By Victor Lopez

Welcome to the Construction Issue of ISS Magazine. This featured publication focuses on all aspects of developing and building self-storage properties. But why is a Construction Guy writing about site design and unit mix? Shouldn’t he be writing about pouring concrete and putting up steel buildings? Well, allow me to explain. While it is true that this construction guy has built many a fine facility, he also has a couple of tools in his truck that many don’t. These are a development company and a property management company. And I don’t just associate or consult with the people in these companies, I work in the same office, share the same network servers, pour my coffee from the same pot and eat lunch with them everyday. So this Construction Guy is part of a team of industry experts. I trust you will find the following useful.

So what is site design and unit mix. Too often these words are used in a single phrase while referring to a single activity or used interchangeably as if they were the same thing. Not so. Think of site design as Site Planning and unit mix as Unit Mix Formulation. Both affect the bottom line and are interrelated to some extent, but one must come before the other. In fact these processes are based on two completely separate sets of criteria. If you consider a painting, the site planning process determines the shape of the canvas including the borders and how it fits into the frame and only touches on what the picture will be by introducing certain basic shapes. The unit mix formulation process defines each of the shapes and reveals the meaning of the picture.

Site Planning

This is the first step and requires a great deal of information about zoning regulations, setbacks and other jurisdictional requirements. This is where you want to have an experienced design builder or a very good civil engineer with self-storage experience to get through the city or approving jurisdiction. I always include a civil engineer from the local area on my team. A local engineer that is familiar with all the current zoning regulations will save you weeks and months in getting your site plan approved. While hacking out your site plan, some of the most important considerations are land cost, land coverage, site improvements and building layout. The key to site planning is understanding these variables and what they cost in order to maximize the coverage on your site.

Land cost and land coverage can go hand in hand. What you pay for the dirt and how much gross building square footage you squeeze out of it affect the overall financial performance of the facility. But it goes beyond just how much you pay for the site because you always need to consider what you will be able to build and what it is going to take to get there. The first hurdle in maximizing your coverage is determining the setbacks and required buffers for your site. Examining the plat and verifying additional requirements with the city easily determine these. It doesn’t stop there, however. More and more the fire marshall and the arborist are stealing valuable space and decreasing your coverage. Be sure to check what is required for fire lane widths and turning radius for your local fire department. Also determine the required landscape areas and buffers. Sometimes these are disguised by calling them pervious cover areas or green space.

Now that you have determined the physical parameters of your site, you have to consider what site improvements are in your way of maximizing your coverage. Earlier in your development process you should have determined what existing utilities you have or at least how far you have to go to get them. Don’t cut yourself short by not using existing utility locations to your best advantage. You will also need to satisfy the fire marshall once again by installing the required number of fire hydrants and associated fire lines. Ensure you get the exact requirements as to the size of lines, if a check valve is needed and if the fire lines need to be looped or if they can be dead end lines. Looping a fire line can double your cost! Another site improvement consideration is excavation and grading. Will the site require a lot of dirt to be moved or can you layout the buildings to follow the natural grade? You might consider using split-level buildings to take advantage of steep grades on the site. Retaining walls can also help capture more useable space on a site with steep grades, but use them as a last result due to the significant cost of some retaining walls. Finally, storm drainage is a significant site improvement consideration. Use surface drainage as much as possible to keep costs down and ensure your civil engineer has carefully determined the requirements for storm water detention and filtration. Detention ponds can take up valuable space and reduce your coverage or add significant cost if you use concrete ponds or underground detention. Water quality ponds or filtration ponds will also become costly if not carefully placed and sized properly.

Now that you have figured out how much of the site you can use while making the fire marshall and the arborist happy and spending as little as possible to shape the site, you can start laying out the buildings. This is where the site plan begins to take shape and overlaps into the unit mix plan. This happens because you know that certain width buildings will yield a certain combination of unit sizes. Don’t cut yourself short by having all your building the same width because a metal building manufacture has a clearance sale on metal buildings. Likewise don’t get yourself in a jamb by lining all the property lines with single loading buildings of the same width. The objective is to maximize the financial performance of your facility and achieving the right unit mix is the key.

Unit Mix Formulation

So how does one go about getting the right unit mix? Some have tried using the recommended unit mix of a metal building supplier only to find out that it was simply the easiest way to erect the building. Some use the same ratios of five unit sizes regardless of the geographical location or population density because it’s the way the other chain of stores does it. But what if you conduct a detailed analysis of the target market and carefully examine the existing competition and identify the market trends and shortfalls? I would say you were very close. First hand experience and proper reporting during lease up of a facility is the critical factor in making unit mix formulation a science rather that an art. Without this information determining your unit mix is only as good as the very first time it was done.

Earlier in your development process you most likely had a feasibility study done for your target market. A good feasibility study should tell you everything about your competitors and the people living within your market. Competitor information needs to include the number of competitors, facility size, number and types of units, percentages of climate control and regular storage, occupancy levels, unit prices, overall appearance/condition of the facility and comments about the managers and employees of the store. Demographic information should include population make up, income levels, renter occupied housing, level of commercial and industrial activity, traffic counts, major employers and traffic generators.

Now all of this information must be analyzed and compared to historical data from the same or similar markets. Where you get this critical historical data from makes all the difference. This is where you need a good property management company that has taken the necessary steps to track their stores and their customers. Information collected about customers including the type of unit leased and why they choose your facility is used to establish a baseline unit mix for a particular market. This baseline is then adjusted to account for the demographic variables in your target market. For example, if your target market has a higher percentage of renter occupied housing, then your average unit size will be adjusted down. Your overall demand does not change, but renters historically lease smaller units. Thus after comparing each category in your baseline unit mix and making the necessary adjustments according to the variables for your target market, you will have a unit mix tailored for your site.

Putting It All Together

Now that you have the right unit mix for your site you can fine-tune the site plan. As you manipulate the layout and building sizes keep in mind that a good storage facility is one that facilitates storage. Keep your customers in mind when laying out streets and placing units. Place your largest units where they can be accessed from the fire lanes, which are typically the widest streets on the site. Likewise place larger interior units near the entry doors into the building or closest to the elevators in multi-level buildings. Use building setbacks for paving or increasing the vehicle stacking room in front of the entry gate. Place your required parking stalls where your customers have easy access to the office. Locate the trash receptacle within site of the office or a video camera. Use concrete filled pipe bollards at the corners of your buildings to help your customers keep a safe distance from the building while turning. Don’t forget safety and convenience amenities such as water fountains, vending machines, intercoms and signage.

Proper site planning and unit mix formulation will enable you to have the most economical facility that will best compete in today’s self-storage industry. What it means for you is the best possible bottom line and return on your investment. And what does it mean for this Construction Guy? It’s where I get started.

Victor Lopez is the president of NDS Construction, a full-service design and construction company. NDS has completed more than 200 projects totaling more than 8 million square feet of storage and has won numerous awards for design as well as “Facility of the Year.” For more information, call 888.980.8250; visit www.ndsinc.com.