For facility owners
You have the space. We have the customers.
We're looking for warehouses and storage facilities across Punjab, Islamabad and Karachi that meet a real standard. You provide secure, covered space. We bring the customers, hold the agreement, and pay you on one invoice a month.
We run our own buildings in Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, and we're building a network beyond them. We'd rather tell you that plainly than claim a size we can't show you.
What you get
Filled space, without becoming a storage brand
Most facilities in this country sit part empty, and it isn't for want of demand. Finding a household customer, pricing the job and reassuring somebody that their furniture will be fine is a different business from running a building. That part is ours.
Customers you did not have to find
We run the advertising, the search listings and the quoting. A customer reaches you already priced and booked. You never have to explain self storage to a first-time caller again.
One counterparty, one invoice
We hold the agreement with the customer, not you. You invoice us monthly for the space our goods sit in. Nobody chases a family for an overdue month, and the collection risk is ours.
Long stays, not weekend traffic
The largest group we store for are families leaving the country. Those goods sit for six months to two years, which is the tenancy every facility wants and almost nobody markets to.
Your space stays yours
No exclusivity. Keep the customers you have and keep filling space however you already do. What we ask is that once a customer's goods are in, that space stays theirs for the agreed term.
What we require
The standard, before you spend time on a form
These are the ones we'd walk away over, so you should know them first. A family on a flight to Toronto is trusting us with everything they own and cannot come and check on it. Somebody from Urban Storage walks every facility before a single box arrives.
Cameras running around the clock
Coverage of every entrance and of the storage floor itself, recording continuously, with footage kept long enough to be useful after the fact. We ask how many days you retain.
A guard on site overnight
A person, present, through the night. A shutter and a padlock is not security when what is behind it is everything a family owns.
Access on 48 hours' notice, weekends included
That is exactly what we promise our own customers, so it is the most we will ask of you. Flights move and possession dates slip, and a facility that can only open on a weekday morning cannot carry that.
A street address we can stand behind
A real, verifiable address, not a landmark or a phone number. We publish where goods are held to the customer whose goods they are, and we visit before anything arrives.
Photographs of the actual building
Your building, photographed recently, by you. Not a stock picture and not something generated. See the list of shots we need below.
Dry, covered and pest controlled
A roof that holds through monsoon, ventilation, and a fumigation schedule you can describe. Most of what we store is wooden furniture and upholstery.
We don't need cold storage. We don't offer it to customers and we're not looking for it here. If refrigerated space is what you have, we're the wrong partner and we'd rather not waste your afternoon.
What we ask about
The rest is detail, and detail is what sets the rate
None of this decides yes or no on its own. It's what separates space we can use from space we can sell as premium, and that is the whole reason the rate is agreed facility by facility rather than fixed.
Security
- Gated and controlled entry
- How long camera footage is kept
- Fire detection and extinguishers
- An existing insurance policy on the building or its contents
The space itself
- Separate lockable units, and the sizes you have
- Open covered floor we can partition or bay off
- Clear ceiling height, which decides how high we can stack
- Racking, and whether it comes with the space
- Ground floor access, or a lift and its capacity
Containers
- Hard standing a loaded container can sit on
- Room for a trailer to turn and set down
- Lifting equipment on site, or the nearest that will come out
- Whether containers can be left sealed and undisturbed for months
Getting goods in and out
- The largest vehicle that can reach the door
- A loading dock or a ramp
- Labour available on site, or whether we bring our own
- Power backup, and what it actually runs
Where we're looking
Punjab, Islamabad and Karachi
The cities below are where we're actively looking. It isn't a boundary: if you're somewhere else and the building is right, send it anyway.
Cities we haven't reached yet
We have no building in any of these. A partner here isn't extra capacity, it's the whole presence, which is why these applications get read first.
Faisalabad
Pakistan's third largest city and its textile centre. Household demand and commercial stock both sit here and we have nothing in either.
Multan
The hub for south Punjab. Customers here currently have to truck goods to Lahore, which prices most of them out.
Gujranwala
Light engineering and a large trading base, an hour off the motorway between our Lahore and Islamabad sites.
Sialkot
Sports goods and surgical instruments, heavily export-facing. A lot of families here have someone abroad, which is our core customer.
Gujrat
Fans, furniture and ceramics, and one of the highest rates of overseas migration in the country.
Sheikhupura
An industrial estate on the M-2 corridor, close enough to Lahore to share crews and far enough to serve its own demand.
Bahawalpur
A divisional centre with no organised storage we are aware of, so a facility here would not be competing for the same customers twice.
Rahim Yar Khan
Industrial, with several large manufacturers and the staff movement that comes with them.
Cities we already run a building in
We still take on space here, for premium requirements and when we run short at peak. It's a different conversation and a slower one.
Lahore
Our largest facility is here. We take on partner space for premium requirements and when we run short at peak.
Islamabad and Rawalpindi
We run one site across the twin cities. Partner space here covers premium requirements and the Rawalpindi side.
Karachi
The city most of our customers leave the country from, so it sees the longest stays. The only city in Sindh we are looking in.
How it works
From your form to occupied space
Five steps, and we've deliberately not put a number of days against any of them. We'd rather under-promise here than have you waiting on a call we haven't rostered.
