Still haven’t dialed in the piece of property I want to buy. But I have no doubt that its going to happen within the next year. I mean, sure, its possible it won’t but I really think it’s a pretty much a lock. To that end, it seems to me that it isn’t a bad idea to start picking up the things I anticipate needing…another generator, four wheeler, PV setup materials, batteries, tools, equipment, materials, storage tanks, piping, wiring, fixtures, etc, etc.
The problem with that is…where do I keep it until I have the need for it? I’m not throwing it all under a tarp in my in-town backyard, and I’m not storing it in my living room indefinitely. It seems to me, at first blush, that the answer is to get a storage unit. (An ideal plan would be to just buy a cargo container to use for storage, but, again, where the heck am I going to keep it until I buy property?) [Although, I could, I suppose, buy a small 10′ conex cube, park it in a storage unit, and have a sort of secure storage wthin a secure storage.]
So, I need to shop around for a storage unit, I think. This of course opens up all sorts of barrels of fishhooks in regards to opsec, persec, and just avoiding general thievery. The most obvious way would be to simply not store anything of substantial value and high portability (guns, for example) in such a place. But…thats not always going to be feasible. While I’d never store guns and ammo in a storage unit that was not under my direct observation, I am going to need a place for fuel cans, water jugs, blue barrels. generator, four wheeler, tubs of clothing, bedding, etc, etc.
I’d like to start amassing things now since a) prices are only gonna go up and b) who knows where availability might go? And by buying before the property is acquired gives me time to research things to make sure I’m getting the best bang for my buck. The major detraction from doing this, as I see it, is that this involves spending money before I purchase the property…which means I may be handicapping myself in terms of available cash when a property comes up that I like. I suppose that can be mitigated by saving the very high dollar items for further down the road after the purchase, but there are definitely some things Id like to have all packed up and ready to go once the ink dries.
I suppose its time to crack open Excel and start a list with pricing, sources, priorities, and that sort of thing.
So let’s see about this. There are two basic types of rental storage lots. With someone who “lives on site all the time” and one unattended. You usually access either one with a four digit code on the gate 24/7 or maybe a card they give you. Easy to override. Skip being seen when you put your stuff in and move to the scenario of the SHTF on February 3rd at 0230hrs while you are peacefully sleeping on a snowy night and this place is 2,5,10 miles away. Do some research on the statistics of thefts at storage facilities in your state and area .
So here you are at 0dark hours blissfully asleep. What wakes you up to the mess? Then what? Go get your stuff or stay home to protect your place? You could rent a conex or two and have them in your yard perhaps? Or buy some they are usually not that expensive and the dealer will deliver them to you and put them exactly where you want them. I have two. And they can be locked and painted to blend in with the landscape as well. Some things to consider
Used to use the storage place on Reserve right by 90. Never had an issue. Everything felt very secure there.
Following. Tough dilemma. But getting a rental type storage unit would be a good logistical stepping stone to use as an in between base of operations from your current blue hive dubious locale to your ideal squat spot. I would await until you have a definitive new property acquired or at least narrowed down to one area, county or nearby a small townie locale that would be your forward outpost base of operations. Get any rental storage unit in a certified small Towne vibe area for a much less chance of thievery. Get those hockey puck locks for the doors and chain or cable lock up valued or portable items inside as well. My little hamlet storage places don’t have access gates and on site offices or residents as it is not needed in this other America away from the scumbags. There is such a demand for these, due to transient society and hoarder personalities they are building more in the area and it is rural living sparsely populated area with no growth. Many trades guys have them for gear or supplies as a defacto business location instead of out of their house or dealing with zoning and store front type costs with a brick and mortar location. Lighten up half your load from your house with a forward pre positioning storage place 10×30 car sized etc. and it will help with your productivity and cut down cluttering distractions. Stay organized and orderly, stay frosty.
Even Mayberry had a sheriff. Location doesn’t make you immune to crime. Just ask Gomer down at the fillin station.
If you had a trusted ally member of your Mutual Assistance Group aka tribe.
You could get a sturdy 40 foot truck Conex box and set it there with your stuff.
But then again that ally would allow you a smallish storage “shed” that is your bug out location also, perhaps for assisting in the cost of drilling a well or such.
You really need a tribe Commander Zero. Solo acts are supply dumps for those that are “lucky” enough to get you when your unaware or sick.
Seriously friend, is there nobody around that could use some of your emergency 50 dollar bills to install a better well and maybe give you legal-moral rights to a small shed on their property?
That’s partly why I have more than one storage shed on my property. If they have to bug out they have moral rights to show up here and vis versa.
