Park’n Shade: A Game Changer in Storage?

What does it take to turn a family carport business into a multi-state RV storage powerhouse? 

Scott Meyers talks with Travis Bailey, owner of Park’n Shade, about the booming demand for covered RV and boat storage. 

Travis shares his journey from working summers in his dad’s business to buying it outright, and the evolution of RV storage from a niche service to a necessity driven by rising vehicle values and customer expectations. 

They discuss market demand, construction challenges, regional trends, solar integration, and how cautious growth has fueled Park’n Shade’s steady expansion across eight states. 

WHAT TO LISTEN FOR

0:58 How a Carport Company Became an RV Storage Leader

3:06 Surviving the 2008 Downturn

7:56 The Shift from Luxury to Necessity in Covered RV Storage

17:54 Why Some Developers Are Sitting Out (and Others Aren’t)

24:29 Industry Crystal Ball: Where Covered RV Storage Is Headed

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Chapters

• 0:58 How a Carport Company Became an RV Storage Leader
• 3:06 Surviving the 2008 Downturn
• 7:56 The Shift from Luxury to Necessity in Covered RV Storage
• 17:54 Why Some Developers Are Sitting Out (and Others Aren’t)
• 25:39 Industry Crystal Ball: Where Covered RV Storage Is Headed

Transcript

Announcer (00:03):

This is the Self Storage Podcast with the original Self storage expert, Scott Meyers.

Scott Meyers (00:12):

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Self Storage Podcast. I'm your host, Scott Meyers, and on today's episode we have Travis Bailey with Park 'n Shade. Now, many of you folks have heard or seen Park 'n Shade and their products out there, but we wanted to bring out Travis on to speak a little bit about not only what he does and give an update, but truly how he got into the business' journey as well as what he's seeing out there in the marketplace. Travis, welcome to the show.

Travis Bailey (00:34):

Yeah, thank you, Scott. Appreciate it. Thanks for inviting me on the show. I'm happy to be here. Happy to discuss what we're seeing and what we do and all the questions you got, try to answer 'em as best we can.

Scott Meyers (00:46):

All right. Looking forward to it. Looking forward to it. So let's start with that, Travis, self storage is such an attractive business for anybody coming out of college. They want to get into this industry. Tell me how you got into the business. How did you start?

Travis Bailey (00:58):

Yeah, absolutely. So mine was kind of an interesting, I guess segue into the industry itself. And it wasn't directly into self storage per se. Park 'n Shade is a family owned company. My dad started it back in 1988, and it started as a small little carport company that based here out of, at that time it was in Phoenix, Arizona. He would just go out and build little shade canopies for cars, primarily had nothing to do with arby storage, had nothing to do with solar. It was really just building carports for doctor's offices and apartment complexes and you name it, right? And so got started there, very slow growth, definitely didn't explode. And he brought on a business partner in the mid nineties, started growing the early two thousands, relocated the headquarters a little further south in Arizona to Tucson, Arizona. That's when it started taking off and the company started becoming a little larger.

(02:03):

Around that same time, my dad and his business partner decided that they were going to look at doing RV storage, and this was probably around early two thousands, maybe 2002, 2003. And they bought some property here in southern Arizona in Tucson particular, and decided that they were going to self-develop a RV storage facility. And so they figured, Hey, we build carports, why not do it? At the time, there wasn't a lot of RV storage, and particularly there wasn't a lot of covered RV storage, particularly here in southern Arizona. And so they bought the property, they started developing it. It was a good size property. I don't know the exacts, but I want to say it was anywhere from 10 to 15 acres. And they did it obviously in phases, brought on investors the whole nine yards. And then right around 2007, they decided to open up another property in Casa Grande, which is right in between Phoenix and Tucson here in Arizona.

(03:06):

Bought that property, started developing that one as well, started building it. And then sure enough, 2008, 2009 financial crisis and people stopped buying RVs. People started walking away from their RVs and boats abandoning 'em all together, extra cars, whatever they were storing at these facilities. It just really hurt the market and it was just very unfortunate timing. And so they had two active RV storage facilities at the time, and they had several other properties that they either owned or were in the process of trying to buy. And fast forward a handful of years, they fortunately made it through. They were able to retain those properties. And my dad and his business partner ended up selling the first one they opened in 2016, I believe, and then they retained the other one. Around that time, I was in the early two thousands. I was still in school.

(04:08):

I worked for the family business. I have four siblings. We all were required to work for it. And it was kind of one of those things where all my friends would be on summer break, having fun, and my dad would pick us up from school and our last day of school and he'd have a pair of boots and jeans in the truck and be like, all right, let's head to the site. And we'd be out there working and welding and putting up sheet metal and getting a really good suntan. But that was kind of the family business. And so I don't want to say I was forced into it, but I was definitely forced into it and it wasn't really an option. And park. And she, like I said, we didn't just do RV storage, we did a lot of just steel canopies in general.

