What are the hidden costs of storing documents in-house?

Hidden costs include staff time spent filing and retrieving (20-40 minutes per day per person), insurance premiums, equipment costs, utility costs for climate control, and the opportunity cost of office space that could be used productively.

How much can a typical business save by outsourcing document storage?

A mid-sized business with 200 boxes can typically save £7,000-£10,000 per year by moving to professional off-site storage. The exact saving depends on your location, current office costs and how often you need to access the archive.

How Much Can a Business Save by Outsourcing Document Storage?

Most businesses that move from on-site to professional off-site storage are surprised by how much they save. The savings come not just from cheaper storage per square foot, but from reduced staff time, lower insurance costs and freed-up office space that can be put to productive use.

The Real Cost of Storing Documents In-House

Before you can calculate savings, you need to understand what in-house storage actually costs. Most businesses only think about the space — but the true cost includes:

Floor space — office rent in the UK averages £15-£65 per square foot per year depending on location. A standard four-drawer filing cabinet occupies around 6 square feet, costing £90-£390 per year in rent alone
Staff time — the average office worker spends 20-40 minutes per day searching for documents. Across a team, that adds up to thousands of pounds in lost productivity each year
Equipment — filing cabinets cost £150-£400 each, plus shelving, boxes, labels and ongoing supplies
Insurance — storing large volumes of paper increases your fire risk premium. Insurers may require additional fire safety measures
Climate — if you need to protect records from humidity or temperature damage, running air conditioning or dehumidifiers in a storage room adds to utility costs

How Off-Site Storage Costs Compare

Professional document storage typically costs between 5p and 25p per standard archive box per week. A standard archive box holds the equivalent of one filing cabinet drawer — roughly 2,500 sheets of A4.

To put that in perspective: storing the contents of one four-drawer filing cabinet off-site costs between £10 and £52 per year. The same volume in London office space costs £360 or more in rent alone — before you factor in any other costs.

Worked Example: A Typical Mid-Sized Business

Consider a professional services firm with 200 archive boxes stored across two office rooms:

On-site cost: Two rooms at £3,000/year rent each (£6,000), plus £4,000/year in staff time managing the archive, plus £800 in equipment and insurance = approximately £10,800 per year
Off-site cost: 200 boxes at 12p/box/week (£1,248/year), plus £600 in retrieval charges and delivery fees = approximately £1,850 per year
Annual saving: around £8,950 — plus two rooms freed up for productive use

Where the Biggest Savings Come From

1. Office Space

This is usually the single biggest saving. In central London, freeing up a 150 sq ft storage room saves over £9,000 per year in rent. Even in regional locations, the saving is typically £2,000-£4,000 per room.

2. Staff Productivity

When documents are professionally catalogued with barcode tracking, retrieval becomes fast and reliable. Instead of staff spending time searching through filing cabinets, they request what they need and it arrives — often the same day. The time saved can be redirected to work that actually generates revenue.

3. Compliance Costs

Managing retention schedules, access controls and audit trails in-house requires knowledge, systems and ongoing attention. Getting it wrong can result in regulatory fines. Professional providers handle all of this as part of the service, reducing your compliance risk and the staff time needed to manage it.

4. Destruction Costs

When documents reach the end of their retention period, they need to be securely destroyed. Doing this in-house means purchasing a cross-cut shredder, dedicating staff time, and ensuring certificates of destruction are issued. A professional provider handles destruction as part of the ongoing service.

When Outsourcing Might Not Save Money

Outsourcing is not always the cheaper option. If you have very few documents (under 20 boxes), the minimum charges and retrieval fees may not justify the cost. Similarly, if you need to access the same files multiple times a day, the retrieval charges could add up. In these cases, a hybrid approach — keeping frequently accessed files on-site and archiving the rest — often makes more sense.

How to Calculate Your Potential Saving

To estimate what you could save, add up your current costs:

Rent or mortgage cost for the space your archive occupies
Hours per week your staff spend filing, retrieving and managing documents
Insurance premiums attributable to document storage
Equipment and supplies costs
Any compliance-related costs (retention management, audits)

Then compare that total to a quote from a professional provider. At EvaStore, we are happy to walk through this calculation with you and provide a clear comparison.

Get a Free Quote

Every business is different, so the best way to understand your costs is to get in touch with our team. We provide clear, no-obligation quotes — usually within the same day.

Call us on 01691 650355 or use the form below.