Hi- I'm about to take ownership of a small 54 unit all climate controlled facility. No computer, no software, just a few green hanging folders.
I am interested to know how small facilities handle accounting, billing, move in, move out, payments and late fees. Is there software out there for the little guy on a low budget?
Or should I make it work with excel and word? I would prefer software designed for the job.
Very much interested in opinions and suggestions..
Thanks

Define low budget?

My experience has been operational software isn't the place to attempt to save money.

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Self Storage Management
Storage Career Center

Low budget to this operation is $500 annually for software.
I would agreee that operational software is not something I want to be without. Quite frankly I'm concerned about it, and wasn't sure of the options.

Move 'N Store there is a nice one write systems. We use that along with Quikstor express. We keep two forms here because one if the computer goes down we have a back up but also keep employees honest !

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Manager
Mason Mini Storage
Mason Michigan

Try WebSelfStorage, it falls within your budget, is easy to learn, all web based--no software to download or upgrade or troubleshoot and you can access from anywhere, and gives you internet advertising and can provide credit card processing too.
www.webselfstorage.com

(I'm not a storage software salesperson, just a storage facility manager who has used various storage programs in her career and know which ones make the job easier)

For a facility that small I would suggest you talk with Markus at SiteLink. They have reasonable rates for smaller facilities and also have their SiteLink Lite.

Does this facility have space to expand in the future or is it fully built out?

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Michael T. Bishop
StorageLand - Management and Consulting Services
www.storageland.com
sales@storageland.com
208-919-0771 (Local)
877-630-0075 (Toll Free)

Why Sitelinks price so secretive and not revealed openly?

Don't they have a fixed price for every one that falls under certain categories likee nmber of units etc?

I just don't get this...

I'll look into the Move n Store program and webselfstorage. Thanks Lisa T and MMSMason! Checked out sitelink too.
I'll keep you posted.
Michael - there is room for expansion.

I would also suggest WebSelfStorage. I have used 4 different kinds of software and WSS is the best I've found for our budget. They also are pretty receptive to entertaining your suggestions and requests for improvements. There are a couple things I have had to do as workarounds, but nothing that was a big deal except one, and they are working with me to resolve that now.

We had one site on Quickbooks for a while. It was ok, but not designed for storage issues and that created some problems. That's where I think you're going to have trouble if you decide to go with Excel or anything else not specifically storage related. You can certainly make it work, but it leaves you exposed in a lot of places - specifically, human errors become more of an issue; you're going to spend a lot more time creating and monitoring programs that are automatic in storage specific software (like late fees, gate interfaces, etc.) The only reason we used it at all was because it was already in place at a facility we bought and we had a lot we had to do before we could convert it.

HTH. If you decide to go with WSS and have any questions, let me know. I don't claim to be any kind of a guru, but with multiple sites and about 5 years under our belts, we've pretty much seen it all. I also have kept a transcript of every Tech Support chat we've had with them, so that saves us time. Lots of times, we can refer back to the book and avoid calling in again if some problem reoccurs.

K.

What a great idea!

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Self Storage Management
Storage Career Center