Storage & Furniture Storage in Geneva

5, 10 or 20 m³: what does that actually hold?

This is the most useful question on this page, because nobody estimates a volume in cubic metres correctly, and an error here means either a unit that is too big for months or a wasted trip with one that is too small.

A 5 m³ unit holds the contents of a studio without large furniture: around fifteen boxes, a mattress, a small dismantled wardrobe, a bicycle, a few odds and ends. It is also the right size for archives, seasonal equipment or the contents of one bedroom.

A 10 m³ unit holds a normally furnished 2 to 3 room flat: a sofa, a table and chairs, a double bed, a dismantled wardrobe, a washing machine, around thirty boxes. It is the most requested size, precisely because it matches the most common type of home in Geneva.

A 20 m³ unit holds a complete 4 – 5 room flat, or a 3-room flat with plenty of furniture plus the contents of a cellar. Beyond that — a villa, a full office fit-out — we move to a dedicated container, quoted individually, because the storage logic changes.

Our practical advice: count your boxes and list your large items before calling, rather than trying to estimate a volume. We do the conversion, and we would rather steer you to the right size straight away than have you change units after a fortnight.

Why long-term storage deserves a calculation

This is the most honest piece of advice on this page, and it sometimes runs against our immediate interest: past a certain point, storing costs more than replacing.

Take the figure again: a 10 m³ unit kept for three years costs CHF 5'040 in rent. Then ask the real question, item by item: what would it cost to replace what is in that unit, and what condition will it be in three years' time? A ten-year-old sofa, an already worn mattress, flat-pack furniture dismantled once, an eight-year-old washing machine: the sum of replacement values is often lower than the accumulated rent.

Storage clearly does make sense in three cases. A short, known duration: works, a sale, a transition between two homes, a posting of a few months. Real value: antique furniture, quality pieces, instruments, collections. And sentimental value, which needs no arithmetic to justify it.

Where the arithmetic is almost always unfavourable: flat-pack furniture, appliances more than five years old, mattresses, plastic garden furniture, boxes of documents nobody will ever open. We say so when quoting rather than after six months of billing — even if it means renting a smaller unit than you had in mind.

Collection and load-in: what the one-off cost covers

Collection is a one-off cost of CHF 250, which takes the first month of a 10 m³ unit to CHF 390. It does not repeat in later months and it covers specific work.

In practice: we come to your home, protect floors and door frames, dismantle what needs dismantling, cover mattresses and sofas, transport everything and load the unit. That last point matters more than it sounds: a properly loaded unit holds a third more volume than one filled in a hurry, and it lets you reach an item without emptying everything.

Loading follows three rules. Heavy furniture and appliances at the back and on the floor; boxes stacked in decreasing weight order, heaviest at the bottom; and an access corridor left clear to the back, with anything you might need kept near the door. We ask at load-in whether there are items you expect to retrieve before the end, so we can put them at the front.

An inventory is drawn up at load-in. That is not a formality: on storage lasting several months, knowing what is in the unit saves reopening it to check, and it is the basis of any discussion should a problem arise.

Humidity, temperature and what should not be stored

A storage unit is not a living space, and some belongings cope badly with long immobility. Saying so in advance avoids disappointments discovered at unpacking, months later.

Humidity is the first factor. Solid wood, leather, textiles and paper are sensitive to still, damp air. Two precautions do most of the work: never store anything damp — a slightly damp mattress or sofa develops an odour within weeks — and cover rather than wrap airtight in plastic, which traps condensation against the material.

Must not be stored, whatever the contract: flammable liquids and gas cylinders, chemicals, food, plants, and anything that can attract pests. A bag of pet food forgotten in a box becomes a problem for your unit and for your neighbours'.

Two classic mistakes we see often. Storing a washing machine without emptying the drum and hoses: residual water stagnates and the appliance comes out with a stubborn smell. And stacking boxes directly against an outside wall: better to leave a few centimetres so air can circulate. We apply these rules when we load the unit ourselves.

