How To Buy Storage Buildings

In today’s economic climate, everyone wants to get the best bang for their buck. Renting storage space in a public storage facility is not going to provide that bang! Money spent on renting storage space is money you will never see again, and you have nothing to look forward to but more rent, and nothing to show for it in the end. If you have reached that point in your thinking, it is time to use that mental energy on deciding what size and type of building you need to buy, where to buy it, where to place it, and how to finance it. The following information will help you through the process.

The purpose of your storage building

Decide exactly what the purpose of the building will be. Will it be a workshop, an office, a play room, or just used for storage? Will it serve multiple purposes? Knowing what your long term plans are will help with the decisions you will need to make throughout the selection process.

The size of your storage building

Decide how much space you will need in order to reach your goal. If your goal is to store a certain number of boxes for a certain amount of time, and then use the building for a tool shed, you should figure the number of cubic feet of space you will need, and base your decision on that figure. Remember to add aisle space into the equation so that you can get from front to back.  A note to the wise, always add 10 to 20 percent, you will be glad you did.

If your goal is long term storage, of course, the same things apply about the number of cubic feet. If your goal is to have a workshop, the number and type of tools and equipment, and the space to safely use them should be considered. Again, adding 10 to 20 percent for expansion is a good idea. I have never known anyone to say, I wish I had gotten less space!

The placement of your storage building

Decide where you want to place your building. If you already know the size you need, available placement space may help you to determine the buildings configuration. What I mean is this: If you have decided that you need 200 square feet of floor space, but a 10 x 20 building is too long for the space you have available, perhaps a 14 x 16 building would fit into the available space more readily.  There is always a solution. Have the building placed in a position so that it will not interfere with normal lawn maintenance activities. You will want to give some thought to how this new addition to your lawn will effect, and be effected by your irrigation system, and make the needed adjustments. You wouldn’t want your building placed on top of your irrigation heads. This should not be a major problem if the building can be placed between the irrigation rows. The heads adjacent to the building can be adjusted to compensate for the new addition after the building is in place.

Accessories for your storage building

Decide what extras you will need. This is a function of the buildings purpose. Do you need to add a workbench to the building? If you plan to work in the building during the heat of summer, or the cold of winter will you need insulation to moderate the temperature? How about ventilation, or a cutout for an air conditioning unit? Will you need extra space above floor level such as a loft? How about extra shelves? Planning on storing and maintaining power mowers or all terrain vehicles, you might need a roll up door, and a ramp. Tailor these things to suit your needs, and you will be able to make a better decision.

Your storage building type

Decide the type of building you will need. This is also a function of the purpose of the building. If your goal is a small tea room for your Japanese garden, you might want to get a small wooden structure that will weather naturally. For almost all other applications, the more weather resistant the materials, the better.

Storage building materials

Composite shingled roofs look great, for a while, but they will need to be replaced regularly over the years. The same is true of wood siding. Steel clad buildings seem to weather more gracefully, and as a result, stay functional for a longer period of time.

When choosing a building the longevity should be taken into account as a part of the value. Maintenance costs should also be considered. If the building is going to last half as long, before needing to be replaced, and during that short life, add to the over all cost per year by $500.00, the value has decreased. If that cheap wooden structure with the shingled roof you picked up for $1500.00 dollars costs you $500.00 per year to maintain, and only lasts for a quarter of the time that the $3000.00 building, your bargain is not really a bargain. Materials matter!

Shopping for your storage building electronically

Go shopping. You don’t have to climb into the car and drive all over town to start this. You can do it from the comfort of your own home. Search the Internet for buildings like the one you know you will need. Search locally by adding the name of your location. For instance, if you live in a town known as “Example”, search for “storage buildings Example My State”. Don’t add commas between the words. that will cause the search engine to serve up results for storage buildings, and results for Example, and results for My State, all separately. Look through the results of your search. There should be at least some results for businesses close to your area. click on the results, and see if they have what you are looking for. Continue to click on the results until you have the results you are looking for, even if it takes several pages of results to find what you need. Collect the phone numbers and addresses of the most promising dealers. If at first you don’t succeed, try a different search for a different group of words.

There is also the good old fashioned phone book. Use it to find local dealers, and call about details. You are already armed with the facts about what you need!

Shopping for your storage building in person

Now, hop in the car, and take a look at the buildings that you have discovered. There is a good chance that exactly what you are looking for, is setting somewhere on a local lot! If it is not, many dealers can have one custom made for you in short order. In most cases, you will not be charged much, if any, above what the
building would cost if it were already setting on a lot.

What if they don’t have the building I need?

Even if the building you need is not on a lot, one can be built to your specifications. Most dealers and suppliers will be happy to do this for you. They will have some questions, which you will already know the answers to. Tell them what you need, and they will probably go to a book which will start with a basic building in the size that you are looking for. Then they will start to add the accessories that you need. Just about anything you might want should be available, from ramps, to extra blocking, work benches, peg boards, shelves, lofts, insulation, extra windows, roll up doors, or standard doors should be available. Add the ones you want in whatever combination you desire, and you should be in business.

Financing your storage building

There are several options where financing your building is concerned. There is of course, cash. There is bank financing, either the financing that you work out, or the financing processed through the company you are dealing with through another financial institution. There is the option to rent to own offered by some companies, and even a few other options that vary a lot throughout the industry.

Rent to own

Rent to own is a viable option for those who want to own a building without all the hassles of regular financing. Rent to own payments are usually pretty close to the amount you would pay for an equivalent amount of space in a public storage facility, the major differences being that with rent to own, you will own the building, and you won’t have to take trips across town to get to your stored goodies, both of which save you money.

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