Transporting Portable Buildings
Transport by Tilt tray trucks is usually the most affordable, best by a transport company that specialises in transporting Portable buildings. With these type trucks the building is winched up the tray of the truck that has been specially designed to reach the ground. With this method the truck will need space to drive out from under the building, in most cases we can load the building the correct way around on the truck so as the door or windows are facing the way needed.
Tilt tray drivers mostly doing cars & fork lifts often don’t have the correct gear to tie the buildings to their trucks or the experience.
Hiab or crane truck, again best by the regular company’s who move them every day as spreader bars & the correct technique is very important when lifting.
Most transportation with regular carriers of portable building’s, you will find the trucks are specially set up with a soft suspension, not suspension set up for heavy machinery, that will vibrate the shed to bits.
Buying Used Buildings
Did you know at most auctions the general rule is “Buyer Beware”, the reason being is in most cases there is no warranty.
Many hire company’s send their old clapped out sheds to the auctions so there is no come back to them if the shed is found to be in worse condition that first thought.
When purchasing a Portable building always have a look underneath the building, as this is where it will usually deteriorate first. Especially if it has that horrible particle board as flooring.
When purchasing most things in life, you will find that the longer the company has been in business, generally the reputation of that company dictates them to have the customers satisfaction high in priority.
A family company you should find would normally retain good staff, & you would not expect to get shifted from person to person, in the way sometimes very large company’s or government departments may.
Water leaks show up on most ceilings, if there is an obvious water stain in the ceiling then you expect the building either have a leaking roof or had a leaking roof.
Calculating Building Size, Suggested & Industry Standards
Lunchroom Space
0.9 M2 per person is a calculation often used in this industry
So if you were to up it to say 1 M2 / person then a
6x3m shed = 18 M2, so 18 people should fit in this as a lunchroom.
4.8×2.4m Shed calculates to 11.52 M2, so say 10 people should be fine.
Obviously these numbers can be reduced for different circumstances.
Office Space
A fair size single person’s office is around the 3x3m size or 9 M2
However if sharing 1 room then 6-8 M2 each should be adequate, however this all depends on the space needed, Privacy needed & the equipment needed for each person.
Toilets & Washrooms
On a building site the calculation often used is 1 toilet / every 15 men
So an average building with 3 toilets, 3 basins, 1 shower 1 Urinal should suffice for 45 men
This would be our most common ablution that we would send out to the larger type building sites.
Chemical Toilets
2 choices are the Straight drop & the Flush type
Straight drop This is the most common for the small building site
Flush Type This is becoming more common, for where the situation needs to be a bit more up market, especially if a Lady was to use it.
Weeks pump out we recommend no more than 10 men on site per toilet.
Fortnightly Pump Out we recommend, no more than 5 men on site per toilet.
Single Sewer Type Toilet , this looks small like a chemical toilet but connects to the sewer, usually get set up very close to the sewerage main point at site for plumbing ease.
15 men on site is again the maximum recommended per unit
New Portable Buildings
Many company’s will offer you a new portable building but they don’t actually build them themselves, they are simply only agents. ( At Leased Portable we build all our own Portable Buildings & have done so for over 30 years. )
Doors should be large enough to get furniture through with ease& at the same time strong enough for the environment they are designed for ( our standard doors fitted to all our new buildings are actually the same size as for a handicapped door & built from 1.5mm gal steel).
Windows should be adequate size to let enough natural light in where possible, poky little windows give a poor era to the working environment.
Air-conditioning is very important, all Airconditioners should be reverse cycle with a fair energy rating suited for the area & environment they are designed to serve.