Guide
Running a storage facility on a spreadsheet: when it stops working
Plenty of facilities run on a spreadsheet for years, and for a small site that's often fine. The trouble starts when the units, the invoices and the payments live in different places and someone has to keep them all in step by hand.
When a spreadsheet is enough
If you have a few dozen units, tenants who rarely change and one person who does all the admin, a spreadsheet and your accounting software will carry you a long way. You know every tenant, you remember who's leaving, and the month-end tidy-up takes an hour.
Most operators we talk to don't switch because the spreadsheet broke. They switch because it slowly took over an evening a week, then two.
Where it starts to slip
- Move-outs. A tenant leaves, and the unit gets marked empty in the spreadsheet but the repeating invoice keeps going. Or the invoice gets stopped and the unit never goes back on the market.
- Dates in someone's head. Who's given notice, whose lease ends this month, who's moving in on Saturday. A spreadsheet holds the dates, but it won't tell you about them.
- Chasing late payers. Working out who's overdue means checking the bank, then the spreadsheet, then writing each email yourself. It's the job most likely to slide in a busy week.
- Typing it all twice. Every invoice and payment also has to end up in Xero or QuickBooks, and every time you type it again there's another chance to get it wrong.
- One person knows how it works. The highlighting, the hidden tab, the formula that breaks if you sort the wrong column. When that person is away, the admin waits.
What one move-out looks like by hand
Here's a single tenant leaving, done the spreadsheet way. Each step happens somewhere different.
- 1SpreadsheetMark the unit empty and note the move-out date
- 2AccountsStop the repeating invoice before it goes out again
- 3Final billWork out the part month and credit or charge the difference
- 4ListingPut the unit back up for rent once it's been checked
Spreadsheet or software, side by side
| Job | Spreadsheet | Storage software |
|---|---|---|
| Which units are free | Whatever was last typed in | Updates when a tenancy starts or ends |
| Monthly invoices | Repeating invoices you start and stop yourself | Raised from each tenancy, including part months |
| Late payers | You check, then write the email | Reminders go out on the days you set |
| Accounting | Typed in again, or reconciled by hand | Synced to Xero or QuickBooks Online |
| Move-ins and move-outs | Dates in a column, or in your head | On a calendar, with the ones needing attention flagged |
Signs it's time to move
- You've billed someone who'd already left, or found a tenant nobody had invoiced for months.
- Answering "is unit 14 paid up?" means opening more than one thing.
- Reminders go out late, or not at all, when you're busy.
- You'd like to take a week off without the admin piling up.
- You're adding units, or a second site.
If it's mostly the hours, the software cost guide puts a number on the admin time against a monthly fee.
Moving off the spreadsheet
The move is mostly about getting your current list right before it goes anywhere new.
- Tidy the unit list. One row per unit, with its size and current rate. Merge any duplicates and check the empty ones really are empty.
- Check each tenant. Contact details, the unit they're in, what they pay and when they're paid up to. This is where most of the surprises turn up.
- Agree the balances. Make sure what you think each tenant owes matches your accounts before you carry it across.
- Start at the beginning of a billing cycle. Switching just before invoices go out means nobody gets billed twice, or not at all.
Doing it in UnitsHQ
- Invoices come from the tenancy. Set the unit, rate and billing date at move-in, and invoices are raised each period. When the tenant moves out, billing stops and the unit comes back up for rent.
- Late payers get reminded. The arrears sequence emails tenants who fall behind on the days you choose, with a link to pay, and stops when they've paid.
- Your accounts stay in step. Invoices, payments and contacts sync with Xero or QuickBooks Online, so nothing gets typed twice.
- Dates are on a calendar. Move-ins, lease ends and vacates in one view, with anything overdue or needing attention outlined.
- Tenants can help themselves. The tenant portal shows their balance and lets them pay, which cuts down the "what do I owe?" emails.
More on the accounting side in how to invoice storage tenants in Xero, and on late payers in chasing overdue storage payments.