Workbenches and vices: state the dimensions and how they leave the site

Topic
Selling workshop tools and equipment
Reading time
2 minutes
Last reviewed
On this page
  1. Make a dimensioned record
  2. Agree what happens to the attachments
  3. Give the collection team a clear boundary

A workbench listing needs dimensions and a clear boundary around the lot. Decide whether the vice, drawers, power fittings and other attached items leave with it before photographs are approved.

Start with the workshop ownership inventory. A company bench can carry an employee's vice, a hired unit or equipment shared with another department. Being bolted together does not settle ownership.

Make a dimensioned record

A simple sketch can be more useful than several photographs without scale. Record measurements safely, without moving an unstable or loaded bench to reach them.

Detail Record
Bench envelope Overall width, depth and height, with units
Work surface Dimensions and construction as observed or documented
Vice Identity, relevant documented dimensions and inclusion decision
Storage Number and type of drawers, cupboards or shelves
Attachments Each item, its owner and whether it stays or leaves
Fixing to premises Known floor or wall connections requiring removal planning
Condition Specific damage, missing parts or reported issues
Weight information Reliable documented figure if available, otherwise unknown

Label an estimate as an estimate. Do not invent a load rating from the bench's appearance, and do not treat a heavy-looking vice as evidence of the bench's capacity.

Agree what happens to the attachments

Write an inclusion list and a retained-items list. If the bench is sold empty, confirm which contents will be removed and by whom. The tool-cabinet drawer map provides a useful way to reconcile storage contents before release.

A welding bench with fixtures raises additional ownership questions. Use the welding tables and customer jigs guide where fixtures may belong to customers or form part of another job. Do not bundle them into a furniture description without checking.

Record any fixed services or connections for the people planning removal. This is not a disconnection or lifting instruction. Where substantial fixings affect release, the foundations and anchoring guide helps frame the information request; an ordinary furniture description should not conceal building work.

Give the collection team a clear boundary

State whether dismantling is proposed, which components are intended to remain together and what information is still needed. Agree the responsible parties before publishing a collection promise. Buyers should not discover at collection that the photographed vice was retained or that an attached service must first be dealt with.

Provide UK Auction Group with the sketch, photographs and inclusion lists. Ask the team to review the lot boundaries and removal questions alongside the commercial sale plan. Update the record if anything is moved, detached or reassigned before collection.

Explore the workshops and tools guides.

Sources

This guide gives general information. Equipment-specific, legal, tax and safety decisions may need a qualified adviser or competent specialist. The guides do not promise sale prices, fees or results.

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