Exactly but everyone is so scared to meet anyone else in their AO…If he would of met for coffee long time ago he probably would of already had his spot in the country…Have been banging on the Tribe Up drum for over 15 years but everyone is still too self involved to do it…
Zero,
I have a lot of experience with the shipping containers you talk about. Several comments. I was dumbfounded at how much condensation will form inside of those things. If you get one that size they are movable with a forklift so it could be slid into a storage unit. Inside the unit it would be a little more temperature stable, reducing the condensation. Further, if the storage unit has power inside you can drill a hole in the side of the shipping container and pass a power cord through, use a grommet and cut the end off the cord and replace it once passed through (keeping the hole small), then add a dehumidifier. It will pull out condensation and putt off some warm air helping to stabilize the temperature. Drill another small hole in the floor and run a drain hose from it over to near the entry door into the unit.
If you are going to have high-value stuff in it add on two puck lock hasps (link below)) and you will really slow theft attempts down.
I would also add a cellphone game camera inside the storage unit and maybe another on the inside back wall of the shipping container. Also, Apple AirTags hidden inside of all the expensive stuff and inside a weatherproof container double-sided taped to the bottom in some inconspicuous place where you can barely reach it.
When you get the shipping container setting anywhere on the ground, you will be doing yourself a favor if you set it on cinder blocks, the flat ones are fine, to get it a little bit off the ground. Then level it with shingles, wood/plastic shims, something. Get yourself a bottle jack tool (link below) to help jack it up. Some places even sell them in two-packs these days. Twenty years ago you had to look high and low for something like this. Now they are ubiquitous.
If the storage unit has WiFi and you can get it inside the unit add a FOSCAM WiFi camera high in the back corner of the unit. Use the motion detection feature to give you early warning that someone is trying to steal your stuff.
Best of luck!
Phillip
Puck lock hasp: https://www.google.com/search?q=puck+lock+hasp&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=c23e5d0282ba2990&ei=uhMGaauRFsqfqtsP786W6QU&ved=0ahUKEwir1pnUj9GQAxXKj2oFHW-nJV0Q4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=puck+lock+hasp&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiDnB1Y2sgbG9jayBoYXNwMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHSIYGUABYAHABeAGQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQCYAgGgAg6YAwCIBgGQBgiSBwExoAcAsgcAuAcAwgcDMy0xyAcK&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
Bottle jack conex tool: https://www.google.com/search?q=shipping+container+bottle+jack+tool&client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=c23e5d0282ba2990&ei=qxQGac6qBKO4qtsPy8mIyA4&ved=0ahUKEwiOrP3GkNGQAxUjnGoFHcskAukQ4dUDCBE&uact=5&oq=shipping+container+bottle+jack+tool&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiI3NoaXBwaW5nIGNvbnRhaW5lciBib3R0bGUgamFjayB0b29sMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHMgoQABiwAxjWBBhHSL4IUABYAHABeAGQAQCYAQCgAQCqAQC4AQPIAQCYAgGgAhCYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwExoAcAsgcAuAcAwgcDMy0xyAcL&sclient=gws-wiz-serp
Excellent information. Thanks for taking the time and effort to share that, I appreciate it!
Even better is to get a shipping container for frozen foods. They are super insulated with stainless walls and aluminum floors. Ours never had condensation and we lived in a very humid place. Little less space inside but not by much. We used it for over two years with zero problems.
They have built in refrigeration unit that can run on either diesel or be plugged in
That is semi trailers. Shipping containers only use huge shipboard units that they plug into. They have a round hole cut into the end opposite from the doors. That way the ship only has to monitor the main unit. Reefer units are usually on the bottom of the stack for ease of monitoring and protection from a hot tropical sun.
Forgot to add, they are rodent proof if you put a metal patch over the duct opening. Simple 8 square inch stainless with 6 or 8 screws around. No place for rats to knaw
We solved the problem with a Roof wish I could attach a copy
Guess I am the opposite. I would not get anything yet. Make a list? Yes but buy things no. Cart before horse. How do you know what you will need until you get a place. Wife unit wanted to buy furniture before we moved from the farm. I said no. Buy the house then get furniture that fits the house and our needs. So horse first(land) then cart (stuff). Control impulse to act before proper time.
I accumulated a lot of stuff before actually buying the BOL. I’m still accumulating stuff for future improvements.
Storage rental is a trap. EVERYONE thinks it will be short term, and then 2 years later you realize all that stuff could have been repurchased with the rent money. Not saying that you shouldn’t have a unit, I have several, but it will be a drain on finances. I think it’s worth it because some stuff isn’t available for purchase later, when your need becomes critical. It’s also important to have at least a little stuff offsite, in case your primary is so destroyed your preps are unusable (like a tornado hits, or a wildfire.)
