When Jim Clayton and his partner, Jim Jones decided to get into the self-storage business, they were faced with an immediate challenge – entering a market that already had five competitors.

Their facility, Stay Over Storage, is located in Prince George, Virginia, adjacent to Fort Lee, a U.S. Army post and home to 7,000 military and civilian personnel and their families. Since a significant portion of their business would be coming from the military base, Clayton and Jones purchased the property for their facility directly across from Fort Lee.

“Our competitors were all within four miles of the post,” remarked Clayton, “but potential customers had to pass our facility first, so we realized our challenge was to give them enough good reasons to do business with us and look no further.

To that end, they built a state-of-the-art facility that featured strikingly beautiful buildings of brick veneer over metal stud walls and glass, and offer unique services never before seen in the market.

The 75,000 sq. ft. facility’s footprint is a U-shaped, “fortress-type” enclosed site that precludes the necessity for security fencing, except at the open end, where wrought iron fencing and a gate completely enclose and protect the facility.

Unique features and amenities include timer magnets, which control the duration of personnel door openings. Motion sensors mounted in drop-in ceilings automatically control interior lighting. And all concrete floors have been clear coat sealed for maximum dust control. Free move-in trucks are available to tenants, and moving supplies can be found for sale in the facility office.

One of the early decisions partners Clayton and Jones made was to chose a building manufacturer. “We both agreed on BETCO, because they were not only price competitive, but they offered the “complete package” of products and services we needed,” said Clayton. This included standard and climate controlled units, prepainted architectural standing seam roofs and cupolas, roll-up doors of prepainted galvanized steel, and interior units and hallways of structural steel construction.

Only one month after their opening, Clayton and Jones agree that their venture into self-storage is working and the future looks bright.