Renting storage space to others

Question

My fiance is planning to rent space from our shed (cold storage) and was wondering how to go about charging someone for their items to be stored. It would most likely be for farm equipment, campers, boats, recreational vehicles, etc. Do we go by size, space needed, amount of time using storage? How much would you expect to pay for something such as this storage?

Answer 1

Campers, boats, backhoes, etc. OK, you rent storage for these items by the month. They pay you a month, and they can come and go as they please with the item.

How much to charge? Call around to other storage sites and ask how much it will cost to store your camper, boat, backhoe, etc. Find out what the going rates are!

Be sure to include the cost of insurance when you calculate the rent. The reason is, your liability insurance will jump up pretty high to protect your property from slip-fall, or accidents while customers are on the lot. Each vehicle owner must provide you proof of insurance, too, for theft and fire and collision--you do NOT want any uninsured vehicles parked on your land.

Do you have to make any improvements to your land to allow access and secure the vehicles? Fencing? Razor wire? Guard dogs? Wider driveway? Larger gate? Extra keys? Locks? Guns? Zoning commission bribes?  Figure out what you need, and how the rent will pay to cover that.

Remember, you will have to be able to move the client's stuff out of the way if you intend to pack them in tight. Otherwise, if you have lots of land, you can space them out.

(And, you just KNOW some butthead will drain his motorhome's septic on you land.)