Britannia AuctionsFactory and workshop clearance in Birmingham
A Birmingham factory rarely holds one kind of plant. A pressings shop in Tyseley or Witton will have power presses on foundations, a tool room with grinders and spark eroders, a plating or powder coating line at the back, and a mezzanine full of stock and stillages above it all. The clearance has to deal with every part of that, in the right order, before the landlord gets the keys.
We sell what has a market by online auction, and removing what is left, from the last press down to the cable tray, can be arranged where agreed. On the inner city sites in Aston, Saltley, Witton and Tyseley the road, the yard and the door are measured before the catalogue is written, because they decide how a press comes out.
If you have a factory or workshop anywhere in the city to clear, send us the details and the handover date.
Presses, tooling and the plating line
Power presses, press brakes, guillotines and rolls are usually the main lots in a Birmingham clearance. What they make turns on condition, capacity, the age of the controls and how hard they are to remove, and we give you a view before you commit. Bidding is online, and the metalworking trade at West Bromwich, Walsall, Dudley and Redditch is close enough to view in person. Machine tools, welding sets, compressors and tooling follow, and racking and stillages are lotted in bulk.
A plating or finishing line is a different matter. The tanks, rectifiers, filters and effluent plant can have resale value, but the line is plumbed in with chemicals, and cleaning down comes first. Where agreed, that stage is arranged with specialist contractors after the auction lots have gone.
Presses on foundations usually wait until the loose lots have gone, though the order is agreed with you rather than fixed. Once they are lifted and the pits made safe, the floor can be finished and the building readied for handover.
Moving heavy plant out of a small yard
Half of the planning on an inner city Birmingham site is about the road outside. What a lorry can reach at Minworth or on Birmingham Business Park near the M42 says nothing about a terraced side street in Aston, so the width, the turning space and the door are measured when we first visit. Where a low loader cannot reach the lots, a hiab on a booked morning with the presses moved to the door is one answer.
The catalogue gives the collection arrangements, so buyers know what vehicle and handling each lot needs, and they arrange and pay for removal of their own lots. A sale can run on site, or the lots can be sold from our own premises, and which route we propose depends on the lots, the premises and the timetable.
Smaller lots go out inside an agreed window, and we attend to let lots go only when they have been paid for.
What these sales can include
- Production machinery
- Machine tools and tooling
- Pallet racking and mezzanines
- Compressors and air receivers
- Extraction and filtration systems
- Overhead cranes and hoists
- Forklifts and pallet trucks
- Workbenches, cabinets and stores
- Electrical switchgear
- Office furniture and IT
- Scrap metal and redundant stock
- Vans and site vehicles
The auction stage
We catalogue every saleable item on site, from the main machines down to grouped lots of hand tools and stores. The sale runs online as a timed auction with a viewing day at the premises. The buyer pays the hammer price plus the premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately, and collects during an agreed window.
Lots are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. They arrange and pay for dismantling and removal. Where an item must be taken down carefully, such as a mezzanine or an overhead crane, the catalogue says so and it is part of the lot.
You keep the premises accessible, safe and powered until collection ends. We attend to release lots. The more that leaves through the auction, the less there is to clear at cost afterwards.
The factory and workshop clearance page covers clearance is a different job from a sale, everything that has to come out, the clearance stage, timescales and what slows them down, when a clearance is the wrong approach.
Questions about selling in Birmingham
- We have a plating shop with tanks still in use. Will you deal with that?
Yes, but it is the part of the job that needs most care. The tanks, rectifiers, filters and extraction can be offered where they are in reasonable condition and can be taken out cleanly. Before they are lifted the chemicals have to be pumped out and disposed of by a licensed contractor, and the pits and floor made safe. Where it is agreed, we arrange that stage with specialist firms and fit it into the plan after the main auction lots have been collected.
- Our unit is on an old Witton estate with a narrow road. Can a low loader get in?
That is answered by measuring, not by the address, and we would rather find out when we walk the site than on collection day. We check the road width, the turning space, the yard, the door and the floor levels, then work out what the heavy lots need: a low loader, a rigid lorry with a hiab, or a crane and a closure. The findings go in the catalogue so buyers know before they bid. Where none of that is workable, the lots can be brought to our own premises and sold from there instead.
More questions about factory clearance
Related services
Guides
- How a commercial asset auction works
A stage by stage account of an online timed auction for business assets. It covers the asset schedule, cataloguing, viewing days, how bidding closes, buyer's premium and VAT, collection and how you get paid.
- Preparing machinery and equipment for sale
What to do before viewing day. Keep the machines that can be run safely available to demonstrate, isolate the rest, clean but do not repaint, find the tooling and manuals, and sort out access for removal.