Britannia AuctionsBusiness closure auctions in Middlesbrough
Fabrication on Teesside lives from contract to contract. A pipework shop or a steel fabricator on Riverside Park or at Cargo Fleet can be flat out on a process plant shutdown one month and idle the next, and when the next job does not come the lease keeps running. The landlord wants the hard standing back clear.
We run closure sales for that kind of business. Plate rolls, section benders, welding sets, plasma tables and the overhead cranes are lotted for the fabrication trade. Online bidding opens the sale to the whole of the UK, and the shops at Stockton, Hartlepool, Darlington and Redcar are close enough to inspect the lots before the sale closes. The steel left in the yard sells too. So do the containers, the site cabins, the vans and the plant that came back from the last job.
Tell us the handback date and what is on the floor and in the yard, and we will build the timetable back from it.
Steel stock and consumables are lots, not scrap
A fabricator's yard at closure usually holds more steel than anyone expected. Sections, plate, tube and pipe left over from finished jobs, stillages of offcuts, and stores full of welding wire, gas bottles on rental, grinding discs and paint. The temptation is to weigh it all in. Do not, until we have looked. Cut lengths of section and full plates are usable material to another fabricator rather than scrap, and consumables are lotted in bulk for the same trade.
We lot steel by size and grade where the material is marked, and as mixed bundles where it is not. Offcuts below a useful length go to scrap, and disposal of the residue can be arranged where you want us to.
The process and chemical plants along the Tees also leave fabricators holding customer owned material and spools. Those go back to the client, and we keep them out of the catalogue from the first visit.
Hard standing built for heavy plant makes rigging simple
The riverside estates were laid out for heavy loads, and Riverside Park, Cannon Park, Skippers Lane and the units by the port were built with concrete yards and wide roads. We still check the gate, the turning space, the door and the floor before we plan anything, and the findings go in the catalogue. The order is then agreed with you. It usually suits to leave the overhead cranes until last, because everything else is lifted with them, and to release the welding sets, benches, hand tools and stores stock on the first day.
Plant hire yards follow the same order. Excavators, dumpers, telehandlers and rollers are driven or lifted onto transport from the yard, and the workshop behind them sells afterwards.
The A66 and the A19 keep Darlington and the A1(M) corridor near enough to come and see the lots, and buyers further out bid online. Each buyer arranges and pays for the removal of their own lots.
What these sales can include
- Production machinery
- Finished goods and raw materials
- Warehouse racking
- Forklifts and handling equipment
- Vans, trucks and trailers
- Office furniture and computers
- Workshop tools and benches
- Compressors and site services
- Catering equipment
- Retail fittings and display units
- Vehicle lifts
- Packaging machinery
How we run the sale
We visit, agree the scope and catalogue the lots on site. Everything from the main machines down to the contents of the stores can be included. Small items are grouped into sensible lots so that nothing is left behind.
The sale runs online as a timed auction. Bidders register, view the lots on a set viewing day at your premises, and bid until the closing time. Lots close in sequence, and a late bid extends the closing time on that lot.
Buyers pay the hammer price plus the buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. They pay us, and you are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds. The auction terms set out what happens if a buyer does not pay or collect. The details for your sale are explained when we discuss it.
The business closure auctions page covers closure sales and the pressure of the date, who needs to agree before you sell, stock, records and the things people forget, collection, clearance and the empty building, when a closure sale is not the answer.
Questions about selling in Middlesbrough
- Our plant is out on hire to sites across Teesside. Do we have to bring it back before the sale?
For the viewing day, yes, or as close to it as the hire agreements allow. Buyers bid more confidently on a machine they have seen started and walked round. If a contract runs past the sale date, we can sell the item with a later collection slot, or leave it out of the auction and sell it by private treaty when it returns. Tell us what is out and when it is due back and we will plan around it.
- We have a stock of pipework spools fabricated for a project that was cancelled. Will anyone buy them?
Sometimes. Fabricated spools cut to a client's drawing have a narrow market, and the client may have a contractual claim on them if they paid a deposit, so check the contract first. If the material is yours, we will offer the spools as lots with the drawings, and if nobody bids they sell as steel by weight. Standard fittings, flanges, valves and gaskets that were never cut are a different matter, because any pipework shop can use them.
More questions about closure auctions
Related services
Guides
- Closing a business: a timeline for selling the assets
Work backwards from the day you hand the site over. This guide covers lease end and dilapidations, when to instruct, when staff should leave, when to keep the power on, and how to leave enough room for collection and making good.