Hire suits a job with an end date — a build, a renovation, a harvest, a move, a shutdown. Below roughly a year, hire is usually the cheaper answer. Past that the sums start favouring buying, and we will say so.
Prices last updated 03/08/2026| Size | Hire from* | Buy used from* | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10ft | Ask | $4,350 | 16m³ |
| 20ft | $27/wk | $2,200 | 33m³ |
| 40ft | Ask | $2,600 | 67m³ |
| 40ft High Cube | Ask | $3,400 | 76m³ |
* What "from" means. Every figure on this site is a "from" price: the starting point for that size in that grade, in Australian dollars, ex GST, ex depot. It is not a quote. Condition, availability at your nearest depot and the grade you actually need all move it, and delivery is quoted separately because it depends entirely on where the container is going.
At $27 a week, a 20ft hire costs about $1,404 a year ex GST. A used cargo-worthy 20ft to buy starts at $2,200. Somewhere in the second year the hire has cost more than the purchase and you still do not own it — and a bought container has a resale value at the end while a hired one has a collection fee. If the job runs longer than about a year, ask us about buying instead. We would rather do that than sign you to a hire that quietly becomes bad value.
The part people forget when comparing hire quotes is that a hired container has to come back. Delivery to site and collection at the end are separate movements and each carries its own freight. We quote both at the start.
| Where it is going | What that means for the cartage |
|---|---|
| Metro, close to the depot holding your unit | The shortest run we do. A standard tilt-tray where the access allows one. |
| Regional, a few hours out from the depot | Still a day run, but the truck is on the road longer and the quote reflects it. |
| Long haul, interstate or well inland | Often a shared or backloaded run. Flexibility on the date genuinely helps here. |
| Remote, or anywhere with awkward access | Quoted per run against the address, because nothing about it is standard. |
Delivery out is quoted against your address, and collection is quoted on the same basis at the same time. We do not publish a single national delivery price, and you should be suspicious of anyone who does. Delivering a 40ft into a laneway in inner Melbourne and delivering a 20ft onto a hardstand outside Rockhampton are not the same job and cannot honestly carry the same number.
A 20ft cargo-worthy container starts at $27 a week ex GST. Delivery to site and collection at the end are two separate truck movements and both are quoted up front, so the end of the term does not arrive with a surprise attached.
Below roughly a year, hire usually wins. Past that the sums start favouring buying — a used cargo-worthy 20ft starts at $2,200 ex GST, and at $27 a week you pass that figure somewhere in the second year without owning anything. We will tell you which side of the line your job sits on.
It varies with the location and the size, so it is quoted with the job rather than published as a single number. Ask when you enquire and it will be in the quote in writing.
Cargo-worthy grade, checked wind and watertight before they go on the truck, with a lock box fitted. Condition is recorded at delivery and assessed against that record on return, so fair wear is fair wear and damage is damage.
We collect it. That collection is a second delivery in freight terms and it is quoted at the start rather than at the end — that is one of the more common places people get caught in this market.
Give us the size and roughly how long you need it, and the answer takes about a minute. Sometimes it is the one that earns us less.
Or skip the form and ring — you will get the same two numbers faster.
Call 1300 639 282