Your roll-up doors are the most-touched component at your facility. Tenants interact with them every visit. Prospective renters see them from the street. Appraisers evaluate them during inspections. And when they start failing, the costs go far beyond a spring replacement.

Most facility owners understand maintenance matters. Fewer understand how fast the costs compound when they put it off.

The Math Behind Waiting

Industry benchmarks show deferred maintenance costs compound at roughly 7% per year (OpenGov, "Deferred Maintenance," 2025). Broader commercial property research puts the damage higher. Studies consistently show that every $1 deferred in maintenance translates to $4 to $7 in future repair or replacement costs (Facilio, "Deferred Maintenance Cost," 2025). When failures cascade across multiple units, total costs reach up to 15x the original repair amount (RueVac Property Services, 2025).

For a facility with 200 to 500 doors, these numbers add up fast. A broken spring left unaddressed becomes a seized drum. A worn guide becomes a misaligned curtain. A rusted bottom bar becomes a security complaint. Each deferred repair creates the next one.

Doors Are the First Thing Tenants and Appraisers See

According to Inside Self-Storage, operators who invest in facility upgrades including door replacements, fresh paint, and updated signage "generally experience better occupancy and NOI" (Inside Self-Storage, "A Key Connection: Understanding the Relationship Between Self-Storage Maintenance and Asset Value," October 2024). The same article makes clear that a well-maintained facility signals safety and professionalism, while a neglected one pushes prospective renters toward competitors.

Facility condition shapes tenant decisions more than most operators realize. A door that sticks, rattles, or shows visible rust tells a prospective tenant everything they need to know about how the rest of the facility is managed.

The Competitive Problem Gets Worse Every Year

The U.S. has over 52,000 self-storage facilities in operation, with construction spend reaching an all-time record of $6.99 billion in 2023 (SpareFoot, "U.S. Self-Storage Industry Statistics," 2025). New facilities come online every month with modern doors, smart locks, and clean curb appeal.

As industry attorney Scott Zucker wrote for Radius+, "An older facility with reduced street appeal may find it difficult to compete against a newer property if it has not committed itself to maintaining the property as much as is reasonable" (Radius+, "The Problems with Deferred Maintenance In Self Storage," 2019). That article also noted that the largest category of Better Business Bureau complaints against storage facilities over the past decade stemmed from damage to stored goods, with the majority tied to deferred maintenance at aging facilities.

This pressure intensifies at refinancing. Inside Self-Storage reports that deferred maintenance directly impacts appraised value, loan-to-value ratios, and reserve requirements. The more problems an engineer uncovers during inspection, the shorter the remaining useful life assigned to building components, which increases ongoing replacement reserves and decreases your borrowing power (Inside Self-Storage, "Prepping Your Self-Storage Property for Refinance: Addressing Deferred Maintenance," November 2023).

The 15-20% Number You Should Know

Facility maintenance and repairs typically account for 15 to 20% of a self-storage facility's operating budget (BusinessPlan-Templates.com, "Operating Costs of Acquiring a Self Storage Facility," 2025). Doors represent a significant share of that spend. Operators on the Self-Storage Talk forum report that spring replacements, latch repairs, and curtain issues make up the bulk of their recurring maintenance needs.

When those individual repairs start stacking up across dozens or hundreds of units, the math shifts. At some point, replacing aging doors becomes cheaper than continuing to repair them one at a time.

What Smart Operators Are Doing

The facilities in the strongest competitive position are the ones treating door replacement as a capital improvement, not a maintenance line item. A full door replacement program upgrades your curb appeal, reduces ongoing maintenance spend, delivers new manufacturer warranties, and positions your facility to compete with new construction in your market.

SteelBlue's Edge Door Replacement Program was designed for exactly this scenario. We handle the full scope, from removal to installation, so your facility gets new doors without the operational headaches of managing multiple vendors. Our doors are manufactured in Georgetown, Kentucky, backed by a three-year warranty on installation, and 5 years on materials.

If your doors are telling the wrong story about your facility, we should talk.

Contact us at steelbluebc.com or call 412.857.3496 to learn more about Edge.

Sources

1. OpenGov, "Deferred Maintenance," 2025. opengov.com/deferred-maintenance
2. Facilio, "Deferred Maintenance Cost: Meaning and How to Reduce It," December 2025. facilio.com/blog/deferred-maintenance
3. RueVac Property Services, "The Hidden Cost of Deferred Maintenance," August 2025. ruevac.com
4. Inside Self-Storage, "A Key Connection: Understanding the Relationship Between Self-Storage Maintenance and Asset Value," October 2024. insideselfstorage.com
5. SpareFoot, "U.S. Self-Storage Industry Statistics," September 2025. sparefoot.com/blog/self-storage-industry-statistics
6. Radius+, Scott Zucker, "The Problems with Deferred Maintenance In Self Storage," December 2019. radiusplus.com
7. Inside Self-Storage, Gregory J. Porter, "Prepping Your Self-Storage Property for Refinance: Addressing Deferred Maintenance," November 2023. insideselfstorage.com
8. BusinessPlan-Templates.com, "What Are the 9 Operating Costs of Acquiring a Self Storage Facility?" July 2025. businessplan-templates.com