In our previous articles, going back over several months, we’ve covered a very wide range of topics relating to personal and business storage: self-storage, moving home, refurbishments, relocations, and the storage containers themselves.
Spring is in the air, and we thought that this might be a good time to summarise some of the things that we need to be thinking about when we consider storage units and different storage solutions.
The 7 “must haves” of business storage
When you’re looking for somewhere to store your valuable business items, there are several factors that you need to consider:
- Location. Clearly this is important, particularly if you need regular or frequent access to the items.
- Security. We’re talking about all aspects of security here – anti-theft, clean, dry, fire-proof etc.
- Flexibility. You may not always know how long you want your items stored for: days, weeks, months, or longer.
- Access. You may be leaving your items untouched for a while. You may, on the other hand, want to access them regularly (for example if you are selling them on eBay or simply “out-sourcing space”).
- Service. This needs to be a given: prompt, efficient, helpful and knowledgeable customer service.
- Track record. A contented customer base that you can check in with as references.
- Price. You’ll want all the above, but you won’t want a pricing structure that outweighs the benefits.
When to use self-storage
There are many occasions when self-storage can be very helpful, here are just a few:
- moving house, and you need a temporary but secure (and accessible) place to store your household belongings
- “de-cluttering” – you haven’t the heart to throw all that stuff in the loft or blocking up the back of cupboards away, but you want to reclaim the space … or perhaps you’re selling your house and want to show it off in its best light!
- ome business – you could be selling (or buying) on eBay frequently and need somewhere to keep your goods, or running a small business from home and you need more space to store your products, or perhaps you’ve written a book and need somewhere to store all the printed copies that you hope people will buy one day (fingers crossed!) …
- home from travels or university, and you need somewhere to store everything
Whatever your reason, self storage can be a practical, pragmatic and affordable solution to renting more space quickly and easily and with the minimum of fuss.
The storage units
What about the actual units themselves? What sorts of questions ought we to be asking?
- Size. How big is it? How much can I store? How many containers do I need? If more than one, do they stack?
- Ease of access. How easy is it to store and also retrieve my items once they are in the container(s)?
- Location. Where is it? How quickly can I reach it if I want to?
- Security. How secure is the container (not simply against theft, but against the weather, damp, temperature extremes, fire etc.)? And, not to be ignored, how secure is the building within which the storage unit will be stored?
- Insulation. Is it insulated? Does it need to be? How would I know?
- Construction. If it’s safe and secure and accessible, do I really need to know?
- Value for money. What does it cost? Will I end up paying for storage space, or time, that I don’t need? How flexible is the pricing structure?
- Customer Service. What help will I receive? How quickly and effectively will my questions be answered and my requirements be met?
- Track record. Are there reference customers – past and current – that I can talk to?
If you want the perfect answers to all your questions on storage units …
… Then you’re in exactly the right place!
Please click here for our home page, here if you want to contact us on-line, or call us any time on 0808 168 1310 (Freephone) or 0207 351 6800 and as always we’ll be delighted help you in any way that we can.
