Every container we deliver is loaded at South Grafton and priced with the truck in the same figure. Distance is rarely what makes a drop hard around here — soft ground, low wires and narrow gates are.
Tilt-tray. The everyday option for a 10ft or 20ft. The tray tips and the box rolls off the back, so the driver needs a gateway of about 3.5m and roughly twenty metres of straight, firm ground behind the spot.
Sidelifter. How a 40ft usually arrives. Two cranes on the trailer lower it beside the truck, and stabiliser legs carry the load while they do — so the strip alongside the spot has to be long (around 30m) and hard enough not to let a leg punch through.
Crane truck. For backyards, steep drives, tight streets and anywhere a fence or hedge is in the way. It parks once and swings the container over. It costs more than a tray, and on some blocks it is the only way in.
On the river flats round Ulmarra and Maclean the silt sets hard in a dry spell and goes soft after rain, so the same paddock can take a sidelifter one month and bog it the next. Yamba, Iluka and the Coffs beach suburbs sit on sand that looks firm and isn't under a concentrated load. And the older streets of Grafton, Sawtell and Bellingen have big trees and low services that rule out a tray more often than the width does.
Photos settle it. One of the entrance, one along the path the truck would take, one of the spot — sent to the yard before you book. Our block-access guide goes through what to photograph.
Which length are you after?
Narrowest gate or gap on the way in?
Wires, branches or a roofline over the spot?
What is the ground at the spot?
Have something solid ready for each corner casting: concrete pads, treated sleepers or a couple of pavers stacked. Soil alone lets a corner sink and the frame twist, and a twisted box is one whose doors bind. Put a spirit level on the floor while the truck is still there — nudging it later is hard work.
On flood-prone ground, sit it as high as the pads safely allow; height helps with surface water after heavy rain, but rising floodwater still reaches the door seals and gets in, and an empty box can float. On sand, spread the load wider under each corner so it settles evenly. Leave the door end clear enough for both doors to swing right round.
Each one covers the roads, ground and usual truck for that area.
Your town not listed? We deliver well beyond these pages — ring the yard with the address.
The figure we quote covers the unit and getting it onto your block. No cartage invoice follows it.
Or skip the form entirely.
Call (02) 5616 9099