Britannia AuctionsPlant and construction equipment auctions in Northampton
Every shed at Brackmills started as a field with a dozer on it. The warehouses and parcel depots that cover Brackmills and Swan Valley were built by groundworks and civils contractors whose plant is still in the area, and when a phase finishes or a firm winds down, that plant needs a sale.
We run those sales by online timed auction, from the contractor's compound where the site allows it and from our own premises where it does not. Excavators, telehandlers, dumpers and rollers head the catalogue. Cabins, generators, compressors and the trailers that move small plant fill it out. Bidding runs a week or two with a viewing day before the close, and buyers pay us before they collect.
Access is checked at the site visit, whatever the estate. The big estates were laid out for artics and the M1 junctions are minutes away. Use the contact form to tell us what you have.
A catalogue that closes before the quarter day
Where a contractor's yard is rented, the rent falls due on the quarter days, and a firm that is closing wants to be out before the next one. We work the sale back from that date. Cataloguing takes a few days, bidding runs one to two weeks, and collection needs three or four days after the close, so how much room a month leaves is set by the size of the catalogue and the access.
If the date is closer than that, we can collect the plant and sell it from our own premises instead. The yard goes back on time and the sale keeps its full bidding period.
Reserves are agreed with you on the main machines before the catalogue goes live. Anything on finance or hire purchase remains the funder's property until it is settled, and where the funder agrees to the sale the settlement figure is usually paid from the proceeds. We account to you after collection and cleared funds.
Local trade, national bidding and the timing
Northampton has hauliers and warehouse operators in numbers, but the plant in a catalogue here is aimed at contractors, hire yards, plant dealers and farm businesses. Wellingborough, Kettering, Daventry and Towcester each have their own groundworks firms, Rugby and Market Harborough are half an hour away and Bedford is up the A421, so a good deal of trade is near enough to view in person.
Beyond that, bidding runs online and is open to bidders well beyond the area, which puts an older machine, or one with high hours, in front of dealers as well as the local trade.
Timing is worth a conversation before the date is fixed, since contractors buy plant when they have work ahead of them, and we will give you a view on it. Where a lease end or an insolvency sets the date, that is the date and we plan around it.
What these sales can include
- Excavators and mini diggers
- Dumpers and site dumpers
- Telehandlers
- Generators and lighting towers
- Compressors and breakers
- Rollers and compaction equipment
- Site cabins and welfare units
- Scaffolding and access equipment
- Concrete mixers and pumps
- Buckets, quick hitches and attachments
- Plant trailers
- Surveying equipment and small tools
- Fuel bowsers and tanks
How the auction works
Each machine is a lot with a full description, photographs and the hour reading. Bidding runs online for a set period, usually one to two weeks, and lots close in sequence. A bid in the last minutes extends the close for that lot.
Plant is offered as seen under the auction terms, and buyers are expected to inspect before bidding. The buyer pays the hammer price plus a buyer's premium, with VAT charged where it applies and shown separately on the invoice. Payment is required before removal.
Buyers arrange and pay for the removal of their lots within the agreed window. What that takes depends on the machine: wheeled plant with road registration can be driven away, and tracked or heavy machines go on a low loader. Nothing leaves the site until it is paid for and signed out.
The plant and construction equipment auctions page covers what buyers want to know, finance and ownership checks, where the sale runs from, reserves and the market, alternatives.
Questions about selling in Northampton
- We are a civils contractor with plant spread across two live sites at Pineham and Swan Valley. Can one sale cover both?
Yes. We catalogue each site and list the collection point against every lot, so a buyer knows before bidding where the machine stands. Viewing days can be set for each site on the same day or on consecutive days. If either site is live, collection slots are agreed with the site manager so lorries do not clash with deliveries. Where a machine is awkward to load in place, we move it to our own premises before the sale opens.
- Our welfare units and site cabins are still on the estate where the job finished. Are they worth listing?
Usually. A dry cabin with a working generator and a toilet block is a lot with its own market, and what it makes depends on its condition, its size and how easily it comes off the site. Cabins usually need a crane lorry or a plant trailer, which the buyer arranges and pays for, so we state the size and weight in the catalogue. Units that are damp or damaged are described as they are. Photographs inside and out do most of the work.
More questions about plant and construction
Related services
Guides
- 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.
- 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.