Building a storage building; what are the costs?
If you’re looking for high-quality storage space, you’ll quickly come across a storage building. At Kroftman, we have been selling various storage solutions, including self-build storage buildings, for over 15 years. We are transparent about the cost of a storage building at Kroftman, and you can see the starting prices for each storage building directly on our website. If you want to know the cost of any additional options, simply fill out our convenient and customer-friendly quotation tool online. When you click on ‘Send Quotation Request’, you will automatically receive the login details within a few minutes to view your quotation. You’ll see exactly what your storage building will cost at a glance. However, what other costs are involved in building a storage building? A valid question. One that we cannot give a clear answer to as it depends on many factors and is not handled through Kroftman. To give you an idea, we have found two customers willing to provide insight into their total investment.
Total Warehouse Costs when Outsourcing
Ron Stek, owner of Mes Repro printing company, purchased an H614 storage building from Kroftman in 2022 for a total price of €40,000 including VAT and associated costs such as transportation. The dimensions of the storage building can be found in the image below.
Ron outsourced the assembly of the storage building and all other tasks. The cost for the assembly of the storage building was approximately €10,000. He wanted to place the storage building on a concrete foundation. He had this done by a local construction company. Ron: ‘Given the soil here, we had to drive eight piles to apply the foundation to prevent subsidence. The concrete we used is doubly reinforced because we heavily load the floor with all the items we store in the storage building. The foundation with floor cost about €17,000.’
Because, among other things, paper is stored in the storage building, maintaining a constant indoor temperature and humidity is of great importance. A key reason to choose an insulated storage building. Additionally, Ron had an indoor climate control system installed and electricity laid. The costs for this came to about €12,000. An alarm system and a threshold to keep rainwater out as much as possible completed the storage building and cost a total of about €2,000. In the overview below, we have listed all the costs Ron incurred.
| H614 insulated warehouse purchased in 2022, installed in Capelle aan den IJssel. | |
| Cost item | Costs |
| Storage building | €40.000,00 |
| Floor (foundation with floor on 8 piles) | €17.000,00 |
| Assembly costs | €10.000,00 |
| Electrical installation | €5.000,00 |
| Indoor climate control system | €7.000,00 |
| Alarm system | €1.500,00 |
| Threshold | €500,00 |
| Total costs | €81.000,00 |
It was a significant investment, but Ron is satisfied. “I’m very happy with the end result. It’s a high-quality storage building. I’m also glad I had the storage building assembled by a professional assembly team. They built the storage building in one week, and they know what they’re doing. I could never have done it myself, especially not installing the overhead door. The price for assembly was reasonable, about €10,000. It was worth it.” If you’d like to read more about Ron’s experiences, you can find his customer review on our website.
Total storage building costs for self-assembly
Zeb Wennekers from Den Helder purchased an insulated H717h storage building from Kroftman in 2021 for a total amount of €30,794.00 including an electric motor and gutters. Zeb chose to assemble the storage building himself, mainly as a cost-saving measure. Zeb: “I am technically proficient and have the knowledge, skills, and materials needed to build a storage building. I built the entire storage building almost entirely on my own. Even placing the large panels, I did alone with the help of a forklift. If I couldn’t do it alone, I asked a friend for help, such as with installing the roof. I also laid the foundation for the storage building myself.
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Because Zeb already had all the materials at home and assembled the storage building almost entirely on his own, the assembly of the storage building did not cost him any money. However, he invested a lot of time in it. He estimates that he spent about 125 hours assembling the storage building. There was an old concrete foundation that, in modified form, could be reused. Modifying the foundation took about 40 hours of excavation with his own excavator, making the formwork, and placing the reinforcing steel. The material costs for 14.5 m3 of concrete and reinforcing steel amounted to €3,750. Zeb: “If I had to build the foundation completely from scratch, I would have needed 25 m3 of concrete. The costs would have been much higher. In that case, concrete floor slabs would probably have been cheaper.”
