What Is a Contractor Storage Yard?

A contractor storage yard is fenced outdoor ground that you rent by the month, usually with a shipping container sitting on it, where you park work vehicles and lock up tools and materials.

That is the whole thing. The reason it needs explaining is that it does not map cleanly onto anything most people have rented before.

It is not self storage

Self storage sells you a room inside a building. A contractor yard sells you a box plus the ground around it.

The ground is the entire point. It is where the truck parks, where the trailer turns, and where the crew loads out in the morning. A storage unit gives you the box and nothing else, which is why contractors who try self storage first usually leave.

There are other practical differences. No height restriction, so a bucket truck or a raised dump trailer clears. Gate access at any hour instead of posted facility hours. Room to stage material beside the container instead of carrying everything down a corridor.

Self storage does win on a few things. Climate control, indoor security, and small footprints for people who only need a closet. The full comparison is in container storage yard versus self storage.

It is not an industrial lease either

A warehouse lease gets you enclosed, powered, heated space on a multi year term with utilities and often build out on top of rent.

That is the right answer if you need a work surface, power tools running indoors, or an office. It is an expensive answer if what you actually need is somewhere to put vehicles and material, which is most field based trades.

More on that tradeoff in contractor storage yard versus industrial lease.

What you get

An assigned space on a gravel or paved lot, behind a fence, entered through a coded gate.

In Colorado that space normally comes with a container on it. Ground level, double doors at one end, your own lock. You back a truck up to it and load. No ramp, no dock, no lift.

Access is 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There is no office, no attendant and nothing to schedule.

What it costs in Denver

At the Arvada yard, 800 square feet runs $550 a month, 1,200 runs $750 and 1,600 runs $950. A 20 foot container on its own is $200 and a 40 foot is $350.

Wheat Ridge runs slightly lower. 800 at $530, 1,200 at $730, 1,600 at $930, with a 20 foot container at $180 and a 40 foot at $325.

Everything is month to month. You pay first month plus a one month deposit and you can move in the same day. No annual contract, no utilities, no build out.

Who ends up in one

General contractors, electricians, plumbers, roofers, landscapers, tree services, concrete crews, junk removal and moving companies. Box Yard breaks these out by trade on the industries page.

The common thread is a business that works in the field, owns vehicles and equipment, and does not need a building. If you need power and a bench, you need a shop. If you need somewhere to put the truck and the pipe, you need a yard.

The honest limitations

The yards are not supervised. Cameras may be up but nobody watches them continuously, and the lease does not make Box Yard liable for theft. Carry coverage on anything expensive.

There is no power at the space and no climate control. Anything that cares about temperature does not belong in a steel container in Colorado.

Vehicles on site have to be insured and running, and fluid changes

are not allowed because gravel has no containment.

Where they are

Box Yard runs three yards in Colorado. Arvada at 5430 W 56th Ave, and two in Wheat Ridge, on Van Gordon and at 5040 Tabor St. There are also yards in Arizona and Houston.

Current availability is posted by size and location, or call 720 266 0400. Tours are by appointment.