Choosing the right storage place is critical too. I picked one with “secure” 24 hour access, but no onsite manager. I was burgled 3 times (across two units) with a 4th only thwarted by about 1/32″ of steel left in the lock hasp they were cutting thru.
I picked another place with units indoors, on the second floor, and that unit was burgled too. The management caught the guy, but only after he’d broken into several units.
The mandatory insurance wants receipts, descriptions, photos, etc of the stolen items when you do make a claim, so they can avoid paying for the kind of stuff you typically put in a unit. I haven’t received a dime in settlement.
Organized theft from storage units is a real thing, at least here in Houston metro.
There are no perfect solutions, but a shed you own on property you occupy is probably the most secure and least expensive in the long run.
Shipping containers are stronger, but stick out and your neighbors might object. A decent shed (which you can move to the BOL later, isn’t crazy expensive, and is far better than pallets in the driveway under pvc sheeting and tarps.
nick
I will be very curious as to what genny you get. Regular or dual fuel and brand.
I just picked up a Westinghouse 9500kw from Home Depot. Uses propane or gasoline and they delivered! Remote start is kind of handy.
Could consider a large towable trailer that you could jack up and lock up in a friend’s yard. That way when ready to move its a hook and go. We bought a conex this summer the delivery company couldn’t get it quite where I wanted it as I had prepared a site with 6″ of crusher run as a base but had to tow it up on. It was 40′ and quite the boat anchor
Maybe one of those Pods containers, seems pricey but they deliver to your site and then it can sit until they come pick it up and deliver it to the final destination?
The POD itself is basically a thin wall box with a plastic roof – not very sturdy and prone to leaking, at least in our experience. Some of their competitors rent what are effectively mini shipping containers, for less per month, that seem much more secure and weatherproof. At least that was the case last time we needed to rent some temporary onsite storage during moves.
Speaking as someone who has done this, I think you may come to regret this plan.
What you learn when you start developing property is that EVERYTHING becomes a series of dominoes…or a set of path blocking critical steps if you prefer engineering speak.
Given the budget constraints of most of us, almost none of the things you can buy now and store are the things you will need before budget is the constraining factor.
For example, you probably want to establish a beachhead on the new property first – most likely a storage building for all the stuff you just mentioned.
Well, first you have to get the clearing logged…then you need a road to get there, so you need 20 hrs of dozer work….and then you need 20 loads of gravel spread….then you need it weathered in for a season before the concrete truck can come pour your slab for your outbuilding….and then…etc etc.
All the sudden you are $50-100k into land development and you haven’t even got a place to set stuff down yet, much less use anything from your storage unit.
Theres that old saw about how amateurs talk tactics and professionals talk logisitcs. My schooling is in accounting so I’m painfully aware of budgets, costs, variances, and all the ‘take what you expected to pay and double it’ incidents. Im definitely the guy who thinks “I need to do A, but to do that I need to do B, which requires me to do C, but needs D to be done first”. But, once the land is purchased, it isn’t like its going anywhere…if it takes a year to put together the logistics to start the adventure, so be it…the property will still be there in a year. And road issues are very much at the top of the list.
Another good reason to have Tribe that has the equipment to do all that and are willing to help because you are part of their Tribe…
Buddy of mine found a good spot. Had all the comforts with a container on side set up as a shop. Big old tornado came through and left a pile of kindle for the house, took the cones box out and left it on the stumps that where the trees on the property.
They have started over on site as it is two hundred acres of decent farm Still a set back though.
Logically for this to make sense the cost of inflation on the goods stored would have to exceed the cost of storage and the lost opportunity cost of that capital.
Also there is maintenance. Particularly with things that have engines.
Rough math say the storage unit costs $100 a month equaling $1,200. Say inflation is 5% (if you believe official state its actually more like 3%). You’d have to spend 24k just to break even.
Emotionally, Does it make you feel closer to the goal to fill a storage unit up with stuff?
So where I’m going is that it probably doesn’t make sense to buy stuff at full price and pay the cost to store it to use later.
Now if you were hunting deals and bought a 10k quad for 4 grand just before Christmas, got that solar setup for 20% off, etc it might start to make sense.
Anyway that is my .02.
