Mini storage software: what a small facility needs

The ledger is the center of mini storage software, and it is the thing a spreadsheet does worst. Each tenant needs a running account: rent charged on the due date, payments applied against it, fees and credits with a note, and a balance you trust. Rent should post on the 1st without anyone clicking a button, mid-month move-ins and move-outs should prorate on their own, and staff should be able to post a one-off charge or credit by hand, because a waived fee happens every month somewhere.

In SFC, monthly rent is charged to every active tenant's account automatically on the 1st. Move-ins and transfers are prorated automatically, and move-outs can be. Staff can post charges, fees, credits and adjustments in a couple of clicks, and each payment is applied against the open charges so you can see what is still owed. When you switch over, the CSV import wizard matches your spreadsheet columns and flags duplicates, the Enter past history screen takes each tenant's past rent and payments with their original dates, and you can set paid-through dates in bulk so late status counts from the right day.

Collections at a small facility is a routine, not a department. The software's job is to tell you who is behind on the 2nd, not the 15th, post the late fee in your lease without you remembering to, and give you a list to carry when you walk the lot with your locks. Set the rules first: a grace period, often 5 to 10 days, and a late fee that is a flat amount or a percentage. Several states cap late fees or set a minimum grace period, so check your state's self-storage statute before you pick numbers. Liens and auctions are state law too, from the notice wording to the sale itself; software can keep the dates straight, but it should not run the process.

In SFC, grace days and the late fee are facility settings. Automatic late fees are a separate switch, off by default; when it is on, the fee posts once the grace period passes, never more than once a month. The dashboard shows the past-due count when you sign in, and the Past due tab lists each tenant with days late, balance and any late fee. An owner or manager can overlock every unit that owes a balance in one step, clear them the same way, and print the overlocked units with tenant, phone and amount owed. The Past due tab shows how many days each tenant is behind, so you can see when someone crosses the day count in your state's statute. SFC does not prepare or send lien notices, does not schedule auctions and does not run them, so those steps and their dates stay on your own checklist and calendar.

The move-in is where a small facility loses an hour: print the lease, sign it, write the gate code on a sticky note, start a ledger, remember the deposit. Good software runs it as one flow and ends with a signed PDF on the tenant's record. On gate codes, be precise about what you are buying. Managing codes and schedules in the software is useful on its own; pushing them to a gate controller is a hardware integration, so if a vendor claims it, ask which controllers.

SFC's move-in wizard moves a tenant in with prorated rent, fees and deposit, an in-person signature on your office device, and a gate code, in one guided flow. Upload your own lease with the signature, initials, date and unit-number fields placed on the PDF and have tenants sign it at the counter, or start from the included sample agreements. Each tenant's gate code can be limited to certain days, hours or dates and is turned off automatically at move-out. SFC manages the codes and schedules; it does not connect to gate hardware. Move-out can prorate the last month, settles the deposit, refunds a credit to the card the tenant paid with (with Stripe connected), and frees the unit in one step.

Price should be published, flat and per facility, so a 60-unit site pays the same whether two people or five sign in. A trial should not need a sales call or a card, and leaving should not need a phone call either.

SFC is $75 per facility per month, month to month, with unlimited users and no onboarding fee; staff get owner, manager, employee or viewer roles at no extra cost. A hosted public website with online rentals is an optional $25 per facility per month add-on. Sign up yourself; the trial starts once your account is approved, needs no card, and covers one facility. When you subscribe, your first month is free, and you can cancel from inside the app. It runs in any current browser with nothing to install. Support is by email at support@storagefacilitycreator.com or the Report a Bug button in the app.