storing furniture?
Although there can be a number of unforeseen additional costs when renting a storage unit for your furniture, you also have the option of saving some money. The prerequisite is that you prepare well and plan the move of the furniture to the storage unit carefully.
Here are a few tips to minimise your costs when storing furniture:
Think in volume rather than surface area
Because the price per square metre of self-storage and storage providers refers to the floor area of the storage space on offer, many people only think about how much floor space they have. In many cases, however, the individual pieces of your furniture and household goods can be stacked upwards. Make use of the total volume of your storage space to pay for fewer square metres.
Disassemble your furniture
Many pieces of furniture today can easily be dismantled and taken apart into separate components. Take the time to disassemble your shelving units, wardrobes, beds and kitchen cabinet elements before storage. Disassembled furniture can not only be stored more easily and space-efficiently, transport also becomes simpler. A wardrobe measuring 120 x 60 x 191 cm reduces to 18 x 60 x 191 cm after disassembly. To find out how large the disassembled furniture pieces will roughly be, look up a model of the same size on the website of a furniture retailer such as IKEA and view the package dimensions under the product information.
Use empty spaces in furniture
For furniture that cannot be taken apart, you may be able to use the empty space inside as storage for household items. Make sure, however, that the surface is well protected and that good air circulation is maintained during storage. This prevents your furniture from going mouldy or developing an unpleasant odour.
Rent your packing materials
Packing materials for the move to the storage location can be expensive. On top of that, you often only need the materials once. When collecting the furniture again, you suddenly have a large amount of waste and empty boxes for which you have no further use. Many self-storage and full-service storage providers now offer removal boxes for hire. By borrowing your removal boxes instead of buying them, you not only save money and time, but you also help the environment.
Use a full-service storage provider for storing your furniture
Full-service storage is a storage system where most of the work during intake is taken off your hands. Providers such as BOXIE24 work with a fixed price that includes most of your storage actions, at a competitive monthly rental price. More on this below.
When is full-service storage the better choice?
Full-service storage is a system in which the storage provider takes on the entire process of storing goods, including furniture. The storage starts at your home, with the provider collecting the items, carrying them to the van and transporting them to the storage location. There your property is stored professionally and space-efficiently in fully climate-controlled facilities and returned at the pre-agreed time. With full-service storage, only the space actually used is charged.
Unlike self-storage or renting a storage hall, where every detail of storing furniture is carried out separately and billed individually, full-service storage providers such as BOXIE24 work with fixed prices that include not only collection, transport, storage and return delivery, but also packing, insurance and security monitoring. The rental price per square metre for full-service storage is generally only slightly higher than for self-storage.
Full-service storage is particularly the better choice when you have neither the time nor a suitable vehicle available, or simply want to avoid the stress of storing furniture. The professionally climate-controlled and heated storage spaces at full-service storage also offer much greater security for sensitive wooden furniture, metal furniture and upholstered furniture than cold garages or damp cellar spaces.
