Storage Container Delivery & Pickup in Philadelphia

Tell us the spot when you ask for the quote, ideally with a photo. These are the things we'll check:

Decide this before delivery day, because turning a container around afterward means a second trip. The doors should face where the load comes from: the house, the building or the work. On a city lot, facing the doors toward a wall or the inside of a fence also makes them harder to work on for a thief, which matters if there's no lock box. Leave about eight feet clear in front of the doors so they swing open fully. A double-door container needs that room at both ends.

Most Philadelphia containers go on private property: a driveway in the Northeast or Roxborough, a rear parking pad reached from an alley in South Philadelphia, a church or school lot, a business's parking lot, or the inside of a construction fence. Alleys are the tricky ones, since many are too narrow for the truck or have wires low across them; a photo of the alley from the street end tells us a lot.

The sidewalk and the street are the city's right-of-way. A container there follows the same Streets Department rules as a dumpster, which is why a container usually goes on private property when there's any way to do it. If the street is the only option, plan for the approval before delivery day. Our Philadelphia dumpster permit guide covers the right-of-way.

A few things on the day make the delivery quick:

On a long job the container sometimes has to move: the foundation goes in where it was sitting, the fence moves, or the building closes in around it. A container can be picked up and set down in a new spot on the same site, as long as it's empty or nearly empty and the new spot passes the same checks. A relocation is priced on the quote like any other trip, and the rental keeps running.

When you're done, call or email for pickup and it goes on the schedule. Empty the container, sweep it out, take your padlock off and leave the doors closed and latched. The truck needs the same path it used for delivery, so move anything that's been parked or piled in the way since. The rental ends and billing stops when the container is picked up. See monthly storage container rental for how the billing periods work.

If the job needs a roll-off dumpster and porta potties too, plan the placement for all three at once: the container out of the way of the dumpster's swaps, the restroom where the service truck can reach it, and the path in clear for every one of them. They go on one quote and one invoice.

A container arrives on the date on your quote, and the best date depends on the job. For a renovation, deliver it a few days before demolition starts, so the furniture or the finish materials are out of the way before the dust. For a new build, deliver it once the site is graded and fenced, so it isn't in the way of the excavator. For a move, deliver it a few days before moving day, so loading isn't rushed.

Tell us about anything that limits the timing: a block party scheduled on the street, street cleaning, a parking restriction, a homeowners association's quiet hours or a business that can't have a truck in its lot during business hours. We'll plan the delivery around it.

On a construction site, the container's spot should work for the whole job, not just the first week. A few things to think through before it's set:

A container can be delivered in the rain, but the ground has to be able to take it. A tilt-bed truck on a soft, wet lawn or a muddy lot can sink, and a container set on mud settles unevenly. If the spot is grass or dirt and it's been raining for days, we may move the date or set the container on cribbing blocks to spread its weight. Snow and ice are handled the same way: clear the spot and the path, and the delivery goes ahead.

Every part of Philadelphia has its own delivery challenge, and knowing it ahead of time keeps delivery day simple. In South Philadelphia and Point Breeze, the streets are narrow and parked solid, and most containers go on a rear pad or in a business's lot. In Fishtown, Kensington and Northern Liberties, new construction sites usually have a fenced lot with room for a truck. In the Northeast, Roxborough and Germantown, driveways are common, but trees and overhead wires over them are too. In Center City, containers mostly go inside construction fences or in parking lots, because the sidewalks belong to the city.

Whatever the neighborhood, the best thing you can send with a quote request is a photo of the spot and a photo of the way in, taken from where the truck will enter. We'll tell you before delivery day whether it works, and if it doesn't, where it can go instead.