Shipping container storage business?

[WHARTY]

Hi all

Been looking at other types of business i may be able to start and found these http://www.bslcontainers.com/4roomcontainer.php looks pretty simple to run to be honest.

I could also imagine getting refrigerated versions that butchers could maybe use at busy times like christmas?

You can also get 10ft, 20ft and 40ft containers. My one advantage is i have a HGV licence and used to go felixstowe docks on a regular basis so i am comfortable with this kind of thing.

What do you guys and gals think, do you know anybody doing something similar or would you use such a service?

Thanks

Lee

 

[jamesp34]

We were considering using a service like this last year. We import inkjet cartridges into the UK and were considering the option of importing a 20ft container and then storing the content in a container.

We didn't go ahead with this in the end, but just to let you know we did consider the idea.

 

[WHARTY]

just from looking on the net i can see other business of this type having 80-90% occupancy all year round.

Most customers seem to be accountants and solicitors using them for their archives.

Thinking it may be a goer with a bit more research.

 

[Vending Siting Services]

Definately good business to be in.

Prior to us having our current warehouses we have historically rented 40ft containers for many years. So useful, cheap and secure. Paid monthly and access was 24 hours.

I have a farmer friend who has many of these containers and business is booming. They have seen a definate increase in occupancy since the recession as it is far cheaper to store stuff in opposed to expensive warehouses etc.

Barbara

 

[WHARTY]

Hi Barbara

Thanks for the feedback! good to know people use these things and your right it seems like this kind of thing is booming at the moment.

Crikey as if i haven't got enough on my plate with the other business, i am now considering this too! least i could use some of the containers for my own storage though.

Thanks

Lee

 

[Vending Siting Services]

Hi Lee

You are a man on a mission! Good for you.

Barbara

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Hello Lee
I rent containers on a site on the Devon and Somerset boarder. The landlord that owns the site never has enough empty containers there is such a big demand.
The site has high barbed wire fencing lock gates with electric key entry and camaras its a very safe site. If you can provide this with your storage you should end up with a really good business. I dont think you can go wrong

 

[WHARTY]

Hello Lee
I rent containers on a site on the Devon and Somerset boarder. The landlord that owns the site never has enough empty containers there is such a big demand.
The site has high barbed wire fencing lock gates with electric key entry and camaras its a very safe site. If you can provide this with your storage you should end up with a really good business. I dont think you can go wrong

Thanks Jeremy it seems quite a positive response from all so far.

Guess i will need to see how much land would cost to rent and how many containers i would need to cover the rental and other associated costs.

How do you deal with condensation in your containers or are they insulated?

 

[Parrot Hosting]

I agree with the above - I used a 20' container for a year and very secure, dry and easy access 24/7/365. I paid about £100 a month. If I had the land and the access I would be in that business like a shot. There is good money to be made and it won't go out of fashion.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Our landlord offers a choice you pay a little bit more for insulation. Its quite important as its supprising how much condesation you can get in those things.
Mine at the moment do not have insulation as this time of year we are storing teak garden furniture. It gets delivered within about 3 to 4 days and is supposed to be OK if it does get wet

 

[WHARTY]

Ok i think this is worth serious thought!
We have a lot of accountants, doctors, lawyers etc in Nantwich and lots of small independant shops including loads of butchers so i think if i could find something close to the town i could be on to a winner!

Off to find some land now.

 

[buyingbureau]

Storage really seems to be a growth area. People are accumulating possessions at a rate and are loathed to dispose of them. I have used a facility in located in refurbished poultry sheds close to what was then my home town. Each year another shed was converted and now new buildings are now being added. The site has the advantage of good HGV access. Occupancy levels seemed high and the turnover of tenants low.

There seemed to be a diverse customer base: small businesses, individuals between house moves and the odd beloved old car or motorbike. I was a little surprised that that there were some customers who treated a visit a bit like a family day out.

The proprietor had a good attitude and I think this counted for a lot. He provided brooms for sweeping out and sufficient trolleys for moving heavy items around at busy times. The site was well lit (important during the winter) and access was by key fob.

The commercial frozen storage sector looks tougher if the troubles faced by Innovate a couple of years ago are anything to go by. That said some of the older, larger food retail stores seem to have a reefer container behind the scenes - I guess because the increased requirement for chilled convenience meals. It's probably also worth a conversation with the motorway service station operators. Their freezers can be modest impacting on staff productivity, tipping times etc.

 

[WHARTY]

Storage really seems to be a growth area. People are accumulating possessions at a rate and are loathed to dispose of them. I have used a facility in located in refurbished poultry sheds close to what was then my home town. Each year another shed was converted and now new buildings are now being added. The site has the advantage of good HGV access. Occupancy levels seemed high and the turnover of tenants low.

There seemed to be a diverse customer base: small businesses, individuals between house moves and the odd beloved old car or motorbike. I was a little surprised that that there were some customers who treated a visit a bit like a family day out.

The proprietor had a good attitude and I think this counted for a lot. He provided brooms for sweeping out and sufficient trolleys for moving heavy items around at busy times. The site was well lit (important during the winter) and access was by key fob.

The commercial frozen storage sector looks tougher if the troubles faced by Innovate a couple of years ago are anything to go by. That said some of the older, larger food retail stores seem to have a reefer container behind the scenes – I guess because the increased requirement for chilled convenience meals. It’s probably also worth a conversation with the motorway service station operators. Their freezers can be modest impacting on staff productivity, tipping times etc.

Thanks for the info. I was wondering about insuring the good s in the container, did you insure them yourself or did the landlord have this already in place?

 

[buyingbureau]

Reference product storage insurance. Yes, the monthly fee did include optional insurance. I cannot remember what this covered but I suspect it may have been capped at a pretty low level. I seem to think that without the optional insurance the goods were stored at my risk.