Tell us the basics
Your name, a number, the city and what kind of space it is. Under a minute, and it is enough for us to start a conversation.
Send the details and the photographs
The address, the space, your rate and the shots listed above. This is the part a reviewer needs, so an application waits here until it is complete.
We call, then we visit
A conversation first. If it sounds like a fit, someone comes and walks the building, looks at the cameras and the entrance, and checks the roof. Nothing is agreed before that visit.
Rates and terms, in writing
What we pay, minimum term, notice, what happens if a unit is damaged, and how goods are handed over. Signed by both sides before a single box arrives.
We start sending goods
One or two customers first, so both sides learn how intake and retrieval actually work here, then steady flow. You invoice us monthly.
Before you start
What a complete application has in it
An application waits until it's complete, so it's worth having these to hand. Two of them are required and the rest just make the first call shorter.
- Photographs of the facilityRequired
- The shot list below. Taken by you, at the building, in the last three months.
- The full street addressRequired
- With a map pin if you have one. We check that the pin and the address agree.
- What space you are offering usRequired
- Unit sizes and how many, or the covered area in square feet, or both.
- Your rateRequired
- Per square foot per month, or per unit. Your real one. We price the customer ourselves and quoting us high only makes the arrangement short-lived.
- Business and registration detailsOptional
- Registered name, NTN, incorporation or partnership papers, if you have them. Plenty of good facilities are run by individuals and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
- Website and social profilesOptional
- If the facility has any. It saves us asking around about you.
The 6 photographs
A phone camera is fine. One walk around the building covers all of them. What we can't use is a stock picture or anything generated, and we ask you to confirm that when you send them, because we act on what we see.
- The building from the street, with any signage visible. It has to match the address and the map pin.
- The entrance or gate, showing how it is controlled. This is the first thing we assess.
- Inside, looking down the storage floor. Shows the condition, the height and how much space there really is.
- The units or bays you are offering, with doors visible. Tells us what separating one customer's goods from another's looks like here.
- The camera positions, and the recorder or the monitor. The requirement is cameras that record and keep footage, not cameras on a wall.
- The roof or ceiling, and any skylights. Monsoon is the thing that ruins stored furniture in this country.
Tell us about your facility
Send it in
The first step is four fields and takes under a minute. You'll get a reference straight away, so if you need to stop and come back with the photographs, nothing is lost.
Questions
What facility owners ask us
Who pays us, you or the customer?
We do. We hold the agreement with the customer and they never appear on your books. You invoice us monthly for the space our goods occupy, on the terms we agree at signing. The collection risk sits with us, which is usually the part facility owners care about most.
What kind of customers will you send?
Mostly household goods. The largest group is families leaving Pakistan for work or study who don't want to sell a home's worth of furniture before they fly, and those stays run six months to two years. After that it's the gap between two leases, renovations and downsizing. Some commercial stock and records, but household is the bulk of it.
What rate should we quote you?
Your real one. We price the customer ourselves and add our margin before they ever see a number, so quoting us high to leave negotiating room only makes the arrangement uncompetitive and short-lived. Rates vary a lot by city and by whether the space is purpose-built, which is why the form asks for a breakdown by unit size rather than one figure.
Is there an exclusivity requirement?
No. Keep the customers you have and keep filling space however you already do. What we ask is that once a customer's goods are in, that space stays theirs for the agreed term, and that you give us proper notice before any change to rates or access.
Do you need cold storage?
No, and we won't ask you about it. We do not offer refrigerated or temperature-controlled storage. Our units are dry, ventilated and pest-controlled, which is right for furniture, appliances, documents and household goods, and wrong for anything that needs to be kept cold. If you need cold storage, we would rather tell you now than take a booking we cannot honour. If refrigerated space is what you have, we're not the right partner for it and we'd rather say so than take up your time.
Why do you need photographs before you'll look at it?
Because a reviewer reading an application without them is guessing, and we'd rather ask you for ten minutes with a phone camera than send somebody across the country to a building that was never going to work. There are 6 shots on the list and they're all things you can take in one walk around. Nothing is agreed on photographs alone: somebody visits before a single box arrives.
We're in a city that isn't on your list. Is it worth applying?
Send it in. The list is where we're actively looking, not a boundary. A customer storing goods near their own home town instead of trucking them across the country is better for everybody, and facilities in cities we haven't reached are how that becomes possible. We read those carefully even when we can't act straight away.
What happens if something is damaged or goes missing?
It's settled in writing before any goods arrive, which is the honest reason we insist on a site visit and a real agreement rather than a handshake. In outline: the unit is documented and photographed at intake, you're responsible for the security of the facility, and we carry the relationship with the customer. If you already hold insurance, say so in the form and the conversation gets shorter.
How long does this take?
Longer than either of us would like. An application, a call, a site visit and a signed agreement is a few weeks, and after that it depends on demand in your city. We start with one or two customers so both sides can see how intake and retrieval actually work before we scale it up. We'd rather tell you that now than promise a fortnight.
If you're a customer rather than a facility owner, you want our prices or the size calculator.
Rather just talk it through?
Call or message and describe the building. If it sounds like a fit we'll come and see it, and if it isn't we'll tell you on the phone rather than take up your afternoon.