Self storage facilities have long been helping individuals and businesses deal with their storage needs in a cost-effective and secure manner. With a range of offers, facilities and options, you’ll always be able to find the perfect storage facility for your needs in the Bristol area.
What it really comes down to, is simply identifying your precise needs, and finding the facility that caters to them as accurately and cheaply as possible, and with the range and sheer number of options within self storage facilities, it’s actually really quite straightforward if you put our handy checklist of key things to look for and check out into practice.
First and foremost in everyone’s mind when you’re talking about self storage is security features. In essence, 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. 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.
Finding a Bristol storage facility with easy access can be very important, depending on what you’re using the storage facility for. 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.
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 Bristol-based self 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.
You need to make a decision on how close you need the facility to be to you. 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. 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.
Accurately calculating the unit size needed can also 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.
Choosing the ideal facility for you can sometimes be something of a hassle, but as long as you put our key points into practice, you’ll be fine. A good facility will have all the right features to put your mind completely to rest regarding the safety and security of your valued possessions, stock or equipment.