I further imagine that you will contractually obliging clients not to store flammable items or food stuffs except by prior agreement. I am not sure what happens in the event that client A breaches this contract condition and client B incurs losses as a direct result. You might need some form of insurance yourself in the event that you cannot recover damages from A to offset B's claim against you. I am sure someone on the forum can guide you further.

No discussion of storage insurance would be complete without mention of security. The facility I used had discrete CCTV. I guess this pays for itself in terms of reduced insurance premiums and customer value add.

As a final thought - if you are seriously looking at establishing a storage facility - and they are a real asset to a community - think how you can make it female friendly. I think security and cleanliness are real sellers. I wouldn’t want my sweetheart using any old storage facility on dark evening and I suspect I am not alone. I guess it may mean being a little bit discriminating about clientele but one bad experience could be a disaster.

 

[WHARTY]

Reference product storage insurance. Yes, the monthly fee did include optional insurance. I cannot remember what this covered but I suspect it may have been capped at a pretty low level. I seem to think that without the optional insurance the goods were stored at my risk.

I further imagine that you will contractually obliging clients not to store flammable items or food stuffs except by prior agreement. I am not sure what happens in the event that client A breaches this contract condition and client B incurs losses as a direct result. You might need some form of insurance yourself in the event that you cannot recover damages from A to offset B's claim against you. I am sure someone on the forum can guide you further.

No discussion of storage insurance would be complete without mention of security. The facility I used had discrete CCTV. I guess this pays for itself in terms of reduced insurance premiums and customer value add.

As a final thought - if you are seriously looking at establishing a storage facility - and they are a real asset to a community - think how you can make it female friendly. I think security and cleanliness are real sellers. I wouldn’t want my sweetheart using any old storage facility on dark evening and I suspect I am not alone. I guess it may mean being a little bit discriminating about clientele but one bad experience could be a disaster.

You talk a lot of sense, you have given me much food for thought.

I am glad for once another idea of mine seems to be a winner!

 

[buyingbureau]

It is a great idea. A scalable business that you can run alongside another business - e.g. car valeting - so that you can have a hired hand supervising the site whilst you are elsewhere building the empire.

A suitable finder’s fee to the young bucks at the local estate agencies might not go amiss to keep the punters coming in.

From distant recollection, so please don't quote me, you may not have to charge VAT on the "storage rooms" but I think you do have to on mobile storage containers. When a container stops being mobile for the purposes of VAT I do not know. One for the tax advisor methinks.

 

[WHARTY]

It must be fate, the Sellf Storage Association uk is based in Nantwich my home town! Just sent an email to see if i can meet them for a chat!

 

[WHARTY]

It is a great idea. A scalable business that you can run alongside another business - e.g. car valeting - so that you can have a hired hand supervising the site whilst you are elsewhere building the empire.

A suitable finder’s fee to the young bucks at the local estate agencies might not go amiss to keep the punters coming in.

From distant recollection, so please don't quote me, you may not have to charge VAT on the "storage rooms" but I think you do have to on mobile storage containers. When a container stops being mobile for the purposes of VAT I do not know. One for the tax advisor methinks.

It's funny you say the car valeting as a site i have enquired about is ajacent to the only free carpark in Nantwich and i did discuss with my wife about doing hand car washes and valeting while people were doing the shopping!

Good idea too about the finders fee!

 

[WHARTY]

Just managed to find insurers as an optional extra and found some containers.

Cheaper than i thought, some are under 2k new!

See this link for the container http://www.shippingcontainersuk.com/products.php?plid=m7b3s7p9

Still if anybody has any more info i have missed or is in the industry then please feel free to respond.

 

[british steve]

For containers you could try Pentalver!

http://www.pentalver.com/02service_main.htm

 

[davidgilham]

How much are people paying rental to store in these 20ft containers?

Dave

 

[MorrisChesterfield]

hi all,

thanks for the pm lee, hope the pm helped

we offer container & warehouse storage. paper work such for solicitors are to risky to store in a container so we dont allow but we do in our warehouse. they do make moisture traps but they struggle getting all the moisture out to be fine for paper work. saying that only problem is when people take water in with them on there shoes as once the doors are shut it traps the water.

storage is good, but there is getting alot of comanys about now days, same as anything once a business catches on more people go into it.

vat = vat is not applicable for self storage so when you buy a container forget about be able to claim the vat back as with renting a warehouse etc. You can be vat reg but who wants the paper work?

regards to insurance we take a £1,000,000 cover over both sites and sell it off as cover to our customers.

Your best way with storage is buy an ongoing business much easier and you have income from day 1. we are currently looking at 2 storage centres now in view to buy.

hope this helps

ben

 

[francisgane]

Even with a lot of local competition, do you think there is still plenty of business available?

 

[Barretts-Selfstorage]

I've just been reading through these messages regarding problems with condensation in shipping containers. We sell a moisture absorbing product to prevent this called Absorpole. Absorpole is based on the proven ability of calcium chloride to aggressively remove moisture from the air. Absorpole is easy to use and is designed to hang within a corrugation recess of the container side panel. Minimal space is occupied and accidental damage from forklifts during stuffing and un-stuffing is avoided. Absorpole is activated once it is pulled out of its container. The calcium chloride, at the top of the pole, immediately starts to absorb moisture from the surrounding air. The desiccant material gradually dissolves into brine which is captured in a collector. Once captured, the moisture will not re-evaporate into the air. The absorption characteristics of calcium chloride provide Absorpole with a superior absorption capacity, even at low humidity levels, and the ability to effectively protect cargo throughout the entire voyage.

If anyone would like any further information on this product please don't hesitate to contact me.

http://www.barretts-selfstorage.co.uk/barretts_moisture_protection.html

Kind regards
Adam