Self Storage Franchise

Overall the self storage industry continues to grow. National occupancy rates ranged from 85% to 91% in the last few years.  In Entrepreneur Magazine's How to Start a Self Storage Center the average net profit before taxes is estimated to be $89,000, with a minimum start up investment of $72,000 and an average start up investment of $350,000.  he cost of operating a facility can be quite low because of low operating costs. On average, there were three employees per self-storage facility in 1997 with an annual average payroll of $42,000.

According to How to Start a Self Storage Center, profitable facilities have leasable space of at least 25,000 square feet. Average size of these storage centers range from 30,000 to 40,000 leasable square feet. They also recommend a good mix of storage unit sizes, based on your customer base. As a general rule of thumb, the lower the economic level of the trade area, the smaller the average size of the rental units. In a location where the potential for commercial use exists, more 10 by 20 and 20 by 20 foot units should be built.

Source: Small Business Information Center