The mill is being converted to flats and the developer wants the floor empty by the rent quarter day. Is that enough time?

It depends how far away the quarter day is, on the number of lots and on the route out. With about two months we would propose cataloguing in the first week, a fortnight of bidding with a viewing day inside it, and collection days after that. Removal from an upper floor is the slow part, so the order of collection is agreed with you and the heavier lots are given the room they need. If the date is closer than that, tell us. We will say whether a sale fits or whether a quicker private sale of the main machines is better.

We have textile finishing machines as well as the engineering shop. Do they go in the same sale?

They can, but they are advertised separately. Textile machinery has a specialist market of finishers, dealers and exporters, with export interest possible, and it does not overlap much with the machine tool buyers. We catalogue it in its own section with the working widths, speeds, services and the date of manufacture, and we put it in front of the textile trade as well as the general list. If the finishing plant is the bigger part of the sale, a dedicated textile sale with the engineering lots at the end may serve you better.

Machinery and engineering auctions in Bradford

A machine on the second floor of a stone mill is a rigging job before it is anything else. Bradford has a good deal of engineering in that kind of building, along the Canal Road corridor and in the older parts of Shipley and Keighley, and the yards outside are often tight and the approaches steep. A low loader that reaches a modern unit without trouble cannot always get near the door here.

None of that stops a sale. It changes what goes in the catalogue. We describe the route out for every heavy lot, so that a buyer's rigger prices the move before the bidding rather than after it.

Machine tools, textile machinery, printing kit and the maintenance plant from the food factories all go through the same process. Tell us what you have through the contact form.

Older manual machines and what decides their price

Some of the engineering shops in the district have been running the same lathes, shapers, mills and radial drills for decades, and sellers often assume nobody wants them. A well made manual lathe from an established maker, with its chucks, steadies, faceplate and manuals, suits small workshops, colleges, restorers and one person businesses, and what it makes depends on condition, completeness and whether the type is still in use.

So we look hard at both. We check the bed for wear and photograph the ways, the gearbox, the leadscrew and the tooling, and a machine that can be run without risk stays connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate it where you agree to that. A machine listed with its full set of change wheels and collets is a different lot from the same machine listed bare.

The CNC kit in the same shops suits a wider market, and the textile finishing plant in the mills a narrower one. We advertise each where it belongs.

Getting a press out of a mill yard

The old mills were built for looms and spinning frames carried in through big doors on every floor. What they were not built for is a modern low loader turning in the yard. Some of the yards off Canal Road are reached by a steep lane with a wall on each side.

So the first thing we do on site is walk the route out. Door widths, floor loadings between the machine and the door, whether the goods lift is rated for the weight, and where the nearest point is that a lorry can stand. If a machine has to come out through a window opening with a crane in the street, the catalogue says so, and the buyer's rigger prices for it.

The newer estates are usually simpler, though we check each site rather than assume it from the address. Euroway, Staithgate Lane, Dudley Hill and Thornbury sit close to the M606 and the M62, and the trade in Leeds, Halifax, Huddersfield and Keighley is well placed for the viewing day.

What these sales can include

CNC turning centres
CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres
Manual and toolroom lathes
Milling machines
Surface and cylindrical grinders
Press brakes and guillotines
Laser, plasma and waterjet cutters
Bandsaws and cold saws
Radial arm and pillar drills
Welding sets and positioners
Coordinate measuring machines
Tooling, chucks and workholding
Compressors and dust extraction
Cranes, hoists and forklifts

Viewing, bidding and the buyer's premium

Machinery sales run as online timed auctions. The catalogue is published with photographs and specifications. Buyers register, view the machines on the viewing day, and bid online until the lots close. The sale is advertised to the engineering trade, and bidding is online and open to buyers across the UK and beyond.

The buyer pays the hammer price plus the buyer's premium. VAT is charged where it applies and shown separately on the buyer's invoice. Ask and we will go through the specifics for your sale. Where a buyer is overseas, they arrange their own export.

Machines are offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding, which is why the viewing day matters. Machines that can be run safely stay connected for the viewing day so your staff can demonstrate them where that is agreed, and everything else is isolated and left safe.

The machinery and engineering auctions page covers what the buyers want to know, what affects demand, reserves and estimates, removal and access, when a private sale beats an auction.

Questions about selling in Bradford

The mill is being converted to flats and the developer wants the floor empty by the rent quarter day. Is that enough time?: It depends how far away the quarter day is, on the number of lots and on the route out. With about two months we would propose cataloguing in the first week, a fortnight of bidding with a viewing day inside it, and collection days after that. Removal from an upper floor is the slow part, so the order of collection is agreed with you and the heavier lots are given the room they need. If the date is closer than that, tell us. We will say whether a sale fits or whether a quicker private sale of the main machines is better.
We have textile finishing machines as well as the engineering shop. Do they go in the same sale?: They can, but they are advertised separately. Textile machinery has a specialist market of finishers, dealers and exporters, with export interest possible, and it does not overlap much with the machine tool buyers. We catalogue it in its own section with the working widths, speeds, services and the date of manufacture, and we put it in front of the textile trade as well as the general list. If the finishing plant is the bigger part of the sale, a dedicated textile sale with the engineering lots at the end may serve you better.

Related services

All business asset auctions in Bradford

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.
How used machinery is valued
Buyers pay for what a machine will do for them, less what it costs to get it out and running. This guide explains how make, hours, tooling, demand and removal cost feed a guide price, and why that price is not book value.

Machinery auctions elsewhere

All areas for machinery auctions