Business relocation and downsizing sales in Sunderland

Moving heavy equipment is expensive. A machine tool or press needs a rigger to disconnect it, a crane or forklift to load it, and a low loader to move it, with the same again at the other end. Add a new foundation, a power supply and recommissioning, and the total can come close to the price of a replacement.

The question to ask for each item is whether it earns its place at the new site. If the answer is no, or the machine would sit unused for a year, it is usually better to sell it before the move. The buyer takes on the removal. You keep the transport budget for the equipment you need.

The same logic applies when you reduce floor space. Equipment that has no home at the smaller site is a cost until it is sold.

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 final minutes. We hold a viewing day at your premises so buyers can inspect the lots before they bid. Lots are sold as seen.

After the sale we invoice the buyers, take payment and pass the proceeds to you less our commission. Buyers collect during an agreed window. Larger machines are removed by the buyer's rigger under our supervision.

The best time to sell is the last few weeks at the old premises, once you have decided what is moving and before the site is handed back. Lots can be photographed and catalogued while production continues. Viewing and collection are then arranged for the days after your own move, when the building is quieter.

If the lease ends on a fixed date, tell us at the first call. The collection window has to finish before the keys go back. Where the timetable is tight we can shorten the bidding period, though a shorter sale reaches fewer buyers.

Some businesses run two sales: one for the items that can go early, and a second for the equipment that must work until the last day. That avoids selling a machine you still need.

A list of the equipment that is not moving, with serial numbers where you have them, saves time at the first visit. It does not need to be a formal asset register.

Gather the paperwork that adds value. Service records, tooling lists, software licences and operator manuals all help buyers bid with confidence. Where an item is on finance or lease, we need to know before it is catalogued, because the finance company must agree to the sale or be paid from the proceeds.

Leave machines connected until after the viewing day if you can. Buyers pay more for a machine they can see running. Disconnection and removal are then handled by the buyer or their rigger, not by your own staff.

We give an estimate for each lot before the sale, based on condition, age and current demand for that type of equipment. Estimates are a guide, not a promise. The market sets the final price on the day.

Reserves are agreed with you before the catalogue goes live. A reserve protects a valuable lot from selling too cheaply, but a reserve set above what buyers will pay leaves you with the item after the sale. For lower value lots most sellers choose to sell without reserve, because the cost of holding on to them is more than the risk.

Buyers pay a buyer's premium on top of the hammer price, and VAT is charged on lots where it applies. Your net proceeds are the hammer price less our commission.

Most lots sell. Where an item does not reach its reserve we will discuss the options with you: offer it to the underbidder, or hold it over for our next collective auction. A single valuable machine can also be sold by private treaty to a buyer we know is looking.

Anything with no resale value can be included in a site clearance, so the premises are left empty and swept once the buyers have collected. Tell us at the outset if the landlord has set conditions for handover, such as making good floor bolts or capping off services to machines. We build that into the plan rather than find out on the last day.

Sunderland has one of the largest car manufacturing sites in the country at Washington, with a battery plant next to it. Tier one and tier two suppliers for pressings, plastics, seating and trim are on the estates around it, along with tooling, automation and maintenance contractors. The port handles bulk cargo and offshore equipment. Main industrial areas include Pallion Industrial Estate, North Hylton, Sunderland Enterprise Park, Hylton Riverside, the Washington estates such as Pattinson, Armstrong and Glover, Rainton Bridge Business Park and the International Advanced Manufacturing Park.

The A19 runs north to south past the west of the city. The A1231 and A690 connect it to the A1(M) at Washington and Durham. Sunderland station is on the Durham Coast line and the Tyne and Wear Metro. The estates at Washington and Hylton have flat, wide roads and can take articulated lorries and low loaders.

We regularly handle relocation sales in Sunderland and across Tyne and Wear. Sales are run on site, with viewing and collection at your premises, and the online catalogue reaches buyers well beyond the area.