Self Storage Maintenance

To keep your tenants happy and your units full, pay attention to property maintenance. A rundown property will repel customers. Performing regularly scheduled maintenance will keep your facility in top shape. A to-do list is an efficient way to ensure maintenance is done efficiently. 

The Importance of Regularly Scheduled Maintenance

Maintaining your storage facility is an integral part of keeping your customers happy. The best way to stay on top of upkeep is by using daily, weekly, and monthly schedules or to-do lists of necessary maintenance and repairs. The facility manager is typically tasked with this job at most facilities. 

Maintenance Checklist:

As part of weekly maintenance, consider adding the following items to your to-do list:

• Lubricate and wash doors: inspect all doors on your property for debris, dents, and cracks. Most facilities have roll-down gates for doors. Make sure the mechanism rolls smoothly. Lubricate the pulley, wheels, and cogs to vacant units, and follow up on maintenance requests of occupied units. 
• Clean Vacant Units: as units empty, clean them. Wash down the floors from dirt or grease, dust the exposed overhead beams and pull down cobwebs. This should be done before renting an empty unit. 
• Pests: Inspect the entire structure for insects, rodents, and nests. Maintain a regular extermination schedule. It’s more difficult and costly to get rid of unwanted critters once they have settled into your facility than it is to keep up routine maintenance, so they stay out. 
• Security gates: do a perimeter walk every other day. Ensure your fencing is intact. Make sure the main gates are secure and function with ease. Lubricate the necessary parts, repaint, and sand as needed. 
• Video surveillance: make sure all video cameras are pointed in the right direction and that each is in working order. Check to make sure the DVR is working and that audio is clear. Make adjustments to cameras as needed.
• Lighting: make sure every light bulb is in working. Always purchase bulbs in bulk so they can be replaced on the spot.  This provides your customers with a sense of security and lets them know that you are on top of maintenance needs. 
• Outdoor maintenance: keep your landscaping pristine to attract customers. Control weeds powerwash the walkways to remove grease stains. 
• Inspect the roof: Check your roof for weather damage and other debris at least once a month. Clear out your leaders and gutters. This allows for proper drainage and prevents flooding. Roof maintenance prevents damage and extends your warranty. 

Now that we’ve covered weekly and monthly maintenance of your storage facility, it’s time to move on to creating a checklist to make your maintenance more efficient. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with everything you need to keep an eye on. The best thing to do is set up a standard maintenance routine using readily available programs for workflow.

Follow these tips to maintain your self-storage facility efficiently:

• Create a clear to-do list: you will be more efficient if you have a clear, concise outline of what needs to be done. Create separate lists for daily, weekly, and monthly maintenance tasks, then stick to the schedule. Always start with the most time-consuming items and work your way down the list.
• Team maintenance: many maintenance tasks require a team effort. Parcel the work out in a way so that you tap into your team members’ strengths. This will give everyone a sense of accomplishment and pride in their work. 
• Delegate tasks: Try to outsource tasks instead of doing everything yourself. Hiring a professional is more cost-effective and less time-consuming than doing everything yourself. Keep these items on your to-do list so that you remember to schedule maintenance with the proper vendors. 
• Schedule & diligence: Creating to-do lists is not enough. You need to have the discipline to follow through with the listed tasks. Keep everyone on the same page using a team calendar or checklist to know their responsibilities. Make the task list clear. It helps create workflows so that each team member can assume task ownership from start to finish. 

Conducting regularly scheduled maintenance is the best way to maintain the value of your self-storage facility. At The Tymac Group, we build state-of-the-art technology facilities, leaving less room for maintenance demands. Visit us today at TheTyacGroup.com.