It comes down to what you're storing, for how long, and whether your land can take a steel box. A container on your own land suits weatherproof kit (tools, machinery, building materials) kept for a long stretch, where you have level, solid ground, room for a delivery lorry and no planning obstacle. A container at one of our sites suits a shorter or uncertain stay, or anyone who would rather skip the delivery, groundwork, planning check and resale: we have containers at Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Warminster, and a 160 sq ft container at Shipston is £64 a week on our September 2026 price list. Whether you can put a shipping container in your garden or on your land is a planning question for your council, covered in the planning section below.
Side by side
| A container at our site | A container on your land | |
|---|---|---|
| Getting it there | Nothing to deliver. You drive up and load straight in | Needs "suitable vehicle access to your land" and "a level, solid surface" (our own guide) |
| Access | Chipping Norton, Shipston-on-Stour and Warminster pages give 6am to 10pm, seven days (confirm your hours when you book) | Whenever you like, subject to your lease or estate gates if the yard is rented |
| Damp | Our booking system describes the Chipping Norton and Shipston-on-Stour containers as insulated. For any other container, ask when you book | Depends on the box. Our guide warns that an unheated steel box can sweat on cold nights |
| Security | Chipping Norton and Shipston-on-Stour containers sit in an access-controlled compound monitored by CCTV. Our booking system lists monitored CCTV for the Warminster container; ask about its compound. You lock it yourself | Your lock, and whatever security your land has |
| Cost | Shipston 160 sq ft: £64 a week, £256 per four weeks. Chipping Norton and Warminster: get a quote | The box, plus delivery, any groundwork or hardstanding, and moving or selling it at the end |
| When you're done | Give written notice (the period is on your agreement). Our minimum term FAQ says "2 weeks is our minimum term" | Sell it, move it or keep it |
Our containers run from 80 sq ft to 320 sq ft: see how big are Wigwam's container units?
Do I need planning permission for a container on my land?
Possibly, and it's your council's call. The Planning Portal's outbuildings guidance for houses in England treats structures "for a purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse" as permitted development within limits. It doesn't name shipping containers, and it says: "If you are unsure if your planned building falls into the category of 'outbuildings' or if you are unsure if planning permission is required, please contact your local planning authority."
Those householder rules (Class E of the General Permitted Development Order 2015) cover only "provision within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse", and the only container they name is one "for the storage of oil or liquid petroleum gas", so the question is whether your council treats a shipping container as a building. Whether a paddock or field beyond your garden is within the curtilage is your council's call too. Where the outbuilding limits do apply, these are the ones a garden container most often runs into:
- "Outbuildings and garages to be single storey with maximum eaves height of 2.5 metres and maximum overall height of four metres with a dual pitched roof or three metres for any other roof." Measure the box you'd buy, plus whatever it stands on, against both.
- "No outbuilding on land forward of a wall forming the principal elevation." If your drive is in front of the house, this is the limit to check first.
- "Maximum height of 2.5 metres in the case of a building, enclosure or container within two metres of a boundary of the curtilage of the dwellinghouse."
- In national parks, the Broads, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, "buildings, enclosures, containers and pools at the side of properties will require planning permission".
- "Within the curtilage of listed buildings, any outbuilding will require planning permission."
The allowances "apply to houses and not to: Flats and maisonettes", and a planning condition or Article 4 Direction can remove them. If it isn't clear, GOV.UK says you can apply for a lawful development certificate "for a legally binding decision from the local planning authority". Other consents may still be needed, and GOV.UK adds that restrictions in deeds or covenants are "not a planning matter", so check your deeds too.
On farm or business land
These householder allowances aren't the guide here. Agricultural land has its own permitted development rules (Part 6 of Schedule 2 to the General Permitted Development Order 2015): on an agricultural unit of 5 hectares or more, they cover "the erection, extension or alteration of a building" that is "reasonably necessary for the purposes of agriculture within that unit", and, subject to exceptions, you must first ask the council whether its "prior approval" is needed. On a unit of 0.4 to under 5 hectares, Class B allows "the extension or alteration of an agricultural building", not a new one. They don't permit "a building, structure or works not designed for agricultural purposes", so ask your council whether a container qualifies. On business land, Part 7 Class H permits the "erection, extension or alteration of an industrial building or a warehouse" only where "the development is within the curtilage of an existing industrial building or warehouse", so ask your council whether a container in your yard counts. A lawful development certificate is open to you here too.
If you rent your home or your yard, ask your landlord before the lorry is booked.
For households: a renovation or a move
The things most at risk are the things most households store: furniture, mattresses, fabric, boxed paper and photographs. Our own guide to self storage or a shipping container says a chipboard bookcase, a fabric sofa or a box of photographs doesn't belong "in an unheated steel container that sweats on cold nights", and that vents, desiccant packs and pallets "reduce the problem; they do not eliminate it".
Condensation damage is at your risk in ours too: our terms say goods are stored at "Your sole risk and responsibility", including "deterioration of the Goods caused by any reason" (clause 30), and our guide to climate-controlled storage says "the contents-protection policy specifically does not cover atmospheric or climatic damage" (what that means for damp).
In our containers, "gas, paint, petrol, oil", "chemicals" and "power banks" can't be stored (clauses 18(c), 18(e) and 20(b)), so drain fuel and oil from mowers and machinery and ask us before bringing any engine. Our contents protection page also lists tyres and power generators as prohibited, and the rest is in what goods are prohibited.
For traders and businesses: tools, plant and stock
Here a container at home can win, and we'll say so. Our own guide says that for a builder with a yard, hardstanding and weatherproof kit, "a container bought outright often works out cheaper over a year or more than paying monthly rent". For a stay of up to 16 weeks, though, Shipston's list rent is less than a used 20ft box costs to buy, before you count what you'd get back by selling it: the figures are in is it cheaper to rent a container unit or buy one? At full list price, a year of our Shipston container is £3,328 (13 four-week periods at £256). Nothing is added at checkout: the total in your quote is what you pay, and our prices include VAT.
Ours makes sense if you have no yard, your yard isn't secure, or the need is seasonal. Our terms cover our containers as they do our indoor units. You can't "connect or provide any utilities or services to the Unit unless authorised by Us" (clause 22(e)), so plan to charge tools elsewhere. The fuel and chemicals rules in the household section apply to plant too. No container site near you? An indoor unit at your nearest site may do: see our locations.
If someone else is unloading for you, see do I have to be there on moving-in day?
Already storing with us, and what to ask
If you have an indoor unit and want drive-up loading, see can I switch from an indoor unit to a container? If your container at home is sweating, our guide suggests splitting: "the tools and machinery stay in the container, the furniture and soft goods come to a unit".
Before you book, ask us:
- Internal size, door width and turning room, if you're bringing a long vehicle.
- The exact deposit: it's two weeks' rent at the unit's standard weekly rate, and your quote shows the figure.
Our price list also shows 50% off the first eight weeks on Shipston's containers; check it's on your quote. You lock the container yourself (clause 21); padlocks are in our Box Shop.
Get a price online, or call us on 0800 2545585 and ask for the container and the nearest indoor size together.
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