Britannia AuctionsBusiness relocation and downsizing sales in Middlesbrough
A fabrication yard on the Tees grows and shrinks with its order book. A run of offshore or process contracts fills a second bay with welding sets, rollers and positioners. When the work thins, the bay is let go and the kit inside it has to be sold before the keys go back. That is a downsizing sale, and it comes up more often here than a full move.
We run it as an online timed auction from the yard. The riverside estates were laid out for heavy plant, and we check each yard for the space a crane and a low loader need before the collection plan is written.
Plant hire firms and haulage contractors moving between Skippers Lane and Teesside Industrial Estate come with a different list, and the sale runs the same way.
Welding bays cleared between contracts
Contract fabrication leaves lots that other fabricators want. Welding sets sell by the pallet. Column and boom manipulators, rotators, plate rolls, press brakes and guillotines suit yards in Stockton, Hartlepool, Darlington and further afield, all near enough to attend the viewing day. Pipework firms bid for bevelling machines, pipe stands and bending kit.
The lots that need a straight opinion are the ones built for one job. A test rig or a jig for one client's module is worth its parts or its scrap weight, and we tell you that before the catalogue is written. Extraction systems and compressors are easy to overlook and worth cataloguing properly, because they are used in every yard.
Overhead cranes stay with the building unless you own them and the landlord has agreed to their removal. We check the lease before anything is listed.
Plant hire yards with too much iron
Plant hire and construction firms downsize differently. The yard stays, the fleet shrinks. Excavators, dumpers, compaction plant and site accommodation that were bought for a job that has finished sit on the hard standing and depreciate. We sell them from the yard, with the smaller plant and the hand tools catalogued in the stores.
Plant is judged on hours, condition and service record rather than on how close the yard is, and the A66 and the A19 put Darlington, Yarm, Guisborough and the north able to get to a viewing day without a long trip. Lots on wheels or tracks are usually simpler to collect than bolted down machinery, though what each one needs still depends on its weight, its condition and the surface it stands on. Buyers organise and pay for the removal, and we agree the window and attend to release the lots.
Lots that are past their useful life are described as such and offered with low reserves, and the scrap and recycling trade in the town is close at hand.
What these sales can include
- CNC machine tools
- Presses and press brakes
- Racking and mezzanine floors
- Forklift trucks
- Air compressors
- Workshop tooling and hand tools
- Office furniture and desks
- IT equipment and servers
- Packing and labelling machines
- Welding equipment
- Extraction and dust collection systems
- Vans and light commercial vehicles
How the sale runs
We visit the site, list the lots and photograph them in place. You tell us which items are moving and which are for sale, and we tag the sale lots so there is no confusion on the shop floor.
The catalogue goes online as a timed auction. Bidding stays open for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and each lot closes at a fixed time with an extension if a bid arrives in the last minutes. We hold a viewing day at your premises, and lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, with buyers expected to inspect first.
After the sale we invoice the buyers and take payment. You are paid once the sale is reconciled and the collection window has closed, from cleared funds, less the agreed commission and any agreed costs. Buyers arrange and pay for removal, and our staff attend to release lots against paid invoices.
The business relocation and downsizing sales page covers when a relocation sale makes sense, timing the sale around the move, what to prepare, valuation and reserves, unsold lots and leftovers.
Questions about selling in Middlesbrough
- Our second bay lease ends at the quarter day. How much notice do you need?
Four to six weeks from the first visit to an empty bay is comfortable. Cataloguing a bay of that size takes about a week, bidding runs for a week or two with a viewing day near the end, and collection follows, with its length set by the heavy lots. If the lease ends on a quarter day, we work back from it and propose the auction close date. Shorter is possible with a smaller catalogue, though the heavy lots need time for buyers to arrange transport.
- Some of our kit is on the quay at Teesport for a job. Can it be included?
It can, if it is yours to sell and it can be viewed. Lots in more than one place are listed with their location, and buyers collect from each one in the same window. Port kit that is still under a contract or a hire agreement stays out of the sale until the paperwork is clear. We would rather leave a lot out than sell something a buyer cannot collect.
More questions about relocation sales
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.
- Selling a commercial vehicle fleet
Fleet sales turn on paperwork as much as on price. This guide covers the V5C, MOT and plating documents, clearing finance before listing, keys and livery, recording mileage and tachograph data, and how to defleet in batches while still trading.