What Mackay sites actually need
Mackay runs on two industries that both want a lockable box on site. West along the Peak Downs Highway is the Bowen Basin coal country — Moranbah, Nebo, Coppabella, Clermont — where crews need an office, a crib room, toilets and somewhere to hang wet gear. On the coast and up the Pioneer Valley it is cane: farms around Eton, Marian, Walkerston and Sarina that want a site office at the shed, a store cabin for parts and chemical, and a toilet block that is not the house.
Then there is the ordinary work that never makes the news — builders, fitters, landscapers and homeowners between the city and the beaches. A 20 ft container with a lock box does the job of a shed that never got built.
Cabins that suit the work
The catalogue carries the sizes that fit a Queensland site, all new build:
- Site offices — 12 ft x 8 ft and 16 ft x 10 ft jackleg cabins, plus 20 ft x 8 ft anti-vandal offices for sites that need a solid door and steel shutters.
- Crib rooms and canteens — 12 ft and 16 ft x 8 ft steel anti-vandal canteens, up to a 20 ft x 7 ft 6 in mobile canteen if the crew is big.
- Toilets — 2+1 steel toilet cabins at 12 ft x 9 ft and 3+1 at 16 ft x 9 ft, plus sit-on waste tanks if there is no sewer connection.
- Drying rooms — 12 ft x 8 ft and 16 ft x 8 ft, which matter more on a wet Basin site than most buyers expect.
- Store cabins — 12 ft x 8 ft steel store cabins built to stack, so you can put a second one on top later instead of buying more ground.
If you need a cabin fitted out rather than bought off the shelf, see the modified containers range — windows, partitions, plumbing and power are worked out before the unit is built, not after.
Not sure whether you want a cabin or a container? The guide to site offices, crib rooms and toilet cabins sets out what each one is good for.
Delivery to Mackay: the route and the window
The yard is in Melbourne, so a Mackay delivery is a linehaul run up the Bruce Highway — Mackay is roughly 965 km north of Brisbane, about twelve hours of driving for a car. Your unit is dispatched 2–5 business days after payment clears, and the published transit for regional Queensland is 4–10 business days from there.
Nothing is added at the other end. Delivery to any Mackay address is free, and so is collection from the Melbourne yard if you would rather arrange your own freight. What you see on the listing is what the invoice says — see delivery for the full detail.
What the truck needs when it gets there
Cabins usually arrive on a flat-top and are lifted into place by crane or Hiab. That means two things on your block: room for the truck to stand, and clear air above the drop point. Check for powerlines, tree limbs and awning height before the day — a Hiab cannot lift through a live line, and the driver will not try.
Containers land differently. A tilt-tray needs roughly twice the container length in straight, clear, level ground plus room to pull out; a side-loader needs a clear strip alongside the drop point instead. The comparison of tilt-tray and side-loader delivery explains which suits a tight suburban block and which suits an open pad.
Ground has to be firm and level. On the flats around Mackay that is usually easy; on a cane block after rain it is not.
The wet season changes the timetable, not the price
The Pioneer Valley and the country around Eton take well over a metre of rain a year, almost all of it between December and April. Pads turn soft, tracks cut up, and a loaded truck that got in during June may not get in during February. If your delivery falls in the wet, tell us what the access is like and we will work the drop around it.
It is also why so many Mackay buyers go for jackleg cabins and containers on bearers rather than anything sitting straight on the ground — getting the floor up off the dirt is the cheapest damp-proofing there is. The guide to what to put a container on covers pads, bearers and blocks.
For anything that has to stay dry inside — tools, documents, feed, chemical — a refrigerated container is insulated and seals far better than a standard box, whether or not you ever run the fridge.
West of Mackay: the Bowen Basin run
The Peak Downs Highway leaves the Bruce at West Mackay and runs 266 km west through Walkerston, Eton and Nebo to the Gregory Highway — 283 km through to Clermont. The Moranbah turn-off is about 180 km out, with the town another 12 km up the access road.
Two things about that road matter to a delivery. First, it climbs the Eton Range not far out of Mackay, and it carries the Basin's oversize loads and road trains, so a wide or heavy unit needs planning rather than a phone call on the day. Second, the Basin is dry country — Moranbah averages around 600 mm a year against the coast's 1,400 — but mine sites themselves are often unsealed, and unsealed access is quoted case by case.
For sites at Moranbah, Coppabella, Nebo, Dysart or Clermont, expect 10–21 business days for remote and unsealed-access deliveries, confirmed once we know the gate, the road in and what the site will accept. Send the details through the contact page and we will come back with a real answer rather than a guess.
Ordering it
Nothing is charged on the website. Checkout or a quote request returns an emailed invoice, paid by bank transfer, PayID or an emailed card link — see payment methods. Once it clears, the unit is dispatched and the delivery or collection is booked. Change of mind within 30 days is covered under the returns policy, and damage or faults need to be reported within 48 hours of delivery.
If you are still working out which size fits the job, the container guide and the FAQ answer most of it. For anything else, one mobile covers calls, SMS and WhatsApp.
