Self-Storage Development Guides
How to underwrite a ground-up storage deal without fooling yourself — written by a developer who runs these numbers for a living. No fluff, real 2025–26 data.
Start with the underwriting guide, then go deep on the pieces.
How to Underwrite a Self-Storage Development (Without Fooling Yourself)
The full chain — gross area, efficiency, rentable feet, rents, lease-up, OpEx, NOI, yield-on-cost, and the development spread that decides build-or-walk. With a real deal that didn't pencil.
What It Costs to Build Self-Storage in 2026 (Per Square Foot)
Drive-up vs. climate, shell vs. all-in, the 2025–26 cost drivers most guides miss — and how to turn a cost-per-foot into a yield-on-cost answer.
How Long Does a New Self-Storage Facility Really Take to Fill?
Absorption benchmarks, why stabilization now runs ~36 months, why it quietly halves your IRR — and the reserve mistake that ends good projects.
Why Your Unit Mix Drives the Whole Pro Forma
Small units rent for double the $/sf of large ones. Your mix sets your blended rate — and one average number will misprice the deal by 20–30%.
Cap Rates & Yield on Cost: The Two Yields That Decide Every Deal
The yield you build to, the yield you sell at, and the spread between them. Current 2025–26 cap rates by class, the spread you need, and the rate-expansion risk that quietly kills deals.
The Development Pro Forma, Explained Line by Line
A pro forma is a story about time, not a snapshot. Sources and uses, the lease-up J-curve, the interest reserve, and the returns the timeline actually pays out.
The Feasibility Study: The $7,000 Question Before the $5M One
What's in one, what it costs, the supply test that decides saturation, when to order it with a contingency, and how to read it without being fooled.
Underwrite your own deal
Free calculator for a fast go/walk read, or the full Excel model when you're ready to underwrite for real.
Open the free calculator → Get the full model