In today's self-storage market, maximizing the performance of existing assets has become just as important as developing new facilities. While many operators focus on occupancy, rental rates, and customer acquisition, one of the most overlooked opportunities for revenue growth may be hiding in plain sight: the facility's unit mix.
A storage facility can only achieve its full earning potential when the available unit sizes align with market demand. When oversized units sit vacant for months while smaller units remain fully occupied, the facility is effectively leaving revenue on the table. This is where Janus International's Remix Program delivers significant value.
Unit Remix is the process of strategically reconfiguring an existing self-storage facility to better match today's customer demand. The goal is simple: remove slow-renting unit sizes and replace them with units that lease faster and generate higher overall returns.
Over time, customer needs change. Facilities built decades ago often contain a large percentage of oversized units that were once popular but no longer reflect modern rental patterns. In many cases, operators find that units such as 10' x 30' spaces remain vacant for extended periods, while smaller units such as 5' x 5', 5' x 10', and 10' x 10' are consistently occupied.
When a 10' x 30' unit remains empty 95% of the time while every available 5' x 10' unit is occupied more than 90% of the time, the solution becomes clear. By subdividing larger, underperforming units into multiple smaller units, operators can significantly increase occupancy, improve rental velocity, and generate greater revenue from the same square footage.
Janus International pioneered its Unit Remix services in 2008 and has since completed successful projects throughout North America. What began as a creative way to improve struggling facilities quickly evolved into one of the industry's most effective asset optimization strategies.
Years of project experience have demonstrated that many underperforming facilities are not suffering from a lack of demand. Instead, they often have the wrong inventory mix. Once the inventory is aligned with local market requirements, facility performance can improve dramatically without requiring additional land, new buildings, or major capital expansion.
For operators seeking to improve returns, Unit Remix has consistently proven to be one of the most cost-effective investments available.
One of the greatest advantages of a Remix project is the ability to increase total unit count within the existing facility footprint.
Unlike traditional expansion projects that require new construction, zoning reviews, site work, permits, and significant capital expenditures, Remix leverages space that is already under roof. Existing oversized units are simply reconfigured into multiple smaller units that align with customer demand.
The result is an immediate increase in rentable inventory.
In one example, a self-storage operator was able to add more than 600 new units across a 36-store portfolio simply by remixing existing large spaces into smaller units. The additional inventory created through these projects was equivalent to adding an entirely new self-storage facility to the portfolio, yet at only a fraction of the cost and time associated with new construction.
Building a new self-storage facility can require years of planning and millions of dollars in capital investment. Land acquisition, permitting, engineering, construction, and lease-up periods all contribute to lengthy project timelines and substantial financial risk.
Remix offers a much faster alternative.
Because the building envelope already exists, operators can avoid many of the delays and expenses associated with ground-up development. Construction timelines are dramatically shorter, disruption to facility operations is minimized, and revenue generation begins much sooner.
In many cases, a Remix project can deliver results up to ten times faster than developing a new facility, making it an attractive solution for owners looking to increase revenue quickly.
Every self-storage facility represents a collection of rentable assets. The value of those assets depends on how effectively they meet market demand.
A facility with the wrong mix of units often experiences:
Conversely, a facility with an optimized unit mix can achieve:
By creating inventory that customers actively want to rent, Remix transforms dormant square footage into high-performing revenue-producing assets.
Whether the objective is to improve occupancy, expand inventory, increase revenue, or improve overall asset value, Remix projects frequently produce compelling financial returns.
The economics are straightforward. Operators are creating new revenue opportunities from space they already own. Rather than investing heavily in additional land or buildings, they are maximizing the earning potential of existing square footage.
This combination of relatively low capital investment and significant revenue upside often results in an exceptionally attractive return on investment.
For many operators, Remix becomes one of the fastest payback projects within their capital improvement portfolio.
As competition intensifies and construction costs continue to increase, self-storage operators are looking for smarter ways to grow. The most successful owners understand that revenue expansion does not always require new facilities. Sometimes the greatest opportunity lies within the four walls of an existing building.
Janus International's Remix Program helps operators unlock hidden value by repositioning inventory around customer demand. By converting underperforming units into high-demand spaces, facilities can improve occupancy, increase revenue, expand inventory, and enhance asset value, all without expanding their footprint.
When your market changes, your unit mix should change with it. Remix allows operators to create more of what customers want, eliminate what they don't, and capture the full earning potential of every square foot they own.
To learn more about Unit Remix, download our FREE eBook.