Renting A Storage Unit For Ewaste

Anyone rent a storage unit? Currently my workplace is full, as is the 16ft box truck, and the calls keep coming. I've had to tell everyone I'm not accepting new material till 2014. Thus, I'm thinking about renting a 10x30 storage unit to park new material. I want to do my sorting and hauling from this area and my ebay store from my home. But do you guys know if these places normally have proper lighting, outlets for tools and allow you to work out of them? I'm sure I need to make some phone calls first but I just wanted to see what you guys thought. Here's my idea, rent on a 10x30 is about $150 per month which is not too bad with current set-up. However, I'm currently giving away all my scrap steel because my location doesn't make hauling it in very profitable. I'm thinking that I may be able to pay the rent from the material I'm currently giving away for free. I just need to make sure I can work out of these units. Anyway, any advice?

I have been thinking about the same thing if I were to start getting more stuff in than I am now. As far as I know, the storage units in my area don't have outlets or lighting. I am located in Central WI.

I just wish I had your problem.

If you want to grow, you are going to have to figure out the logistics of things. You should not be turning down work imo. Rent a van and quickly flip your pickups work faster contract stuff out rent out a storage unit. Good luck.

Doing work at a storage place can be hit or miss...some of the nation wide chains frown on it but a mom and pop place might be ok with it. Those place aren't necessarily zoned for what might be called light industrial.

Jeremiah, up here the units don't have "lighting" but there's night lights outside which will light up the yard. Usually the outlets are every 3 or 4 units along the outside wall. I noticed one guy rebuilding cars (possibly wrecks) out of 2 side by side units. For lighting I would use a 400-600 amp power inverter, hook it to your car battery, add an extension cord, and hang a 100 watt florescent bulb in a drop-light.
Hang it from the ceiling. That will run 4-5 hours until you need to start the truck and recharge the battery. That's if there is no outside outlets.

You should be able to find stoarge space that are "contractor units". Some of the chains have them...but you can find them specific for work like yours. I found mine for $150/mo with limited power....enough for me to work since I use battery powered tools.

I actually might have to jump up as my ewaste business is growing by leaps and bounds...I found 7500 sq ft commerical building for $1600/mo. Yes you have power bills but the 20' ceilings makes it easy to NEVER turn anything down.

Storage rental can get to be the tail wagging the cat. Adding up the rental fees for one year will give you an idea, add it up for 5 or 10, then think how far that could have gone toward either purchase, or building, on your own.
Most storage rentals have lighting outlets of some kind, and if you'll look closely in the rental agreement you'll likely find a clause specifying something similar to "outlets supplied for lighting purposes only", although as already stated, some may be more lenient than others

I'm having your issue but instead of a storage lot I'm seeking warehouse space. LOL. Hard to find on a sandbar lemme tell ya!

See folks on here mentioning it many times in the past, an have known folks who do odd things like fixing cars an such in the past from storage lockers. Like said above tho, some do frown on it.

Good luck, it's a good problem to have. To much stuff that is. lol. Rather have to much then to little!

Sirscrapalot - I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. - Will Rogers

i have 2 units ... one for working units, tools , appliances, lawnmowers,weed eaters *etc* and one for metal that needs to be broken down ... i use power inverters off my truck battery for power ... my storage unit is in the ghetto park of town with alot of homeless traffic so almost anything goes at my location ... also the location only has 3-5 working plug to test equipment ... i also work on my trucks at my storage as does alot of other people ... they really don't care as long as your not living in your unit ....

I have a 30 x 40 unit in a warehousing complex for $285 a month.. A local guy owns it, was/is completely cool with what I do. Has even dropped me off a couple boxes of stuff. I've got 4-5 power outlets (metered electric so I pay the bill, which is $20 bucks a month. He's letting me build a drop box and put it out front as well.

It's zoned for warehousing, but not for light industrial. I figure if I'm ever asked about it, all I'm doing is warehousing, sorting, and shipping back out. He didn't seem worried about it at all. There are all kinds of businesses operating in this complex, ranging from a Karate Dojo, Healthcare supplies distributor, Chip distributor, etc.

For me it was the best thing I ever did. I make more than enough off my free ewaste every year to pay for it, and it gets the clutter out of my personal garage with plenty of room to expand.

Having the same issues and seriously considering additional space. One of my weekly customers has a tenant in their building that moved out (and I did the clean up for them.) I'm thinking of taking up their offer to use some of their space. My biggest issue is I really enjoy the freedom of working out of the house and I don't want to have to "go" to my part time job. pondering....

With that kind of growth I would look at a warehouse.
We got into a 20x50 space in a large warehouse complex for Under $300.
Our space has electric outlets, free internet, we are allowed use of the forklift and docks, and is zoned industrial.
Its full now and we will be talking to the landlord after Jan 1 to get more space.

Look for big buildings with multiple businesses in the same space - you might get lucky.

<-- Hating the cost of doing business in CA.

