Adapting to Change: A New Era of Self-Storage Design & Construction

The self-storage deal that looked right six months ago may not look right anymore. Interest rates, equity requirements, and submarket supply have all shifted, and the developers who are still closing projects are doing one thing differently: they're getting a GC at the table before design begins.

That's not a marketing pitch. It's what Andy Foppe, Vice President of Business Development at Metrolina Builders, hears consistently from developers, lenders, and investment partners as they work to make today's projects financially viable.

The difference between a project that pencils and one that doesn't often comes down to a single early decision, and it usually has nothing to do with construction cost per square foot.

The Financial Stakes Have Changed for Self-Storage Developers

Self-storage has long been one of the more resilient asset classes in commercial real estate — recession-resistant, low overhead, no long-term lease exposure. That appeal hasn't changed. What has changed is the environment developers are building into.

Pre-COVID, financing was accessible and cheap. Developers could enter deals with minimal equity. "Today, Many lenders are requiring significantly more sponsor equity than they did just a few years ago. Projects that once closed with 20-30% equity may now require 35-45%, and in more challenging markets or for speculative developments, substantially more." 

The market that rewarded early movers and generous assumptions is now rewarding discipline and precision.

Data-driven underwriting is now the baseline. Investors are examining supply pipelines, submarket occupancy rates, and demographic data before committing. The days of buying a site and assuming the numbers will follow are largely over.

For developers who want to compete in this environment, getting the fundamentals right — site yield, structural efficiency, cost certainty — is not optional. It's the deal.

Why Market Conditions Are Exposing the Limits of Traditional Project Delivery 

In a traditional design-bid-build model, a developer engages an architect, completes the design, and then goes out to bid. It's a linear process — and in a stable market with predictable costs and easy money, it works reasonably well.

That model has a fundamental flaw: by the time a GC sees the plans, the major design decisions have already been made. If the structural approach is inefficient, if the building is oriented in a way that creates unnecessary retaining walls, if the unit mix doesn't match what the submarket will absorb — those mistakes are baked in. Correcting them at the bid stage is expensive. Correcting them after construction begins is worse.

The problem isn't that architects design bad buildings.

The problem is that design decisions carry construction cost implications that only a contractor with active market knowledge can accurately price in real time.

When that input comes in late, developers are often looking at a budget that bears no resemblance to what it would have been if the GC had been in the room from the start.

How Design-Build Protects Your Budget and Timeline

Design-build is not a new concept — Metrolina Builders has been practicing it for more than 50 years, long before it had a formal name. What it means in practice is that the GC engages during pre-design, bringing construction cost input into every design decision before those decisions get locked in.

The impact is concrete. Andy describes a common scenario: a GC reviewing a site plan early enough to see that rotating the building and reducing retaining wall requirements could save $400,000. That insight can disappear if the GC and team aren't at the table until the design is finished.

This is the distinction between design-build as a delivery method and design-build as a genuine partnership. A GC that's simply handed finished plans and called it design-build is reacting to the design. A real design-build partner is shaping it.

Solving Supply Chain Problems Before They Start

One of the most reliable schedule killers in a self-storage build isn't weather or permitting. It's long-lead items that weren't ordered early enough.

Electrical infrastructure is a common example. Transformers, switchgear, and panels are often tied to utility timelines that are completely outside a developer's control. If procurement doesn't start early in the process, a finished building can sit waiting for gear that's backordered by months.

The steel framing package is equally critical — and often less obvious.

Because the foundation is designed around the structural system, locking in the steel early allows foundation work to proceed while fabrication is underway. That overlap can take meaningful time off the overall schedule, which in a market where financing costs are running daily, is real money.

This is why early GC engagement isn't just a budgeting conversation — it's a scheduling strategy. Procurement decisions made at the design stage protect the timeline at the construction stage.

What to Look for in a Design-Build Partner

Not every general contractor that uses the design-build label operates as a true design-build partner. The distinction matters—and it often becomes apparent in the very first conversation.

One of the biggest misconceptions we encounter is the belief that design-build means the contractor has architects and engineers on staff. While some firms do, that's not what defines the design-build delivery method.

At its core, design-build means a single point of responsibility, led by the general contractor—not a single company performing every discipline.

A true design-build contractor assembles and manages the architect, engineers, and specialty consultants from the outset. Rather than working in sequence, the entire team collaborates throughout the design process, continuously balancing aesthetics, functionality, constructability, schedule, and budget.  Each team member plays a distinct role. The architect remains responsible for the design. The engineers remain accountable for their technical disciplines. The contractor brings expertise in constructability, estimating, scheduling, procurement, and construction execution. Together, they operate as an integrated team with one shared objective: delivering the best possible outcome for the owner.

I like to compare the design-build contractor to the quarterback of the project. Just as a quarterback doesn't play every position on the offense, a design-build contractor doesn't perform every discipline. Instead, they coordinate the team, keep everyone aligned, make informed decisions, and ensure every player is working in unison toward the same goal. That leadership and accountability are what make the design-build process so effective.

Andy frames it this way: a GC that's genuinely integrated into the design-build process will be asking questions, challenging assumptions, and surfacing things the developer may not have thought of yet. A GC that's simply pricing a defined scope is going through a pricing exercise — and the lowest bid in that exercise may or may not be the right answer.

Specific questions worth asking a prospective General Contractor early:

The answers to those questions will tell a developer more than a fee proposal will.

What Metrolina Builders Brings to Every Self-Storage Project

Metrolina Builders has been delivering self-storage projects across the Southeast for more than 25 years — traditional single-story, suburban multi-story, climate-controlled, luxury storage condominiums, boat and RV facilities. The client list includes Public Storage, CubeSmart, Life Storage, Bee Safe, Extra Space, and MorningStar Storage, alongside regional developers and first-time project owners.

The current market is a barbell, as Andy describes it — on one end, efficient and scalable suburban product in growth markets; on the other, specialty concepts like toy storage, and boat & RV storage serving higher-income demographics. Metrolina builds across that full range, with the same design-build approach applied to every project type.

What that means for a developer evaluating a GC partner: deep market knowledge of the Southeast, procurement relationships that protect timeline, and a pre-construction process designed to de-risk the deal before design costs are sunk.

The goal of that process is the same in every project: give the developer an accurate, defensible budget early enough to protect the pro forma — not late enough to blow it up.

Ready to talk through your project?

Whether you're evaluating a site or ready to move into pre-construction, Metrolina Builders can help you get to a number you can actually build to.