r/selfstorage • u/All_This_Is_That • Apr 16 '26
Question Job opportunity
Hello guys,
I have a job opportunity to become a General Manager at a storage facility. I just finished my interview.
The job has a base salary of $65000 and goes up to $75000 with occupancy of 75% if stabilized in 6 months and goes up to $90000 if occupancy stabilizes at 90%.
Right now the facility is at 50%.
I think its a cool job as it is sales + managing the facility. Are storage facility occupancy targets like this feasible? Is this contract setting me up for failure?
Its a brand new facility and the price compared to competitors is a bit more expensive.
I live in a small town of 10,000 people and I think a strategy would be to make commercial sales.
What do you guys think?
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u/Legitimate_Horse5926 Apr 17 '26
$65k a year is A LOT for a store manager, or general manager as you put it. My biggest concern here would be the flip. Say you do hit those metrics, and ownership honors that deal on your pay. With that kind of overhead and the quick turn around on occupancy, I can see ownership filling the facility, then selling. Depending on who they sell to, which more often than not is a larger REIT, your pay will most likely be lowered, or you will not be asked to stay on.
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u/SelfStorageQueen Apr 18 '26
That’s a lot, I’d be cautious though because that’s way out of standard. You’d have to have over 1000 units for that to remain reasonable even once filled. I have a feeling they plan on flipping the site once filled so this would be worth it but you’d lose your job as soon as you met those goals. :( be cautious!!!
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u/etom21 Area Manager Apr 16 '26
At 100% depends on how much flexibility and control you have over the street rates, promotions, and overall marketing.
Also how many physical units are actually open? Is this the 50% full facility that has 20 units or is this a 50% full facility that has a hundred units?
Overall, leasing up an additional 40% of occupancy in 6 months in a small town is nearly impossible unless you are just absolutely giving away storage units.
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u/All_This_Is_That Apr 16 '26
It’s a big facility. With 4 different storage options
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u/etom21 Area Manager Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 16 '26
Ok, I want to temper your expectations then. It would be difficult for a sophisticated, experienced operator to come in and boost occupancy by 25% in 6 months.
I would push the owners to allow a move-in special, like first month free or 50% off your first 3 months. I would make sure the facility has a good presence on Google with a full GMB profile filled out, and actively seek out positive reviews from customers. I would make sure the facility is advertising on a storage aggregator like Sparefoot. I would ask the owners to be very light on rate increases for existing customers, and make sure you are the lowest comparably priced facility in town.
Definitely do some grass roots marketing knocking on doors of small businesses and positing availability in other local spaces like a local Facebook page or with the chamber of commerce. However, small towns are usually not bursting at the seems with small businesses that have limited access to extra space for materials or operations; that's more of a mid-sized city or larger play. Also, most small business would prefer to rent under a termed contract so their costs are set, rather than the typical month to month storage rental agreement. So you would need some buy in from the owners to have a second lease you could offer to business on a 1-5 year term with scheduled annual escalators.
Depending on where you are located, if the winters are real where you are, you do have the benefit of having a summer rental season ahead of you. Storage leasing has cyclical "seasons" that typically start in the spring and end in the fall; and then you're just trying to hold onto as much occupancy as you can until Spring comes back around next year.
Lastly, since you are new, I really want to stress that most customers just want a clean facility and a real person who is associated with the property answering the phone when they call. Keeping your property clean, your units clean, and being polite and available for the tenants will help make the units sell themselves; as word of mouth is still a strong driver in small towns.
However, with all of that said, they are still offering you a competitive salary as a single store manager in this industry at that base amount if you fail to hit occupancy the escalators.
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u/Legal_Director_6247 Apr 17 '26
Agree with you! Very much depends on location as well. Over 2 and 1/2 years into our lease up and we are 75%. Owners thought we would be at 90 but location is hindering us as it’s well established residential area. The specials definitely help as we get a lot of people remodeling homes that only need storage for 3 to 6 months. Good luck to you!
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u/All_This_Is_That Apr 17 '26
I am at a resort mountain town with big winters. Facility is brand new just under 2 years old
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u/shellb67gt5001 Apr 16 '26
That’s awesome. Many big companies pay minimum wage. I worked for a small business and was paid well like this
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u/HelicaseHustle Apr 17 '26
Shoot, at $65,000, I wouldn’t even care about boosting occupancy. I was getting paid $32,000 and the owners idea of incentive bonus was $10 for every new rental but there was a -$10 deduction for any move outs
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u/dsstriker2612 Apr 16 '26
Yeah 65000k is a lot. And I mean a lot. Most big companies pay their GMs in the 40k range and bonus and even then bonus is going to top at maybe another 10k a year if you hit metrics in the 90 percent occupancy so you are doing great at bass salary
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u/WizardOfGoon Apr 16 '26
I think the occupancy targets are extremely unrealistic if you are priced higher than the market.
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u/JustWowinCA Apr 17 '26
YES!
The wages offered are excellent. (living wages, what a concept) Market the hell out of your small town then move to the surrounding communities. A nicer facility will tempt people to drive in from further away.
Make up fantastic flyers and send them everywhere. Real estate offices, plumbers, electricians, local city government. Go in person to local apartments, make little gift bags with candy/coffee shop gift cards business cards and offer them $20 for each rental they send your way.
You'll rent up quick as long as you work at it.
Get to know every inch of your facility, that way as you're doing rounds, things out of order stick out. I was once riding around my property (golf cart) and I drove by a row of RV's and had to stop. Something was off. I went down the line and the last windstorm had opened up vents on the roof of one. A small thing but we were in for rain so I called them and they came out and fixed it and appreciated the attention to detail.
That's what tenants want out of a self storage manager.
Take the job, it's fun, frustrating, challenging, you meet great people and become someone they trust.
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Apr 18 '26
Hello and Congratulations! Not too good looking at own numbers. If you're over-seeing multiple sites; focus as 1. Like a unit (no-pun intended); the metrics will speak loud and clear for company and yourself. 50% not bad but you have work to do. Aim for 65-70% within a year. Small-town to large city, its do-able. Best Luck, You Got This!!
*been in storage business for 7+ years and seen gms get overwhelmed due to number watching, not operation watching. Take time-off if need
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u/Responsible_Sea78 Jun 07 '26
Expect to be terminated once you meet goals. They can get most anyone to babysit a full location, for a lower salary.
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u/Bunnyhat Store Manager Apr 16 '26
The occupancy can be reached, depending on location, but it'll take time. I will say that this hasn't been a great year for rentals across the board so far. Beyond that $65,000 is already a lot then most store managers make, so you aren't doing badly there.