A feasibility study answers whether a storage facility on a particular piece of land makes sense before money goes into zoning, engineering or a building. A construction lender may ask for one, and a buyer of land for storage is better off having one before closing than after.
Read the rest of the introduction
This page describes what a study covers and who prepares one. It prints no occupancy, rent or return figures for any market, because those numbers are exactly what a study for your site is for.
Step 1 of 10: Land and zoning
- 01 Land and zoning
- 02 Special use permit
- 03 Plat
- 04 Site plan
- 05 TDLR review
- 06 Aquifer plan
- 07 Stormwater
- 08 Driveway access
- 09 Building permit
- 10 Occupancy
Texas cities zone under Chapter 211 of the Local Government Code, which lets a city divide itself into districts and regulate the use of buildings and land in each. A feasibility study can report the district; only the city can allow the use.
SourceTexas Legislature, Local Government Code Chapter 211, Sec. 211.003 and 211.005, read 2026-09-23.
What does a self storage feasibility study cover?
Two questions, answered for one site. The market question is whether there is enough demand within the area the facility would draw from, against the storage already there and the storage already approved or under construction. The site question is whether this land can hold the facility the market supports: the zoning, the access, the shape of the lot, the utilities, the drainage and the cost of getting the site ready.
A study that answers only the first question is a market study. The site half is where a builder and a civil engineer contribute, because the cost of the site work and the number of buildings that fit are construction questions.
The trade area the facility would draw from, defined by drive time or distance.
The existing and planned storage supply in that area.
The demand drivers: population, households, housing type and growth.
Rental rates and occupancy at existing facilities, gathered for your trade area by the preparer.
The site: zoning status, access, frontage, visibility, utilities and constraints.
A recommended product mix and size, and a development budget.
Who prepares one?
Firms that specialize in self storage feasibility, commercial real estate appraisers with storage experience, and some brokerage and consulting firms. A lender may have its own list of preparers it accepts, and a study commissioned without asking the lender first can end up done twice.
The builder's part comes a little later. Once the study recommends a size and a product mix, a firm price for the buildings and the site work needs the survey, the soil report and a site plan for the actual land.
What a study cannot tell you
Whether the city will approve storage on the land. A study can report the zoning district and read the code, but where storage needs a special, specific or conditional use permit, the answer comes out of the city's hearing process, not from a report. That is why the zoning question is the first rung on the ladder above, and why the zoning guide prints what each city's code says.
It also cannot price the building for you. A firm price for your site needs the survey, the soil report and a site plan.
Where the study sits in the order of work
Before the land is bought, if possible, or during the option or due diligence period if not. A workable order is feasibility, then the zoning answer, then survey and soil report, then the site plan, and only then firm pricing and the approvals that need a finished site plan. The development path walks that order from start to finish.
Six questions, no cost to ask
Price a storage project on your land
Where the land is tells a contractor which zoning code and which permit office the project answers to. The product and the timing tell them what to price first.
Last reviewed 2026-09-23.