Typically, full studies take about two weeks and initial studies take about one week. Sensei needs time to research and noodle on a study like a Ninja.

Initial studies are popular because they verify whether or not it is worth pursuing a site with a full study. The fee for your initial study is applied to the full study.

Self-storage, boat and RV storage, storage condos, contractor yards, and flex warehouse storage have unique customers with unique demands (they are not the same customer in other words). All types of storage businesses have one thing in common: their feasibility study is specific to their very narrow submarket.

Each type of report includes data and recommendations specific to your area, including:

* Location overview and submarket characteristics

* Traffic patterns and analysis

* A complete analysis of the supply and demand

* Demographic and psychographic characteristics of permanent, seasonal and business populations

* Competitive SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis

* Recommendations for what type of facility to build including an optimum unit mix and rental rates

* Phasing advice

* Lease-up projections including month-by0month cash flow for the first five years

* Operating budget

* Complete 10-year financial analysis and proforma

* Marketing plan outline

* Stress test against market variables (e.g. a sensitivity analysis)

Initial studies are $3,600 and this fee is applied to your full study cost. Full studies are $7,600 without site visits and $8,600 + travel expenses for site visits.

The simplest explanation is a complete analysis of your facility’s market and whether or not it will support your facility. If it will, Sensei uses the data and her professional expertise to make development recommendations to maximize the facility’s profitability.

Sure thing! Please fill out the contact form and put this request in the notes. You may also view the table of contents for a self-storage feasibility study here.

Because:

Ninjas are better than consultants.

You want to build the most profitable facility possible.

I will tell you if your site is not viable, and in retrospect you will be happy you paid a few thousand dollars for bad news instead of losing millions.

Marketing is my thing and I have researched and written hundreds of business and marketing plans. I look at your project through a marketing lens, and help you stand out amongst a sea of homogeneous storage facilities.

I am also a self-storage and boat and RV storage owner, and I have lots of real-world advice that will help you in other areas than development.

I’m not using feasibility studies as an entrée to get you to buy other services like property management or construction development. I am a specialist.

As a storage geek, I love all things storage. My enthusiasm for this industry makes me so happy and I love learning something new every day. I promise to make the process fun for you and I will try to pin the storage geek button on you too!

I look at multiple demand drivers when assessing your site’s viability. Many consultants rely on the same industry data they’ve been using for 25 years, giving a skewed analysis.

With my background as an entrepreneur and marketing expert, I’ve launched hundreds of products in multiple industries. I see storage through a different lens than a consultant who is just thinking about numbers – I am also thinking about the customers behind the numbers!

The common response I hear from my clients after receiving their feasibility study is that it was so much more in depth and thorough than they could have possibly anticipated. My goal is to always exceed expectations and add value to your facility.

After years managing people, the most attractive thing to me about opening a self-storage facility was running it completely unmanned. I became so passionate about self-storage in the process that when I sold my last company, I decided to use my expertise as a feasibility consultant in addition to being a self-storage owner.

But I still don’t want to manage anyone other than my trusty Senpai, and that means I don’t have the bandwidth to run multiple marketing campaigns. I am happy to write you a turn-key marketing plan that you can implement or hire someone to execute.

We decided to build after looking for two years for the ideal facility to buy. Either way, there is no ideal facility regardless of whether you are buying or building – each process has its own challenges. I do wish I had started working with a feasibility consultant right away because as soon as we did, things moved so much faster.

I could have saved years by doing a reverse feasibility study. I thought with my background I could just find a parcel and do the research myself. Boy was I wrong!

Yes, you need a reverse feasibility study which identifies a submarket for you to search for land in.

Reverse studies include everything found in an initial study, with the added bonus of saving you a lot of time looking in submarkets that do not pan out. A portion of the fee from your reverse study is then applied to your full study.

Feasibility consultants purchase a lot of data to give them the resources they need to analyze a submarket. We also see multiple parcels with all types of variables and have a broader range of knowledge to draw from to solve problems the average person may not be aware of.

Even if you are an expert, the most important reason is to get third-party verification that your facility will be profitable.

No, but it will significantly improve your chances! As with any business, there are factors beyond your control from potential entry to your market by new competition to a recession to a customer driving a U-Haul truck through your fence.

As your Sensei, I can guarantee I will thoroughly examine the strengths, threats, opportunities and weaknesses of your competitors and your market from many angles. I treat each study like it is me investing my money and analyze it like every penny at risk is mine.

* Are all demand drivers positive and is the market viable?

* What is the correct target market area for my facility and what are the barriers that keep customers from patronizing it?

* Is there any active pipeline development beyond my initial research?

* What is the expansion potential of the existing competitors?

* What are the occupancy levels of current facilities?

* If they are 85%+ occupied, this is a good indicator market will support another facility.

* If they are less than 85% occupied, why not?

* What size and type of facility should I build and in what phases?

* What should the unit mix and rental rates be to maximize profits?

* How quickly can I expect my facility to lease-up?

* What rate of return can I expect?

* What opportunities and threats exist in this market that I am not aware of?

