Self storage can be hugely useful in a wide variety of situations and for a huge range of different and varied applications. Whether your needs are commercial or domestic, big or small, a quality self storage unit and facility can have a huge range of benefits and uses.
For commercial uses, it can be invaluable having an affordabe, insured storage area, for stock, equipment or materials, especially if your business is based in an expensive city area, where space is at a premium. For domestic, self storage can be great for simply getting rid of unhealthy clutter, moving house, or going off to university. But how do you know what you should be expecting from your self storage facility? Here are some key features you should know about.
As with anything, the first thing to cross everyone’s mind is cost and value. Like any service or product, you should always compare quotes and prices from multiple different suppliers. When it comes to self storage there’s massive variance in the pricing of different facilities across the country, with even the same national company offering different prices and offers in different parts of the company.
This is why you need to get in contact with the different storage facilities and get yourself a selection of different quotes, features and offers to compare. Without doing this you’ll never know whether you’re getting the best value possible from your unit. Price is always going to be a key feature of whatever service you’re investing in, and as such you should get the best one.
One key thing you need to do is accurately calculate the unit size needed. This can be an effective cost-saving device. Approximate the maximum size you’re going to need for your storage needs, and then get the smallest possible unit to match that, you can always upgrade unit if you absolutely need to. You never want to be spending rent on unused storage space, especially if you’re running a business.
When it comes to security features the absolute minimum you should expect is having on-site staff for a portion of the day, an extensive, well-monitored security camera system and with that, high quality security lighting and motion sensors. As well as this, you need to ask if the individual units are alarmed or not, as many facilities don’t go the extra mile and do this.
On top of this, many facilities will have computerised gate-access, which can be very useful and highly secure. Knowing your possessions, stock or equipment are safe and secure is always very reassuring, and many storage facilities are confident enough in their security to offer a guarantee, on top of being well insured.
Depending on what you’re using the storage facility for, ease of access can be crucial. Things like allowing trucks and cars right up to the unit, twenty-four hour computerised gate access and providing a safe, well-lit environment.
If you’re running any kind of time-sensitive business, easy, twenty-four hour access could prove absolutely crucial to your operation, and if you’re using self storage as an aid for moving house, being able to access that vital item that you accidentally packed away in the unit, when you arrive at your destination late at night can make things a lot easier.
The locality of the facility is something you need to give consideration to. The easiest way to do this is by reasoning that if you’re only going to be dropping in once a month or less, than driving over an hour is acceptable, but if you’re going to be popping in three times a week, then you need somewhere ideally within half-an-hour to an hour’s drive away.
The fact is, more suburban and city based storage facilities tend to be more expensive, due to increased overheads over cheaper more rural self storage establishments. If you’re going to be popping in and grabbing stuff several times a week, there’s no point renting a unit further away for the saving, because you’ll end up wasting a substantial amount on fuel costs just getting there regularly that’ll negate the saving.