I am sure you are aware of industrial warehouses where commercial and industrial goods are stored temporarily. But what if you want to store your household goods like furniture, home and kitchen appliances and other such domestic items? Are their plenty of storage facilities in Kolkata where you can store domestic household goods like fridge, TV, Furniture etc? Fortunately yes, there are storage facilities in Kolkata for household furniture, appliances and other goods.
Similar to industrial warehouses or cold storage facilities, there are warehouses where one can store domestic household goods. Such warehousing units are not that big like a commercial or industrial warehouse, but good enough in size to accommodate usual household materials of 10-15 families at a time. And since duration of storage various from one month to one year or some time even more, storage facility service providers can usually accommodate many customers at a time.
Yesterday only a friend of mine contacted me to know about the options for household goods storage in Kolkata. Actually he is reconstructing his house (converting it into an apartment) in Behala (south Kolkata) and he is moving to a rented flat in same locality.
Since he has lots of furniture that can’t be accommodated in his temporarily rented flat, he was searching for a storage facility in Kolkata (south Kolkata to be precise) to store his home furniture for 12-15 months. He is expecting to get the possession of his new house by that time. Given my exposure with movers and packers companies, I suggested him a few warehousing and storage facilities in south Kolkata that he is evaluating.
And that’s when I thought of writing a detailed post explaining everything that you may need to know about warehousing and storage facilities in Kolkata. I am sure this post will be useful for you if you plan to store some extra household stuff in a warehouse, safely and conveniently.
So when you are moving out of town for a few months or renovating your house, or buy extra furniture in an auction or for any other reason, you can keep your household materials in a storage and warehousing facility on rental basis. Industrial storage facilities are different than the warehouses which are used to store domestic household goods. Usually storage services for home furniture and appliances are offered by movers and packers companies in their godown (warehouse). They have to rent big warehouses to store domestic goods of their customers while in transit as well as to accommodate temporary storage.
The way it works is pretty simple. Their executive will visit your place and do a free inspection called survey to get overall idea of kind of goods you wish to store. After inspection they will estimate the efforts in packing, transporting (both ways) and most importantly rental for storing these goods. Once you get the estimates from a couple of storage companies, you can evaluate their offer and take a call.
So how much does it cost for household goods storage in Kolkata?
Well, the costs of storage services are usually on monthly basis. Think of it as if you are renting a portion of space to store your stuff for a few months. Apart from this, there will be other costs and applicable taxes such as service tax. Other costs include packing charges, loading and handling charges, transportation charge etc.
As you can see there are various cost heads, the one that’s most important is rental and that may vary depending on the kind of facility being offered.
So for example when a facility is well equipped with all modern facilities like 24 hours security, cameras, insurance and support staff, you can expect it to be a premium service and it would cost accordingly. However when you are on a budget, you may like to work with a storage company with normal warehouse that they use to store their own shipment.
Right ways to book storage facilities in Kolkata
Although most of the movers and packers companies offer storage facilities in Kolkata, one need to be double sure before availing the service because it may be a long term contract and hence it’s important to ensure you are dealing with the right service provider. How would you ensure that? Here’s how;
Find a couple of fully established storage companies to begin with
Get in house inspection done before asking for estimates to avoid disputes later
Discuss, evaluate and understand everything before finalizing a storage contract
Understand risks involved and how to deal with them; risks like fire, theft, natural calamity etc
Usually storage comes with insurance, so never misquote the valuation of goods you plan to store in a warehouse.
As you know cost of storage also includes both ways transportation charges, so look for warehouses close to your house (when you have a choice)
And most importantly, do all of the papers of the company because you decide to work with.
What are the limitations of storage facilities?
Generally speaking, you can store almost anything in a domestic warehouse, except a few sensitive things like anything inflammable like diesel, petrol, kerosene, crackers etc. Similarly you may not be allowed to store food and beverages like wine or rice. Usually such items are prohibited in domestic warehouses. You should also not store any important document, jewellery or any such precious item in a warehouse.
Over to you
Think of storage as a substitute of renting a permanent flat or room just to keep your household materials that are not using for the time being. In certain cases, storage facility can be of great help and can save you lots of money. There is no fun in paying rents of a flat where you are not staying yourself but just using it as a place to store your goods?