Flex warehouse space (AKA light industrial space, contractor bays and contractor garages) is a natural business offshoot for self-storage and boat and RV storage facility developers.

Though much of the supporting data – and tenants – are different than their self-storage and boat and RV storage counterparts, our meticulous assessment of the market and thorough development recommendations allow you to proceed with confidence.

This thorough analysis serves as the bedrock for determining the viability of your vision for a new flex warehouse facility (or for expansion of existing storage facilities into this often undersupplied commercial real estate niche). Our flex warehouse or storage condo feasibility report options take the form of an initial market study or a full feasibility study.

Storage condos offer unique storage solutions for cars, boats, and RVs that range from “man caves” furnished with mezzanine levels and bathrooms to more utilitarian options that are just like extra-large storage units. Depending on the needs of a given market, flex warehouse units can double as premium boat and RV storage units.

Please contact Sensei Katherine when you have a parcel in mind that you think could be a candidate for flex warehouse development. She will do a quick preliminary report on your parcel – the first preliminary report is free and successive reports are $100.

When you have your parcel under contract and are in due diligence is the best time to then begin your feasibility report. Sensei then evaluates which of the diverse warehouse options – from bare bones structures (identical to large boat and RV units) to comfortable insulated and climate-controlled units with bathrooms, offices and mezzanines – best suit your submarket, and recommends the most profitable solutions within your budget.

Contractor yards or industrial outdoor storage, sometimes called industrial service facilities, are land sites that are zoned for industrial use where tenants can store vehicles, construction equipment, building materials or containers.

Sensei conducts an in-depth analysis of the local market supply and demand along with industry trends to provide detailed development recommendations for the optimal facility design for your goals and budget.

1. Boat and RV customers are not the same customers as traditional self-storage customers. Although the same person may use both services, they do not make decisions based on the same set of criteria.

2. The demand drivers for each type of facility are different. For example, the preponderance of homeowners’ associations in a submarket is not going to affect demand for traditional self-storage facilities, but it is going to affect demand for boat and RV storage.

3. Boat and RV storage facility development has different criteria for profitable selection and development.

Yes, if… you are going to build a large facility specializing in both services. Because the studies require different research and analysis (see previous question), it takes more time to do a combined study. Sensei will give you a price break for the combined study.

No, if…you have a small site and just want to put open parking in the nooks and crannies.

Please contact Sensei and she will do a free preliminary site review of the parcel of land or submarket you are considering. She will discuss the pros and cons of the location with you and what the parcel or submarket is best suited for.

The cost of your self-storage, boat and RV storage, storage condo, contractor yard or flex warehouse business depends on price of the land you buy and the type of facility you build. On the low end, you could buy a couple of acres of land in a tertiary market for $10,000 and put up one single-story building with drive-up units, no fence and gravel driveways for $100,000. On the high end, you could buy a couple of acres in an urban market for $3 million and build a three-story state-of-the-art facility for $10 million.

It all depends on what you want to spend, the type of business you want to have, the market you want to do it in and what your overall goals are. Like anything else, if you don’t have the money to start at the top you have to start at the bottom and work your way up facility by facility.

Have Sensei do a site analysis for investment confirmation. She will review the supply and demand in the market, do a SWOT analysis to formulate ideas for rising above the competition, determine if there is room for expansion in the marketplace, recommend what prices you should be charging, develop a proforma and financial analysis, and overall make sure it is a property you want to buy.

Absolutely, if you are a good manager. If you keep everything up to date from your accounts to maintenance to customer service, you will maximize your profits. The self-storage, boat and RV storage, storage condo, contractor yard and flex warehouse industries are incredibly stable, consistently high-profit in the long run and this has led to their rapid and continued expansion.

That depends on a variety of factors including the type of land (hilly, flat, etc.), easements and set-back regulations, zoning, water retention requirements, etc.

Read Sensei’s full blog post about how to calculate an estimate for how many storage units you can put on an acre. Then just take that number and divide it by the size of units you want to build (10 x 10’, 10 x 20’, etc.) to find how many storage units you can put on an acre.

First start by educating yourself about the industry. Subscribe to the print and electronic versions of *Inside Self-Storage, Self-Storage News* and *SpareFoot Storage Beat*. Join the national and state chapter of the Self-Storage Association and get active in their meetings.

Participate in Inside Self-Storage’s forum and listen to self-storage podcasts. Consider joining a self-storage mastermind to learn from and hang out with other storage geeks.

Visit all the local facilities in your area and take their owners out for coffee. Overall, be curious!

Next, start your search for land. If you don’t know how or have time, you should consider a reverse feasibility study for help. Finding the land and getting the zoning will take the longest and is usually the most difficult step.

Finally, after you have land, zoning and financing, you will be ready to build!

That is a complicated question that Sensei answered in a blog post which was also published in Insider Self-Storage magazine.

A well-run self-storage, boat and RV storage, contractor yard or flex warehouse business can expect returns of 10-20% while still servicing debt. After that, profits grow exponentially depending on how diligently the business is run. Storage condos are a different animal and the profit is made when the condos are sold.