Managing Self Storage During the Winter Months

As a management company, we know that clean facilities are important in leaving a great first and lasting impression to tenants. In order to maintain a great property, it’s important to give your managers the right tools and motivate them to take pride in their property. Managing self storage facilities means utilizing the seasons to our advantage. Winter can be slow for activity at self storage facilities, but these months are great to do a check-up around properties.  To prepare for busy Spring months ahead, there are steps self storage managers can take now to ensure their property is ready for the busy season.  Below are a few areas that managers may want to spend time checking during the winter months. Following these checklists can ensure that the self storage property is welcoming to potential tenants during the Spring busy season! Preventative Maintenance

• Check all HVAC units to be sure they are working properly. Schedule the preventative maintenance needed for the units.
• Is all signage correct and proper around facility?
  • Are you still offering those specials?
  • Is electronic signage working properly?
• Examine and restock any necessary supplies
  • Office supplies
  • Facility needs
  • Marketing materials
• Sprinkler maintenance
• Check exterior and interior lights
  • Are they all working?
  • Are the timers appropriate for the facility

Cleaning

• Elevators- including door tracks
• Sweep, mop and scrub all floors in hallways
• Wipe down storage unit doors
• Deep clean office and bathroom
• Remove debris from facility
  • Drains
  • Sidewalks
  • Gutters

We expect properties to be clean, but how do we motivate the managers to do so? At Storage Asset Management, we ran a contest in each district of which store kept their property the cleanest! It was a fun competition that motivated each manager to not only do the daily routine cleaning, but to give their attention to more deep cleaning as well.  It was a tough competition, as our managers keep their properties welcoming all throughout the year, since it is part of our auditing process.  The winners were judged by their District Managers and received gift cards for the hard work in keeping their respective facility clean.  These are great examples that can be used to ensure properties are kept to a standard in cleaning. The winners are Ocean Storage in Shallotte, NC; AR&C Self Storage in Hamilton, NJ; Trumbull Self Storage in Trumbull CT; Salisbury Storage Warehouse in Salisbury, MD; Valley Storage in Martinsburg, WV; and ABCD Econo Storage in Brooksville, FL.