Zeb also installed the electrical wiring, water supply, and sewage system himself. For the sewage system, he had to dig 35 meters with his excavator and partly manually. In total, all of this took him 95 hours of his time and €1,950 in material costs. Zeb installed a toilet, sink, workspace, and mezzanine in his storage building. In total, he spent about 80 hours on this finishing and it cost him €5,500 in materials. From Kroftman’s perspective, we would like to note the following: our storage buildings comply with the (fire safety) requirements of the Building Decree for a building with a ‘light industrial function’. Therefore, we advise against using our storage buildings as an office or permanent workshop.
In the overview below, we have listed all the costs Zeb incurred, as well as the hours he spent on them. You can read more about his experiences with self-assembly of his storage building in this blog.
| Cost items | (Material) costs | Own time in hours | |||
| Storage building Costs: H717h insulated storage building purchased in 2021 | €30.794,00 | not applicable | |||
| Existing foundation modified. Material: 14.5 m3 of concrete and reinforcing steel. | €3.750,00 | 40 hours for excavation (using own excavator), making formwork, and placing reinforcing steel. | |||
| Assembly costs | – | 125 hours (using own forklift and virtually no assistance). | |||
| Electrical installation | €1.000,00 | 50 hours | |||
| Water supply | €150,00 | 5 hours | |||
| Sewage system installation | €800,00 | 40 hours (excavating 35 meters of sewage system with mini excavator and own excavator, partly manual). | |||
| Storage building setup | €5.500,00 | 80 hours (installing toilet, office, sink, mezzanine, and shelves). | |||
| Total costs | €41.994,00 | 340 hours |
Zeb: “I’m happy when I see what the storage building looks like; it just looks good.” I even installed an extra door last week. It’s very easy to customize things yourself, and that makes me very happy. I would like to place more Kroftman storage buildings in the future.” If you want to know more about Zeb’s experience with Kroftman and why he chose a Kroftman storage building, you can watch this video where Zeb shows his storage building. Below are some photos of his storage building.
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The additional costs of a storage building summarized
In the overview below, we’ve juxtaposed both cases so that you can easily see the differences in costs. You now have a realistic picture of what Kroftman customers spent on additional costs, besides the purchase of the storage building. Of course, one situation is not the same as the other. For example, the storage buildings we’re comparing here are of a different type and purchased in a different year. Your situation will also be slightly different. For instance, you may need a planning permission, which incurs its own costs. Neither of these customers required planning permission. Additionally, it’s not common for one person to assemble their storage building alone, as Zeb Wennekers did. When calculating the assembly time of a storage building, as we mention on the website, we assume a team of 4 people.
| Cost items | (Material) costs | Own time in hours | ||||
| H614 insulated storage building purchased in 2022, installed in Capelle aan den IJssel. | H717h insulated storage building purchased in 2021, installed in Den Helder. | |||||
| Storage building purchase costs | €40.000,00 | €30.794,00 | – | |||
| Foundation | €17.000,00 | €3.750,00 | 40 hours | |||
| Assembly costs | €10.000,00 | – | 125 hours | |||
| Electrical installation | €5.000,00 | €1.000,00 | 50 hours | |||
| Indoor climate installation | €7.000,00 | – | – | |||
| Alarm system installation | €1.500,00 | – | – | |||
| Threshold | €500,00 | – | – | |||
| Water supply & drainage | – | €950,00 | 45 hours | |||
| Storage building interior | – | €5.500,00 | 80 hours | |||
| Total | €81.000,00 | €81.000,00 | 340 hours | |||
In our knowledge base on our website, you’ll find even more blogs and videos providing information about storage buildings. If you prefer to receive personalized advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We’re here to assist you.
We hope the information above helps you make an informed decision. If you want to know the exact cost of the storage building of your choice, feel free to fill out our quotation tool. In the last question, enter your postal code so we can calculate the transport costs. You’ll receive a quotation via email, showing you the transport costs for your storage building at a glance. You can generate multiple quotations and select various options to compare them effectively.
