Questions owners ask before they reply

Pricing

What does it cost?

One flat monthly fee, quoted in writing in the free ranking check. The number depends on the size of the job: how many unit types you rent, how many towns your renters come from, how much the profile and site need, and whether there is a duplicate listing or a marketplace tangle to sort out first. It does not depend on your rents, your occupancy or how many renters the work brings in. No percentage of revenue, no fee per move-in, no fee per lead, no setup fee.

Is there a contract?

A one-page agreement. One flat monthly fee, quoted in writing after the check; no percentage, per-move-in, per-lead or setup fee; 30 days' notice, from either side, at any time. The first round of pages takes about 90 days to earn its place, so we ask you to judge the work on that horizon, but nothing binds you to it.

What else will I have to pay for?

Usually nothing. If your site needs hosting or a domain renewal, you pay the host directly in your own name. If photographs would help, we will suggest a morning with a phone camera before we suggest a photographer. We do not resell software, ads or anything else.

How does that compare with a marketplace or a management company?

A listing marketplace charges per move-in. On the main one, the fee is the unit's monthly price multiplied by a bid you set, so a $100 unit at a bid of two costs $200 for that renter, and bidding higher buys a better position in their results. SpareFoot help, OneTime pricing. A third-party management program runs the facility under its brand and software and takes a fee from revenue; the only published figure we have found is a 2012 statement that it was "typically 6 percent", with add-ons. Inside Self-Storage, December 2012. Our fee is fixed, and your brand, site and renters stay yours.

Timing

How long before anything moves?

Two different clocks. Profile corrections (category, hours, pin, photos, services, a merged duplicate) can show in the map pack within days, so the first report may already show movement. New pages take weeks to months to rank, longer in a town where a publicly traded company's managed facility has had a page for years. We tell you which is which in the 90-day plan so that nobody is waiting on the wrong thing.

When is the best time to start?

Winter. June carried 13.7% of the year's reservations on Storable's platform in 2025, with May and August at about 10.8% each, and January through March are the quiet months. SpareFoot, May 2026, citing Storable Industry Pulse. One publicly traded storage company's annual report says the same: a greater share of revenue comes from May through September, and occupancy peaks at the end of July and is lowest in late February and early March. Form 10-K for 2024. Pages built in January have had months to earn their place by May. If you start in July, we plan for the next spring and say so.

How much of my time does it take?

About half an hour a month after the first call: approving pages, telling us when rates change, and sending the review request your team runs. We do not need you on a weekly call.

Whether we are a fit

A management company already runs our marketing. Can you still help?

Tell us up front. If a third-party manager runs your profile, your site and your pricing, there is often nothing left for us to do, and we will say so after the free check rather than sell you duplicate work. If they run the software and the site but the profile and the town pages are neglected, there is sometimes a narrow job we can do with their agreement. We coordinate; we do not compete with them for your listing.

We are a small portfolio, four sites in three towns. Is that independent?

Yes. Independent means owned by the people who answer the phone, whether that is one facility or a dozen. What we do not take on is publicly traded storage companies or the facilities they manage under their brands.

Will you work with my competitor across town?

No. We work with one owner per town: we won't work for two competing owners in the same town. If you own two or more facilities in one town, that is one owner, and we work on all of them. A town here means the town or city the facility serves and the places its renters come from, which we agree with you in writing. If we can't take on your town, we tell you straight away.

Do you have self-storage clients we can call?

Not yet. Self-storage is new for us. The case study is from another field, and we don't name that business.

Our facility is unstaffed, rented by kiosk and phone. Does Google even allow a profile?

Google's eligibility rule is that "a business must make in-person contact with customers during its stated hours", and its guidelines do not mention storage kiosks at all; the nearest precedent is that ATMs and similar kiosks are permitted when the listing carries customer-help contact details. Google, Business eligibility and ownership guidelines; Whitespark, March 2025. Whitespark relays unofficial guidance from Google's product experts: a permanent kiosk, a support phone number on the listing, and hours that reflect public access. It is still an exposure, and we say so in the check.

What we do and do not do

Do you run Google Ads or Local Services Ads?

No. We do search work: the profile, the pages, the reviews, the technical floor and the reporting. If ads make sense for you, we will say so in the check. Google's Local Services Ads list "Storage" as an eligible category nationwide (since June 2024), charge per lead rather than per click and show the Google Verified badge; a facility can set them up itself, and we can tell you what qualifying involves. Google Local Services Help; Sterling Sky's category change log.

Do you build websites?

We build and edit the pages the search work needs, on the site you have, in the system you have. If the site cannot be edited or is too slow to rescue, we will tell you what a replacement needs and you can have anyone build it, including us, on a separate quote. We do not sell redesigns as a condition of the work.

Do you handle social media, email or the marketplace listing?

Not social media or email. We will fix a marketplace listing's rate and address so they match your gate, because a stale listing hurts the facility, and we will show you what each marketplace move-in costs you. Whether you keep the listing is your call.

Do you need access to our management software or renter records?

No, and we do not want it. The review request is sent by your team from your system. We need manager access to the Google Business Profile and editor access to the site, both of which you grant and can remove.

Will you write our lien notices or auction listings?

No. We do not write lien or auction notices or give legal advice; notice rules differ by state and belong with your attorney.

The rules we work by

Can we offer a discount for a review, or only ask the happy renters?

No to both. Google's policy bars incentives of any kind for reviews and bars asking only for positive ones. The FTC's rule on consumer reviews (16 CFR Part 465, in force since October 21, 2024) bans fake reviews, paying for reviews that must be positive or negative, and using threats or false accusations to get reviews removed, and the FTC says asking only happy customers "could violate the FTC Act". Google review content policy; FTC Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule questions and answers. Every renter gets the same request, and replies never discuss an account, a balance or an auction.

Can the website show a lower rate than the gate?

Only if it is a real rate a renter can get, with its conditions stated next to it. A web rate that applies for one month with a $29 admin fee has to say so where the rate is. In California, agreements signed from January 1, 2026 must state on the first page how long a promotional rate lasts and the maximum rate in the first 12 months. California Business and Professions Code 21715.2. New York City adopted rules in August 2026 on how storage rates and fees are advertised; the pricing pages guide quotes them. We draft to the strictest rule we know, flag anything state-specific, and you decide against your state's rules. We publish a pricing statement only after you confirm it in writing, and remove it when your policy changes.

Our gate is open 24 hours. Should the profile say we are open 24 hours?

Google asks storage facilities to list office hours, and gate hours only if there is no office. Google, Guidelines for representing your business. So the profile carries the office hours, the description's first line states the gate hours, and the site says both. A profile that claims 24 hours when nobody answers the phone at 2 am earns the review that says so.

What happens to our accounts if we stop?

Nothing changes hands, because nothing left your name. You remove us as a manager on the profile and as an editor on the site, and carry on. The pages, the photos and the reviews are yours.