For genuinely sensitive items — musical instruments, artwork, wine, valuable electronics — a standard unit is not the right answer and we say so rather than collecting rent. Those need controlled conditions, which is a different service.

Insurance: what is covered during storage

This is the point we prefer to be precise about in advance, because storage is the service where insurance misunderstandings are most common in this trade.

Our professional liability insurance covers damage caused by our work: transport, handling, loading the unit. That is the foundation and the certificate is available on request.

What professional liability does not cover, and you should know before signing anything: natural deterioration of an item during long immobility, ambient humidity, and the value of an exceptional item that was not declared and valued at load-in. Many self-storage contracts in Switzerland require the customer to insure the contents of their own unit, and that is a clause worth reading carefully in any offer, including ours.

Our concrete recommendation: establish the value of the contents at load-in, at the same time as the inventory, and photograph valuable items. If the total exceeds what you would accept losing, specific contents cover is worth arranging, and it is far simpler to organise beforehand than to find it necessary afterwards.

Access to your belongings during storage

The question always comes up and the answer depends on the type of storage — it is a selection criterion to clarify before signing, not after.

Storage in a unit with access lets you collect or drop off items during the contract, by appointment. That is what you need if you are storing seasonal equipment, consultable archives or belongings you will need intermittently.

Storage in a sealed container or as grouped covered furniture costs less per cubic metre, but it is not designed for frequent access: opening and closing means handling. It is the right formula when you know you will not touch anything before the end, which is the typical case for an international move or long building works.

Our advice: tell us at load-in whether you expect access. That changes two things — the formula chosen and how the unit is loaded. A unit loaded with access in mind keeps a clear corridor and places the expected items near the door; a unit filled to capacity has no such flexibility. You cannot have both at once, and it is better to choose knowingly.

The three situations where storage is the answer

Across the cases we handle in Geneva, almost every storage job falls into one of these three situations. Recognising them helps choose the duration and the size.

Date mismatch is the most frequent. The property has to be handed back on a fixed date and the new one is not available: in between, the furniture has to be somewhere. These are short storage jobs of one to three months, where the right move is to take the correct size and include collection in the same quote as the removal.

Building works come next. Renovating a flat, refinishing a parquet floor, painting throughout: taking the furniture out protects it and lets the trades work properly, which speeds the job up. Here the duration is uncertain by nature — works almost always take longer than planned — and it is better to allow an extra month than to be caught short.

Moving abroad, finally, very present in Geneva with international organisation postings. The furniture goes into storage, the family flies out, and shipping happens once the destination address is confirmed. This is where our advice to sort has the greatest effect: every cubic metre stored and then shipped costs twice.

A fourth situation, less readily admitted but real: indecision. You do not yet know whether you are keeping, selling or coming back. In that case our recommendation is to set a deadline — three months, six months — and decide then, rather than letting a unit renew by default for two years.

How to compare storage offers

Storage offers are hard to compare because the advertised rent does not tell the whole story. Six points are enough to put them on the same footing.

Real volume first: does the unit advertised in m³ correspond to usable volume, or to a theoretical volume including unreachable height? Minimum term next: some contracts impose three months even if you leave after one. Notice period on exit: fifteen days, one month, longer? That is the point that costs a month of pointless rent when overlooked.

Then access: included and on what terms, or by appointment and charged? Collection: included, optional, and at what price — with us CHF 250 once, which should be compared against an equivalent one-off cost and not against a monthly rent. And insurance: are the contents covered, by whom, and up to what amount?

One final and often forgotten point: what happens if you do not pay? Self-storage contracts generally provide for measures affecting the contents of the unit after a period of non-payment. It is not pleasant reading, but it is exactly the kind of clause to know about before entrusting your furniture to anyone, ourselves included.

Accumulated cost by duration

The arithmetic is usually unfavourable for flat-pack furniture, appliances over five years old, mattresses and boxes of documents. It remains favourable for antique furniture, quality pieces, instruments and anything with sentimental value — which needs no arithmetic to justify it.