Self-Storage for General Contractors & Commercial Trades

One of the things we love most about self-storage is its versatility, especially when it comes to business use.

We have a growing number of business customers who are General Contractors, handymen/handypeople, woodworkers or in Commercial Trades (electricians, pipefitters, plumbers, HVAC, carpenters, etc.), who use a self-storage rental as their warehouse.

We also have a growing number of small business clients who use self-storage as a mini warehouse for their document storage and inventory storage. When your inventory is not temperature sensitive, self-storage can be a great solution for storing inventory overages or seasonal stock. We have a whole blog post dedicated to the benefits of using a self-storage unit for excess inventory storage – check it out if this interests you!

This specific blog post is going to focus on the benefits of self-storage for General Contractors, Commercial Trades, and similar related occupations or businesses. We’re confident that by the time you are done reading this post, you’ll see how using self-storage as a mini warehouse is a smart business decision.

CONSTRUCTION STORAGE, SUPPLY STORAGE & TOOL STORAGE

How much storage space does a business really need? The answer depends on what they need to store now and what their future storage needs may be.

General contractors, commercial tradespersons, handymen and woodworkers all tend to have a lot of very expensive tools and equipment, and depending on the project they are working on, they may also have a lot of building materials and supplies on hand. All of these are vital for their businesses and need to be stored somewhere when not in use. Where’s the best place to store them? There are times when they could leave them on a jobsite, but security is a serious concern. Even if the job site offered secure storage, sometimes leaving these items on site is not an option, or simply not what they want to do.

Another common challenge of these types of businesses is finding a secure & affordable place for tool storage and equipment storage in the off-season. While they often use their homes or garages as their workshops and ‘warehouse’ space, there may not be enough room year-round to store what they need, especially as their business grows.

SELF STORAGE – YOUR MINI WAREHOUSE

Using a self-storage facility as an inexpensive warehouse is a ‘win-win’ investment for general contractors and tradesmen for tool storage, material storage, construction storage, and even inventory storage (Carpenters and millworkers may have finished pieces to store).

We also want to stress that this ‘win-win’ goes far beyond how much more AFFORDABLE a storage rental at Storage Solutions is, when compared to the growing cost of renting warehouse space. A storage unit rental gives a business:

• Ultimate flexibility.
• Room to scale or grow.
• Ability to monitor employees at the storage unit through access cards.
• Security and peace of mind that your valuable tools, materials, and supplies are in a safe place.

Let’s dive more into the benefits of self storage!

BENEFITS OF SELF-STORAGE FOR GENERAL CONTRACTORS & COMMERCIAL TRADES

In our 20+ years experience in the storage industry, we can confidently say that there are substantial benefits to using self-storage as warehouse space for small to medium sized businesses in construction and commercial trades, specifically:

1. Ease of Doing Business:  Renting a storage unit as your mini warehouse has none of these complications, barriers, or hassles.
   • Renting warehouse space is subject to a lease, usually at least a year.
   • The application and the approval process can be complicated, challenging and require sufficient cashflow or other collateral.
   • Another challenge is that if you’re looking for a smaller space, you’ll have a hard time finding it because commercial landlords would rather deal with as few tenants as possible, rather than split a large space up into many smaller units.

Our rentals are affordable, month-to-month, and scalable (move up to a larger unit or rent an additional unit to get the space you need). Self-storage really does give you the ability and flexibility to only rent the space you need and want, for however long you need and want it – it’s genius!  And if this isn’t reason enough, renting storage is a business expense (business write-off), and with our flexible month-to-month rentals, monthly invoicing (which your bookkeeper will appreciate) PLUS, we offer auto credit card payments to help you pay with ease, and keep track of this expense on a single card.

2. Security & Peace of Mind: We have well-lit yards with video surveillance throughout, and our storage facilities operate using electronic gate access, so that we can monitor the comings and goings of our customers at all hours at our locations. We do regular security walks and checks. We also provide protection* for a storage unit rental at no extra charge to our storage tenants.

3. Variety of Sizes & Flexibility:We offer a wide variety of self storage unit sizes and all are flexible since we have month-to-month contracts. This means that if you have a large shipment of materials coming in or more construction supplies or tools to store, you can give us a call and we’ll help solve your problem.  Something else to consider, especially if your business is trying to grow, is that if you enter a traditional warehouse lease, there probably isn’t too much space to grow, nor will this process be quick or easy to do. At Storage Solutions, you can rent an additional unit (or two or three or more!) and only pay for the period you need to use it/them.

4. Accessibility:With our long access hours, you can access your self-storage unit whenever it’s convenient for you.

5. Drive-Up Units:Our units are exclusively outdoor drive up at our Milton self-storage facility and we offer outdoor 8x20 drive-up units at our Woodstock self-storage facility. This means you can be in and out quickly without having to handle stairs, elevators, hallways, or bay doors. BTW – we also have wide aisles, so you don’t have to stress about having enough room to manoeuvre around.

6. Convenient Locations: Storage Solutions Milton is located in the hamlet of Campbellville in Milton, at Guelph Line and Hwy 401 – a quick 2-minute drive off of the 401 highway along traffic-free roads. Storage Solutions Woodstock is located just minutes off Hwy 401 and Hwy 403 in Woodstock. Storage Solutions Ayr is conveniently located just 2 minutes from the 401 at Hwy 97/Cedar Creek. Storage Solutions New Hamburg is located right inside the community on Hamilton Road, within walking distance of many homes and businesses.  Since we are just off the highway at both locations, our customers have easy access to our facilities while out during the day or night.

Overall, using self-storage for your warehouse storage needs is smart business because you can rent the space that you need (in self-storage units), and as your storage needs change, you can rent more units or scale back.

Need a Mini Warehouse? Rent a Storage Unit!

If you’re looking for affordable and flexible small business warehouse space, consider a self-storage facility like Storage Solutions! We post our self-storage rental prices online, and they are always current.

We’d love to show you around either of our secure facilities, and better understand your business storage needs. Contact us today to talk more or to arrange a tour. For a virtual tour of our Milton self storage facility or Woodstock self storage facility, visit our YouTube channel. You can also check out mini tours of the different sizes of self-storage units for rent.

Once you’re ready to rent a storage unit, we make it super easy and fast! You can rent 24/7 online through our website or by calling or sending us a text at 905-854-1008, or email us at info@storagesolutionsontario.com. You can also pay your rent online (and set up convenient auto-pay), and move out online too. We really do make renting self-storage quick, simple, and affordable!

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Your friend in self-storage,

Storage Solutions