A bedroom count is not a measurement
Storage is sold by floor area, and apartments are described by bedrooms. The two do not map onto each other reliably, which is why sizing guides based on bedrooms so often send people home with the wrong unit.
Two Sydney one bedroom apartments can differ enormously. One belongs to someone who moved in last year with a bed, a sofa and a bike. The other belongs to someone who has lived there for a decade, inherited a dining setting and has a balcony full of pots. Same bedroom count, very different cubic metres.
The measurement that matters is volume. Work that out first and the unit size answers itself.
A quick way to estimate it
Walk each room and group your belongings into three categories. Large furniture such as beds, sofas, wardrobes and whitegoods. Medium items such as bookshelves, side tables, bikes and suitcases. Then boxes. A standard tea chest carton is around 0.1 cubic metres, so counting cartons gives you a surprisingly accurate base, and most apartments generate more of them than people expect.
What actually fits in each size
Australian self storage units follow fairly consistent sizes. Heights are usually between 2.4 and 3 metres, which means you can stack, and stacking is the difference between a unit that works and one that does not.
| Floor area | Rough comparison | Typically suits |
|---|---|---|
| 1.5 square metres | A large wardrobe | Boxes, documents, seasonal items, a bike |
| 3 square metres | A small bathroom | A studio, or one room of furniture plus cartons |
| 6 square metres | A single garage bay | A comfortable one bedroom apartment |
| 9 square metres | A single garage | A two bedroom apartment with whitegoods |
| 12 square metres | A large single garage | A generous two or small three bedroom home |
| 18 square metres | A double garage | A three or four bedroom house |
Treat those as a starting point rather than a promise, because how well you pack changes the answer by a whole size category. A badly packed six square metre unit holds less than a well packed three.
Sydney apartments have their own complication
Getting your belongings out of the apartment is frequently harder than storing them, and it is worth planning before you book anything.
Most Sydney buildings require a booked service lift, protective padding and a certificate of currency from whoever is doing the move. Loading dock access is often restricted to certain hours and sometimes to weekdays only. Strata rules vary building to building and are usually stricter than people expect.
That shapes your storage decision in a direct way. If getting a van to the door is difficult, a provider who brings a container or pods to you, loads them and takes them away is solving a real problem rather than selling a convenience. Our guide to selecting the right storage solution covers which model suits which building.
“Book the service lift before you book the storage. In a Sydney apartment building the lift is the bottleneck that decides your moving day, and it is usually the thing with the least availability.”
Access at the storage end matters as much as size
Two units with identical floor area can be completely different propositions, and the price difference usually tells you which is which.
Visit before you commit if you possibly can. Check whether the unit is on the ground floor or up a level, and if it is upstairs, whether there is a goods lift large enough for a sofa or only stairs. Ask whether trolleys and pallet jacks are provided. Look at how far the unit is from where you can park, because a long corridor adds real time to every visit.
Ground floor units cost more for exactly this reason, and whether that premium is worth paying depends entirely on how often you plan to open the door. For a single drop off and a single collection, upstairs is a sensible saving. For regular access, it is not.
One large unit or two small ones
A question worth asking explicitly, because the answer is sometimes counterintuitive.
Two smaller units can occasionally cost less than one larger unit of the same combined area, since pricing follows availability rather than a strict rate per square metre. It is always worth asking for both options and comparing.
The practical case against splitting is that you lose the ability to stack across the full space and you double the number of doors you have to walk to. For a single consolidated store it is usually a false economy. If one unit holds the things you will need and the other holds the things you will not, it can work rather well.
Our thoughts on knowing when you have outgrown your home are worth a read if the storage is really a symptom of needing more space rather than a gap between addresses.
Packing so the space actually works
How you pack decides whether your estimate holds, and a few habits make a large difference.
- Use uniform cartons. Same sized boxes stack square and fill the height.
- Pack heavy low and light high. It is safer and it uses the full ceiling.
- Dismantle what comes apart. Bed frames and table legs reclaim real volume.
- Fill hollow spaces. Drawers, the washing machine drum and wardrobes all hold things.
- Label every side. You will not remember, and you will not want to unstack to find out.
- Leave a walkway. Worth the space if you will need anything before the end.
Appliances need their own preparation. Fridges and freezers must be defrosted, dried and stored with the door ajar, and washing machines need their drums secured. Our packing tips and self packing guidance cover the detail, and our notes on moving a fridge apply just as much to storing one.
It is also sensible to settle cover before anything goes in. Transit cover insures goods while they are packed and moved and can be extended across a storage period for a separate premium, and storage insurance protects against events such as fire and water damage. For context on the wider market, the Self Storage Association of Australasia reports average occupancy of 85 per cent by area across 3,380 facilities, so popular sizes at popular sites do get booked out.
Key points
- Storage is sold by floor area, and bedroom counts are a poor guide to it.
- Estimate your volume in cubic metres instead.
- A standard tea chest carton is roughly 0.1 cubic metres.
- Unit heights are usually between 2.4 and 3 metres, so stacking matters.
- Three square metres suits a studio or one room of furniture.
- Six square metres suits a typical one bedroom apartment.
- Nine square metres suits a two bedroom apartment with whitegoods.
- Packing quality can change the size you need by a whole category.
- Sydney buildings usually require a booked service lift and a certificate of currency.
- Loading dock hours are often restricted to weekdays.
- Ground floor units cost more and save real effort on every visit.
- Check lift size, trolleys and the walk from the car park before committing.
- Two small units sometimes cost less than one larger one.
- Defrost fridges and store them with the door ajar.
- Transit cover can usually be extended across the storage period.
Sizing a storage unit is far less guesswork than it looks once you measure volume rather than counting bedrooms. Photograph everything, be realistic about access at both ends, and pack to use the full height. If you would rather not work it out alone, Grace can assess the volume and tell you honestly which size you need.
