£1,500
Special Offer
Refurbished & delivered
Portable building, modular building, prefabricated unit, temporary building, relocatable building, site cabin — they are largely the same thing sold under different names, and we sell all of them second hand. A used portable building is a steel-framed unit that was made in a factory, delivered complete and can be lifted and moved again. Ours are 12ft to 40ft long, usually 8ft to 12ft wide, and arrive as a finished building rather than a kit.
Buying second hand rather than new typically costs a third to a quarter of the price and the unit is on site in days. A used building also beats hiring on anything longer than about eighteen months, because at the end you still own an asset that we will quote to buy back or relocate. Every building is refurbished at our Manchester workshop — repaired, electrically certified, re-floored where needed and repainted — and a few are sold as they stand, which the listing tells you.
Link two or more units and you have a modular building with an open span far wider than a single cabin: classrooms, canteens, open plan offices and changing blocks are all built this way.
How our cabins are used
Offices & classrooms
Open plan or partitioned prefabricated buildings for site teams, schools and training.
Welfare & washrooms
Second hand modular welfare units, canteens, drying rooms and toilet blocks.
Temporary & semi-permanent
Used temporary buildings for decant, expansion and long-term overflow space.
Suitable Cabins in Stock
£1,500
Special Offer
£2,000
Special Offer
£2,500
Special Offer
£2,500
Special Offer
£5,500
Refurbished
£5,500
Special Offer
Recent Projects
FAQs
What is the difference between a portable building and a modular building?
A portable building is a single factory-built unit delivered complete and able to be moved again. A modular building is two or more of those units joined on site to form one larger space. The individual units are the same; the difference is whether they are linked.
How much do second hand portable buildings cost?
Used units generally run from around £2,500 plus VAT for a small store or toilet up to about £14,000 for a large welfare or office building, with most stock between £5,000 and £12,500. Length, layout, condition and how much plumbing and sanitaryware it carries drive the price. Delivery is quoted separately by postcode.
Is buying cheaper than hiring?
On a short job, no. On anything beyond roughly eighteen months, buying a second hand building usually costs less than the hire charges over the same period, and at the end you own the unit and we will quote to buy it back or move it to the next site.
How long does a used portable building last?
Kept dry, painted and maintained, a steel-framed unit stays in service for a long time, and plenty of the buildings we refurbish go straight back out to work after us. Condition matters far more than age, which is why we grade each unit on what it is actually like rather than on a date.
Do you deliver prefabricated buildings nationwide?
Yes. We deliver, lift and position units across England, Scotland and Wales on our own HIAB fleet from our Manchester depot, including stacking and linking on site.
Related Cabin Types
Need the right cabin, fast?
Tell us what you need and we'll match a refurbished unit — or build one to your spec — and quote HIAB delivery across the UK.