Single- vs. Multi-Story Construction in Canadian Self-Storage

Don’t Overlook Good Management

Regardless of designing and developing the perfect facility, your project can still fail if you do not market and manage it effectively. I have heard many owners and managers place blame on location, the market or the age of the building. But this is not often the case.

Ultimately, the success of self-storage is driven by the management and the marketing effort. Ask any successful and confident managers and they will say even a bad location can have a high occupancy if you let them build it.

Don’t overspend your budget on building and try to save money on staffing. Your biggest asset when developing a successful storage facility will be the people and systems you have in place to deal with customers. If you don’t invest in the right management it won’t matter if you build one story or five. Customers simply won’t rent space from you if they are mistreated.

Serving Customers’ Needs

In an ideal situation, you could choose a combination of single- and multi-story construction if the property or budget allows. Regardless of your choice, you may need to review your project with experienced professionals in developing both.

When you think you have your solution, look at it from the customer’s perspective. Are tenants going to see it as an attractive and efficient facility to suit their needs? Will they appreciate the efforts you made to accommodate them? Will their storage experience with you be enjoyable or frustrating? Your final solution can’t be solely based on budget, but your objective should be to provide the best storage product for your market.

Cory Parrow is the president for the Ontario-based Your Storage Team, a consulting firm designed to service from facility development to site management, with many years in the self-storage industry. For more information, call 519.868.1982; e-mail cory@yourstorageteam.com.