I have a 10by20 with 14ftceiling which I store all the overflow which recently I had to give away over 200monitors/tvect to clear it out again since I and the employee I have just cant process them fast enough with all the other better goodies coming in it works great for me and the storage place since when they clean others out they can drop off electronics and metals at my unit lol they love it that way but right now I am working on buying a property I can live and work from with a nice garage and either good yard space for temp storage or to build a steel building on so its a fun process since this business has grown so fast and have money to do things but do not want to waste it so patience is something I am wanting to overlook as it grows like a wild weed

I have been wanting to pull the trigger on the extra space for some time now. I almost did it back in June. 10 x 30 with free electric for $235 a month. That is about the standard price around here for just storage. The facility was work friendly as well. There was even a scrapper tearing down stuff when they showed me around.

Then in early July, the wife could not take it anymore and had to get her knee replaced. That all went well, but without her paycheck for a couple of months (she's a nurse), plans had to shift rather quickly. That and then the savings had to be used to get past all of the bills. We made it through fine and are about back to where we were before, but now I am looking at making use of the space that I have. It get s tight as can be. I guess that I really need to check with the city and see if there is any way that I can add more space on property, but I don't think so.

I have a scrapper friend in town that was thinking the same thing and when he added up the cost, it took about a year and a half of that rental fee to pay for a 12 x 20 shed installed and he did that.

I don't think I have that option because I already have a small shed (stuffed with holiday stuff), and I have a pool, so there is a large percentage of my property that already runs off water and I am sure that would factor in.

Still wanting to get that storage unit, but, again, since I have a full time job, my time spent scrapping is when I get an hour or so and I go outside and play. Like others had posted, "going" to your second job makes it a little different.

One good option for space I have is that I am fenced in. I typically have a pile of stuff outside that needs to be broken down.

If you have a fence, it also means that you can figure out what can and can not be stored outside. I of course have tons of bins in the garage, but I also have lots of larger ones outside that can hold things that won't matter if they get wet. Outside, I keep several larger containers for those types of items. I have several garbage cans (with holes in them of course) for aluminum, cast aluminum and stainless. Point of this is if you have a large bin for aluminum in your garage, move the large bin outside if it is feasible, and just have a small bucket or such in the garage for while you break stuff down.

Still does not help me though. I want to move up to doing electronics recycling drives, and there is no way that I could run one of those without having some space freed up to stash it all until I could get to it.

That was a lot of rambling, but it is a topic that is on my mind all the time as is everyone else's I see.

I get about 1000lbs of scrap steel a week as a bi-product from ewaste don't give that away sell it and that will pay for a storage unit.

They never have plug s

Parrot, how about something in your budget??

http://images.lowes.com/product/conv...99626807lg.jpg

http://www.lowes.com/pd_530300-62634...cagpspn=pla%22

Our area has some empty "post-recession" buildings. Also, some of the bigger facilities that remained open but downsized have empty space. I wonder if those present opportunities. Some of the empty buildings are bank owned, so they may be opposed to any arrangement sort of an outright sale (though a smaller community bank might be more flexible).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ScrapYaHerd

I get about 1000lbs of scrap steel a week as a bi-product from ewaste don't give that away sell it and that will pay for a storage unit.

---

I agree with you. I come from a hard-working family and it kills me to give away money but the money I would make from steel is simply not profitable to load/transfer from my current location given my time constraints.

This is why I think a storage unit would make sense. I could rent one a couple miles from a scrap yard, park my landscape trailer in the storage unit and fill it up with steel as I part out computers. When full, a quick 10 minute trip would equal $100.

Some posters above made some great points about finding large building for reasonably cheap. This is a great idea. My only worry is theft.

Another idea came to me when contemplating this rental. A printer tech who works for my friends IT company is in need of additional space to work out of. I told my friend, the owner, to rent him a storage unit right beside mine. This way he could easily buy parts off of me as well as refurbish printers for resell that we could split. We’ll see how all this goes. Thanks for the input everyone.

Well you can always lease the larger building and sublet space to say the printer guy or some other value added service...one stop shop and if the printer or computer is dead then they can sell it or donate it right there. And don't forget...plenty of other options to sublet space out.

You can also set up cameras, etc. For peace of mind in regards to theft, etc.

I know the space I'm looking at I won't be sharing it with anyone, nobody but me will have a key. God help the poor S.O.B who tries to break into any space I get. I tend to keep odd hours, an make sure I'm secure. Cameras, dogs, an more.

Good luck whichever way you end up going, an let us know what you decide!

Sirscrapalot - All you need for happiness is a good gun, a good horse, and a good wife. - Daniel Boone ( I'm sure he meant a dog..instead of a horse..haha! )

This forum is great for my research. Nice topic. Thanks for sharing!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

Parrot, how about something in your budget??

http://images.lowes.com/product/conv...99626807lg.jpg

Shop ShelterLogic 10 x 20 Vehicle Storage Shelter at Lowes.com

---

I actually work out of one of these. Works fine in summer. Mine is under some big trees for shade and a fan keeps it comfortably cool. Winter is a bit harder to stay warm. Not much ventilation with doors down so I use an electric heater. Overall it works well and is a lot cheaper than a rental unit, but thats just my opinion.