I heard the talk on the show of making good profit off storage units. I live in area where there isn’t one close. How does one get started in making one

Very rough $30/$35 per square foot not including land prep or the cost of the land. You can get on betcoinc.com.they have all sorts of information.

@Paul Evans - well, we're all in agreement (THAT'S rare!) on the pricing, but there are a TON of things to consider - will local zoning allow it? Is there some empty "big box" retail or warehousing you could redevelop? You also have to consider your audience - what are the demographics of the area and what can you offer in addition to self storage in your facility to drive NOI?

In my experience the $30-35 per square foot does INCLUDE cost of BASIC land prep (thing grass field to gravel lot) but would not include massive site leveling or cost of land.

@Paul Evans What @Joshua Watts said is the typical cost post- land prep. Also, you might want to check out self storages in the area using some rules of thumb (such as 7 square feet per person within 5 mile radius or if in rural may be 7-10 mile radius). You can check existing storages using google map search "self storage near ...." and then visiting places to get an idea, google earth looking at the roofs to estimate self storage use and estimate square feet, using tool such as radius plus and of course if want to pay for (which you should depending on how much money you are planning to put in the project) is get the feasibility study. Hope that helps! P.S. you can also look at converting existing buildings (think of closed shopping centers, grocery stores, etc.) as that will save both time and money (if zoning will allow it).

Interesting question Paul. Have you identified a piece of property and have you looked around for a builder in your area/state that might specialize in self storage construction? Best of luck!

Where to find info on the cost of building a storage facilityWhere to find info on the cost of building a storage facility

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Where to find info on the cost of building a storage facility

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