Shelving - The True Cost of ‘Make-Do’ Systems Over 5 years

When space is tight and budgets are tighter, it’s tempting to “make do” with whatever shelving you can find – second-hand units, mismatched bays, or a few extra boards balanced where they probably shouldn’t be. It feels like a saving in year one, but over five years these decisions often cost far more than a planned storage system ever would.

In this article, we’ll unpack the hidden costs of make-do shelving and show how to turn that spend into a long-term asset instead.

1. Lost time, every single day

The most obvious – and most ignored – cost is time.

With improvised or badly planned shelving, you typically see:

• Odd-sized bays that don’t quite fit your boxes, so items are stacked on floors, tops of cabinets, or in separate “overflow” areas.
• No logical flow from goods in, to storage, to picking, so staff spend extra minutes walking, searching, and backtracking.
• Duplicate “homes” for the same type of stock because there’s no clear location hierarchy.

On paper, an extra five minutes per person per day doesn’t sound like much. In practice:

• 5 minutes per person, per day
• × 10 people
• × 5 days a week
• × 50 working weeks

= over 200 hours a year in wasted time, every year. Multiply that by five years and the cost in paid labour quickly dwarfs the one-off cost of a well-designed shelving project.

2. Higher risk of damage and write-offs

Shelving that isn’t sized or specified for what you’re storing tends to create damage in two ways:

• Items are crammed into bays that are too shallow, too narrow, or too low, so they get scuffed, bent, or crushed.
• Heavy or bulky goods end up perched on top levels or on the floor where they’re more likely to be knocked, dropped, or exposed to damp.

Over a five-year period this can mean:

• Regular write-offs of damaged goods.
• More frequent repacking and cleaning, adding labour time.
• A higher chance of a single serious incident (for example, a collapsed shelf or dropped box) that wipes out a whole batch of stock.

When you add up the value of products quietly written off or discounted because they’re not in saleable condition, it often exceeds what a more suitable shelving system would have cost in the first place.

3. Safety incidents and near misses

“Make-do” shelving isn’t just about appearance; it’s often about safety.

Common issues include:

• Overloaded shelves with visible bending or deflection.
• Shelving that isn’t properly fixed or braced.
• Walkways partially blocked by overflow stock because there’s no defined capacity.
• Items stored at unsafe heights or in unstable stacks.

Even if you avoid a serious accident, the cost of near misses is real:

• Increased management time dealing with informal complaints and concerns.
• Potential H&S enforcement action if an inspector visits on a bad day.
• The need for emergency fixes or replacements when something finally does fail.

One incident resulting in injury can wipe out years of “savings” from cheap or improvised racking, once you factor in lost time, potential claims, and damage to morale.

4. Insurance and compliance exposure

Insurers and auditors increasingly expect businesses to show they are managing risks proactively.

Poor shelving and storage practices can lead to:

• Tough questions during insurance renewals, especially if photos or surveys highlight overloaded bays or obstructed exits.
• Conditions being added to your policy after a survey, forcing you into rushed, reactive spending on remedial works.
• Issues during fire safety inspections if access routes, extinguishers, or electrical panels are blocked by stored items.

By contrast, a properly specified shelving system, clearly labelled and used within its rated capacity, supports a stronger narrative that you’re managing risk – not hoping for the best.

5. Wasted floor space and delayed growth

One of the biggest hidden costs is the space you cannot use.

Make-do shelving layouts often:

• Leave awkward gaps and dead corners that standard kits can’t fill.
• Force you to keep aisles wider than necessary because bays aren’t consistent.
• Create patches of “no man’s land” that are too messy or unsafe to work in.

Over five years, this can translate into:

• Renting additional off-site storage earlier than you really need to.
• Holding back new product lines because there’s “no room”, limiting revenue.
• Considering a move or extension years before it’s truly necessary.

Well-planned shelving can often unlock 20–40% more usable storage capacity in the same footprint simply by using the available volume more effectively. That’s extra stock, extra SKUs, or extra services – without an extra square metre of rent.

6. Constant firefighting and “project fatigue”

Make-do storage is rarely stable. It tends to drift into constant firefighting:

• A new product range arrives and there’s nowhere sensible to put it.
• A busy season hits and overflow areas multiply.
• Staff develop workarounds that no one documents, so when people change roles the system falls apart.

Over time, this creates “project fatigue”:

• Teams roll their eyes at the idea of “another tidy-up”.
• No one believes changes will stick.
• Managers spend more time resetting the same problems instead of improving processes.

A properly thought-through shelving solution, aligned to your stock profile and workflows, becomes a stable platform you can build on – not a recurring headache.

7. The missed opportunity to turn storage into an asset

When shelving is seen as a grudge purchase, decisions focus on upfront price rather than lifetime value. That means:

• Missed opportunities to choose adjustable systems that can grow with the business.
• No thought given to aesthetic or customer-facing areas, where better storage could support a stronger brand impression.
• A lack of data on capacity, utilisation, and future needs – because the storage itself isn’t standardised or measured.

Over five years, this can quietly erode competitiveness: slower response times, lower stock accuracy, and a less professional environment for both staff and visitors.

A well-designed shelving project, on the other hand, can:

• Reduce operating costs through faster picking and fewer errors.
• Support growth without expanding your footprint.
• Present a safer, more organised, and more professional space to customers, auditors, and potential buyers.

8. Turning hidden costs into a business case

The good news is that the same factors that make make-do shelving expensive also give you clear levers for a business case.

When you next review your storage, consider:

• Time: Estimate minutes lost per person per day and convert that into annual labour cost.
• Damage: Track the value of stock written off due to storage issues over a quarter and project it over five years.
• Space: Assess how close you are to needing extra storage or a move, and what that would cost.
• Risk: Document near misses, safety concerns, and any external feedback from auditors or insurers.

Pulling those numbers together, even conservatively, often shows that the “cheapest” shelving option is anything but cheap over a five-year period.

Explore Your Options

If you are looking for ways to maximise your space, then talk to our team. We are on hand with advice, based on hundreds of combined years of experience. We can help you get the most from your space.  Call us: 01782 770100, email info@ironstor.co.uk or use the form here.