Setting Up Your First Self Storage Office
by David Essman
Setting up your first self storage office could be quite a task. There are many things to think about and a few of those would be: What kind of computer to buy? How much storage space should I get and what processor speed? Or, what software do I need to have loaded on my computer for daily operations?
There is a lot to think about and if this is your first self storage office, here is a little information which could help.
The Computer
First there is your computer, which I will refer to in this article as a PC (personal computer). In the very early 1980’s the PC made its greatest impact in the US. Although there were PCs prior to that, when the IBM and IBM compatibles hit the market, things really took off.
DOS took over and an earlier type of operating system called CPM was laid to rest. Computer manufacturers began to rise up all over the place and things got exciting! I remember the first PC I built. It had a 12 megahertz 286 processor, 512 Kilobytes of RAM (Random Access Memory), and a 40 megabyte hard disc drive. I was the happiest man on earth! In fact, the company I worked for didn’t have a PC this fast. But the joy didn’t last long. Soon my company purchased new PCs for the programming staff and my 286 was overshadowed by their 386 processors and the 486 was soon to follow. As the PCs got faster, the software programs used by these PCs got more powerful and colorful, our screens became more pleasant to look at and the systems became easer to use (user friendly).
That brings us to today, over twenty years later. PCs are faster than ever, and if you don’t already have one for your new self storage office, you’re going to want to get one. A current state-of-the-art PC will run at a minimum processor speed of at least 2.5 gigahertz and this is exactly what you will want for your new office. HP and Dell, to name a couple, are some of the best deals around. You can still have custom PCs built, but with a 2-year warranty and great support, what some of these companies can offer, why go to a lot of work designing one, considering the PC will quickly be outdated in a few years.
For the money, your PC should come with a software operating system like Windows XP Home Edition or XP Professional Edition. I consider the operating system (OS) the link between the PC hardware itself and the PC software you’ll eventually add onto the PC to make it useful in your office. All PCs have an OS of one type or another. Either OS will probably be fine, but it is your business machine so, I’d lean towards the Professional Edition.
Accessories which can be built into this PC will be some of the following: 3 1/2 inch floppy disc drive, CD writable drive, DVD read and/or writable drive, (the least you will want to have is a CD writable, but the cost of theses are always coming down which makes the DVD writable more affordable), lots of RAM, (you should probably get at least 512 Mega Bytes) along with a minimum of a 100 Gigabyte Hard Disc Drive. The PC should come with several USB ports which are used to plug something in from the outside world such as a printer, and you might want to ask for at least one serial port. Devices like the 3 1/2 floppy and serial port may be by-request-only items, but you still might like to have them. A fast modem should be included as a part of the PC, as there will be times when you have the need to go on-line.
The following list will help when shopping for a PC, but keep in mind, if you already have a management and security system picked out for your store, your vendor will usually have a list of minimum requirements which you should review before ordering your PC.
This list is for reference only, and may or may not meet Management and Security system requirements:
- Fast Processor (2.5 Gigahertz or faster)
- Windows XP
- 3 1/5 inch Floppy drive
- CD writable drive is the minimum you need, but one…
- DVD Writable drive would be so much better for the money (one of each would also be good)
- Serial Port
- Modem
- 512 Megabytes of RAM
Management Software Features To Expect
Since the early eighties, a few software companies have been writing management software programs for self storage and I would say they’ve done some really great things to their programs since the beginning.
To give you a brief idea, a typical self storage management program will track all of your tenants’ names and addresses, unit numbers they’re renting and current unit rates they are paying. That’s just the beginning. These programs now have features you or I may never have dreamed of:
●Automatic rate changes, which can be configured to increase a tenant’s unit rate at a certain time or when occupancy reaches a predetermined percentage for that size of unit
●Automatic late fee generation which, after being configured, will automatically post late fees to a tenant’s balance when they become a predetermined number of days delinquent on their rent payment
●Automatic letter generation, which depending on how you setup the program, will print both statements and late letters for your tenants
To add to this list of useful features in a modern-day management program, there is a great number of reports you can expect to find in their report menu:
● Reports which show a complete list of units - rented and vacant
●Reports showing all tenants and their current balances
●Efficiency reports which show how much revenue your business is losing due to discounts and un-rented units.
●There’s also a series of reports which tally up the day’s business, breaking out cash, check and credit card transactions received as payment. The list of these features goes on and on, and these are features you can expect from most management programs.
The Latest Add-On Options Available
In addition to a large basket of useful features typically included as part of a management program, the following are some of the latest add-on options which can be purchased to complement your software. This list does vary between software vendors but most are offered by all.
To begin, a nice way to complement your management program is the access control interface for your access control system. With this feature, when a tenant is assigned a unit into the management program, their passcode and access time-zone is automatically sent to the access control system, allowing the tenant access through the gate instantly and saving your manager a few steps on the PC.
Another favorite option is the interface to Microsoft’s MapPoint program. This is a perfect tool devised to help analyze your marketing by projecting a map of your city on your PC screen. On this map of familiar streets and landmarks is a center dot which represents the location of your storage business and surrounded by the dot are tags or flags which represent each of your tenants’ home or business addresses. Imagine having this visual tool which shows where all of your tenants live and where your marketing is working and where it isn’t, or… where you just plain need to start marketing.
For those tenants who have asked you to automatically pay their rent with a credit card each month, you could benefit from the automatic credit card processing feature, which interfaces to either the IC Verify or the PC Charge programs. These programs are a simple way to process credit cards on your PC, using your PC’s modem.
For those who are not impressed yet, there is another add-on I’m quite fond of, and that is the driver’s license/ID scanner, becoming a favorite in a lot of self storage offices everywhere. The driver’s license scanner will allow a manager to scan all of the information on a driver’s license and automatically populate the tenant name and address fields in the management program as well as save a complete picture of the driver’s license to the tenant’s record in the program.
A new idea which has its applications would be the use of Kiosks at your self storage business. With interfaces to some management programs, this solution will allow tenants to rent units or make payments 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One other add-on I would like to touch on is the management/access integration available by a several venders out there. This level of integration is more complete than that of the access control interface.
The management/access integration allows much more information to be passed to your access control system. As an example, with this feature when a tenant arrives at the keypad and keys in their passcode, they will receive the following message: Thank you Mr. Smith for storing with Secure Storage. As a reminder, your rent of $ 75.00 is due on July 1st. Or, another example could be: Thank you Mrs. Jones for storing with us. If you could please stop by the office, we have a package waiting for you.
Management/access integration is new and it’s catching on.
Today’s PCs have a lot of power, but please keep in mind at the incredible rate of PC development, your PC today will be slow tomorrow. It may seem like a good idea to settle for something not-so-fast by today’s standard, but it will be that much slower by tomorrow’s standard. My advice would be to shop smart and get the fastest PC for the best possible price and this will help you keep up with the times.
As for a self storage management software program, there are a lot more features available than I had room to mention in this article so take the time to read sales literature, review product demos and select what will best meet your office needs. Good Luck!
David Essman is the Director of Marketing for Sentinel Systems Corp. of Lakewood, CO.
Sentinel Systems has been a manufacturer of Self-Storage software and security systems since 1975.
Mr. Essman has been with Sentinel Systems since 1995. Prior to that, he had worked extensively with computer-based products and electronics since 1983. Mr. Essman can be reached via email at
Essman@sentinelsystems.com