Your property probably has a bit of space that you want to use for parking space storage if you’re reading this article. That’s fantastic, the first step to getting this kind of storage installed is knowing exactly where you want to put it. This can be the trickiest part.
That being said, there’s also a chance that you’re here because you want to have on-site storage for your tenants but you simply don’t know where you would put it. Space is a finite resource, after all. It’s unlikely that your property exists as a Mobius Strip, and even if it did you’d still run out of room.
Space isn’t one of those things that you can just make more of in most cases. Of course, your property could be right next to an empty lot that could be bought up, but in most cases, people’s properties exist next to residential or commercial zones, which makes this kinda tricky.
If you’re looking to find out the best place to put your on-site storage or you want to see if it’s even possible for your property to support this type of amenity, we’ve written this article especially for you!
Hopefully, by the time we’re done with this article, you’ll know exactly what you’ll need to do in order to make sure that you’re setting up your parking lot storage in the most optimal place for both you and your tenants so you can get the highest return on investment possible.
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The Size You Choose Makes a Difference
When it comes to storage units, picking the right size can make a world of difference as far as placement goes. A lot of people think of the big Uhaul storage units when they think of having on-site storage, and that scares a lot of people off.
You’d be happy to learn that there is all manner of sizes that you can choose from when it comes to storage units. Small, large, medium. However much space you have, odds are that there’s a size that will work out well for you.
You can get units that are about the size of the lockers you might have had in high school just like you can get units that are the same size as your garage. You can even go smaller or bigger than those sizes, but there’s a good chance that you don’t have enough space for a garage-sized unit.
There are even cube-sized lockers that you can get from certain companies that could allow your tenants to just store their necessities in them. Things that might only be needed when they’re coming or going from work.
There are a lot of jobs that require for people to take things to work with them. Hats, aprons, tools, name tags, badges, keys, the list goes on. Some people even work in sanitation jobs, which would require them to spray themselves down with something like Febreeze before they go back into their homes.
The reason why the sizing you choose matters is that you can make more use out of your space. You can choose how many units you want no matter how much space you have just by changing the size of the units that you use on your property.
Let’s say that you have a thousand square feet for this project. You could get in 10 units that are 100 square feet or 100 units that are 10 square feet. You could even fit in a thousand 1 square foot units, but odds are you wouldn’t have enough tenants to rent those out.
These options are important because it allows you to create a custom-tailored space for your tenants with the space that you have available to you. That makes your life a lot easier in general and can help you sell more of them in the long run.
Choosing the Perfect Spot
Here’s the hardest part of getting on-site storage installed on your property. There are a lot of different places where you can put your storage units, but not all of them are going to be fantastic. Let’s take a look at a few bad places to put them first:
- By the dumpster.
- If you put your storage units by the dumpster, there’s a good chance that your tenants won’t want to use them because they’re stinky.
- Somewhere out of the way.
- It might seem like a good thing to you to have these units placed in a corner somewhere, but if it’s not somewhere that your tenants can easily access they may not want to deal with it.
- Too close to the street without any protection.
- If you’re going to get these units, you’re going to want to put them a little away from the street so that random people walking by won’t be able to walk up to them.
Putting these in the wrong spot can have a big negative impact on how many get rented out simply because people won’t want to deal with the hassle for the price. They can easily get something off-site for cheaper and just drive there whenever they want to use it.
You’re going to want to pick a spot that:
- Is easily accessible by tenants.
- Less easily accessible by non-tenants.
- Well lighted.
- Protected from the elements.
- Centralized so everyone can easily access it.
- Makes your tenants feel comfy.
These are all important because it helps your tenants with ease of access, while also keeping them safer. Remember, you do have some edges over off-site storage providers. You should try to play into them so you can get as many tenants to rent these things out as possible.
Your on-site storage is a lot more convenient than off-site storage, so that’s definitely something you should lean into. Remember, humans are creatures of convenience. We’ve built an entire society that revolves around this fact. Capitalize upon that by choosing the perfect place for your on-site storage units.
Most people simply put these units in their parking garage. Sometimes there’s just space there that can be used for this kind of thing, which makes everything that much easier when it comes to your selection process. That space usually also meets all of the requirements that we listed above, which makes it an even better choice.
Making the Spot You Choose Even Better
Now, there is something to be said about the art of choosing the right spot for your storage units. Perfecting this can increase your rental rate of said units, and that translates directly to getting more money in your pocket.
That being said, there is something else that can be said about making the space that you’re already using that much nicer to use. There are a lot of things that people do, but you can make sure that you do this by just being mindful of what you’re doing.
For example, you could try planting some flowers in that space. It can make the space feel that much more inviting, which could lead to more people using the space for their on-site storage needs. Making the space feel inviting should be one of your biggest goals here.
You could also be careful about the colors that you choose for the units. Many companies allow you to choose different colors, and if you know even a bit about the emotional connection that humans have with colors you can use this to your advantage to sell more units.
For example, the color blue promotes feeling social. That’s why so many of the social networks use blue in their logos. You can use this exact kind of stuff to help make your storage units feel even more inviting, and this information is widely available on the internet to anyone that looks for it.
All you need to do is search for the psychological effect of certain colors, but to save you some time we can tell you that you’ll probably want to pick from yellow, green, and blue. These tones all promote more positive emotions, while things like red promote anger.
The more welcoming the space feels, the more likely people will be to want to spend time there and, by extension, use the storage units to store their things. Nobody really likes spending a lot of time in a place that feels like they don’t belong there.
Get Your Storage Ready
People have things, and in a lot of cases, they want somewhere to store those things. Fortunately, these things can be made a lot easier for them with a little help from you as the landowner, landlord, or property manager. The installation of these kinds of units doesn’t even take a whole lot of time.
Choosing the right space for these units can even make a huge difference and make your life a whole lot easier because of all of the money you’ll probably have flowing into your pocket every year because of this small update to your property.