What Storage Actually Costs a Small Business in Denver

The cheapest storage for a small business in Denver is almost never the one with the lowest monthly rent, because rent is only about two thirds of what you end up paying.

Here is the whole bill.

Climate control

Adds 25 to 50 percent. Worth every dollar for printed material, cosmetics, electronics, anything with adhesive on it, wine. Worth nothing for tools, equipment, fixtures, hard goods, tile, lumber or a vehicle.

Drive up versus upstairs

Interior and upper floor units are cheaper and the discount is real. So is the half hour with a cart on every visit. If you load twice a week, that is four hours a month, and your own hourly rate is the number that decides whether the discount is a discount.

How close you are to downtown

Land inside Denver proper costs more per square foot than Arvada or Wheat Ridge, same as housing does. Fifteen extra minutes of driving is usually 20 to 30 percent off the rent for the same space.

Access hours

Some facilities charge for 24 hour access and some will not sell it at all. A gate that locks at 7pm is a job you cannot take. Ask what time it closes before you sign, not when you are standing outside it at 8:15 with a customer waiting.

Required insurance

Most self storage operators require a policy and sell you theirs at $12 to $25 a month, usually with a long exclusion list. If you already carry a business owners policy, ask your agent what it covers at a temporary or off premises location first. Most BOPs cover some amount of property away from the business address.

Fees and the month 13 rate

A $25 admin fee, a $20 lock you have to buy from them, and a teaser rate that steps up once you are moved in and unlikely to leave. The increase is the one that gets people. Ask directly what the rent will be in month 13 and get it in writing.

The costs that never show up on the invoice

Trips you should not have to make. If the van cannot park on site, every job starts at home, then the unit, then the customer. That is fuel and an extra 40 minutes a day.

Deliveries you cannot take. A redelivery fee, or a pallet dropped at the end of your driveway, is a cost of renting somewhere that will not sign for freight.

An address you cannot use. Running the business out of your home address puts your house on your invoices, your truck wrap and your Google listing. A mailbox at the yard is $45.

What the metro charges right now

5 by 10 unit, 50 square feet. $50 to $90 a

month, roughly 20 cents a cubic foot. No vehicle.

10 by 10 unit, 100 square feet. $110 to $180, about 19 cents a cubic foot. No vehicle.

10 by 10 climate controlled. $180 to $230, about 26 cents a cubic foot. No vehicle.

10 by 20 drive up, 200 square feet. $230 to $300, about 17 cents a cubic foot. No vehicle.

20 foot container, 1,170 cubic feet. $200 flat, 17 cents a cubic foot, and the vehicle can sit on your space.

40 foot container, 2,390 cubic feet. $330 flat, under 14 cents a cubic foot, same deal on the vehicle.

800 square feet of fenced yard. $530 flat, open ground, park whatever fits.

Where we are cheap and where we are not

Cheap on cubic feet, on access, on anything with wheels, and on having a commercial address. 800 square feet of fenced ground at $530 is the least expensive way in the metro to keep a truck, a trailer and a container in one place behind one gate.

Not cheap if the whole business fits on two shelves. Rent a 5 by 10 and spend the difference on tools.

Five questions before you sign anything

What is the rent in month 13?

Does the lease allow business use, customer pickup and freight deliveries?

Can a company vehicle stay overnight, and does it cost extra?

What time does the gate lock?

Is insurance required, and what does the policy exclude?

Before you ask any of that, size it, because everybody guesses one size high. The sizing guide by business type does it in twenty minutes.

Our numbers

Flat, month to month, first month plus a one month deposit, and posted on the availability page so you do not have to call to find out. Three yards in Colorado plus Houston and Arizona.

The straight comparison against a self storage unit is in self storage versus a container yard.