I like the analysis and the mention of opportunity cost. Youre absolutely right, from a financial standpoint you come out ahead only if the costs of buying now save you the inflation rate of buying later. No argument there..and thats a factor that should always be taken into account. That and the opportunity cost. There are, though, other factors in addition to the financial. Availability, for example. Maybe an earthquake wipes out the Honda engine factory nine months from now and finding a new EU7000 becomes virtually impossible. Ability, for another example. I have the resources now to get these things, but I may not have the resources later. And, finally, theres a hard-to-describe “if you build it they will come” factor….by starting to acquire these things now, those are concrete steps that turn a daydream fantasy into a plan-in-progress which helps to keep the motivation going. There are a couple other factors as well, but those are some of the ones that first spring to mind. I absolutely wholeheartedly agree with your statement…its just that I look at it from additional perspectives and angles than just the financial. But I like where your heads at, man.
Makes sense. I don’t think financial stuff should rule everything, however it is a consideration that should be in the overall discussion.
By and large I find your point reasonable. The caveat is that it only applies to things you 100% are sure will be involved in any site. Say you know you’ll have a 7k Honda generator or a certain brand of security cameras or a quad. On the other hand solar, water, etc may require different things based on the actual place you buy.
Also bulk to value is a factor. For $500 you could fill a whole big storage unit with Costco toilet paper. It just wouldn’t make sense to do that.
Anyway best of luck with the new venture.
If it were me, and this is just my thinking here, I’d try to split the baby a bit. Purchase the things now that you can reasonably store now at your current location. You can probably move some things around to get another generator on site. You might even can do the same with a 4 wheeler, even if it has to sit with stuff stacked on top of it for the next year. I’d save the money for a storage unit rental and get the stuff you can’t store, once you have the dirt to store it on. I know that plays against the “what if” scenarios of it becoming unobtainable in the future, but sometimes you just gotta roll the dice on those things and hope that the world holds together long enough for you to make your dream become a reality.
If you have room to securely park a cargo trailer, you could store your items in it, and use the trailer to haul items to your BOL when you acquire it.
https://wellscargo.com/models/cargo-trailers/aluminum-cargo
Trailers like these can be sourced used for much cheaper than a new one.
CZ.
Tandem axle utility trailer(s).
Simple, relatively cheap, especially used. Mobile. Way more mobile than a CONEX and or a semi-trailer. Easy to sell after you are done……..and no storage fees from the mini-ware house people.
Just sayin’
been there, done that….
ben
Not yet mentioned is cost of inventory. There is always the basic storage cost Add inventory control, racks or other for organization, environment control, potentials of spoilage, damage by 4 legged and two legged varmints, bio contamination (mostly mold here, but not exclusive), remediation of any of the above
Too, everything you buy now will become aged by the time you put it into service. Not a problem for a 55 gal barrel, can you say the same for all that you buy. If you’re concerned of mtg’s warranties, doesn’t that time begin at time of purchase?.
For, say a generator, I would also purchase every part which may be limited life. This mostly because mtg’s change product lines fairly rapidly. Try getting OEM part for discontinued item.
Me, I would get a tried and true auto engine and hire an electronics wizard to build the circuitry for those features I desire. Duel fuel conversion is relatively simple
As part of keeping inventory, you must insist that everything remains in place through the entire time.
Ex: a tarp used to protect certain items After rummaging through the stored items, a tarp not replaced (exactly!) may allow damage to those items. The damage may be severe enough that now you’re paying to store expensive garbage.
Don’t ask how I know.
If you ever want to meet up and you are a decent guy I would consider selling or at the very least a lifetime lease of a few acres of my property which in my opinion is some of the best around…
Hey, thanks man. I appreciate the offer. I’ve got my eye on a piece right now and Im just waiting for a couple financial ducks to line up before I pull the trigger.
Yea you bet if you end up getting it and need some help clearing it I have an excavator and dump trailer…
Sweet!
Lineman is a good dude. And his place is amazing, too.
You guys know each other? Very cool. If that’s the case then you might be the first two people to comment here who know each other in real life.
Yeah, we’ve known each other for…what, seven years now?
I’d be willing to bet that if all the MT guys were in a room together, there’d be some recognition.
Yea we shop at all the same gun stores that you probably frequent also like Frontier, Axeman’s, Trader Brother s, etc etc
I would bet money that I’ve actually met some of you at a gun show and didnt even know it.
The pricing for storage units is very tricky. There’s a lot of consolidation in the industry, and it is common for big chains to rent their units much like airlines sell seats: everyone could be paying a different price. Increases after you have been there a while are routine, because there’s naturally a cost to moving your stuff out. They try to monetize and get that opportunity cost.
I rented a unit from a locally-owned place, which then sold out. Increases started immediately, and then an email demanding I show proof of insurance on the contents or they’d add an insurance premium to the rental (this was sent two days ahead of the change). I did so, then found a nearby locally-owned place and moved.
I have the unit because it’s climate-controlled; I could put up a shed, but it’d bake in the GA sun. Of course, by now I could’ve paid for a shed with power and AC with the rent money…