(04:49):

In 2010, 11 solar started taking off, and so solar carport started becoming a big deal. Solar mixed with RV storage was becoming a big deal. And then I started, when I graduated from college, I started full-time at Park 'n Shade in 2012. And from there, the company's just fortunately, we've been extremely fortunate and have just grown significantly since then. 2020, I purchased the company from my dad and his business partner. And so I'm the sole owner of Park 'n Shade now. And to date, I feel like RV storage just keeps growing and keeps becoming a bigger portion of what we do. We still are very active in the solar market and also very active in just steel canopy markets, excuse me, doing apartment complexes and doctors' offices and commercial buildings that just have normal covered parking. But RV is nice because they're big projects and a lot of times we get to work directly for developers or builders or owners. And so the process seems to go pretty smooth. We just get out there and just go crazy and build these beautiful big moneymaking machines for these developers and they're happy and they start renting out spots super quick. And so I'd say that to date, we've done, man, several million square foot of RV storage here in the southwest west coast, and we just continue to run with it. That's kind of my quick intro into how I got into the industry.

Scott Meyers (06:30):

No, that's perfect. And we'd just love to hear that because storage of all sorts and any derivation of that we're seeing is just a great legacy business for family members to step into and for you to be able to do so and to be able to buy out solely, congratulations. And I dunno if you had to arm wrestle the other three siblings to do so, but good for you.

Travis Bailey (06:53):

No, yeah, I appreciate it. Luckily it was good. My siblings, we all love working in a family business but also has its challenges and yeah, it slowly morphed into, I was the last man standing type deal, so worked out well,

Scott Meyers (07:08):

Probably good, probably good for the, to preserve their relationships.

Travis Bailey (07:11):

Yeah,

Scott Meyers (07:12):

So we've been following, obviously I've been in storage for 20 years, and so we look closely at what boat and RV storage is doing as a subsegment of what we are renting out and spaces. And in the past it has always been, well, we got some land over here, so let's do a little land bank and put some gravel down and put some signs up or some numbers on the ground and we'll do boat in RV storage until we're able to build another building because there is always more rent to be had income to be had under roof than there was with just an open boat in rv. And I'm in the Midwest, so it's not as critical, although I would say you put a million dollar RV outside, you probably should put it under a canopy, but it isn't always as critical from a sun standpoint and even a snow standpoint because kind of made for that.

(07:56):

But now we're seeing with the increase exponentially in cost of these projects and the fact that people are traveling all over the country with them and parking in different places for long periods of time, yeah, they're going to get beaten up by snow, they're going to get beaten up by the sun, and it's a necessity now. It's no longer a luxury. It's a necessity to have these things covered. And then we look at the amount of boats and RVs being produced in this country right now compared to what we can find in terms of development numbers of boats and RV storage facilities or even in additional self storage facilities. It seems like the demand way, way outpaces and outstretches the supply right now. So I'm assuming you're seeing that on your end as well and the demand on your company.

Travis Bailey (08:40):

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I'll preface this by saying there's a lot smarter people that a know a lot more out there in the industry than I do. And so I can't speak to any specifics on percentages or what's going on specifically industry other, I see firsthand the demand for people wanting to build these things. I don't know what the specific returns are or all the ins and outs of it, but I will say from a contractor standpoint that provides this service for people or this product for people, the demand is incredible. And it seems like every year it keeps getting larger and larger, whether people are worried about interest rates or worried about the cost of land or building costs. I mean, it seems like it just constantly keeps going up and you hear people say, oh, well the projects aren't going to pencil anymore. Somehow they keep penciling somehow people keep finding a way to do 'em, and we are fortunately in a good spot to where we're right there to help people build these things. And so yeah, we're seeing the market still turning.

Scott Meyers (09:47):

So Travis, you don't get into that side too much in terms of the underwriting. What happens, I would assume that there's an awful lot of folks that just reach out to you sometimes first and they've got an idea or they've got a piece of land and an idea that this is what they want to do. Do you do any consulting at all, or do you automatically turn them over to another developer or a consultant to begin to do the numbers and run the math in terms of construction costs versus rental rates and lease up costs and everything else? How much of that do you get involved in, if at all?

Travis Bailey (10:20):

Yeah, no, great question. So in terms of consulting, we don't do a lot of consulting of like, Hey, this is how you need to do it. This is exactly what you need to build. This is your payback on the project. These are the good areas, the bad areas we don't get into that we can help from a building perspective. And I think that's where a lot of people come to us and say, Hey, I have this plot of land. What would you recommend is the most cost effective RV storage solution? And so that's where I'd say pretty simple consulting, but also critical to how they're going to build their project is how they're going to configure the parking. And so

Scott Meyers (10:56):

There's

Travis Bailey (10:56):

Definitely, I feel like every project is very unique, setback, property lines, easements, building restrictions, whatever you have, every project's going to be unique. But that said, there's also some general ideas or general guidelines we can give to where it makes it more cost effective and if, hey, if you just tweak this or if you change this, if I think your canopy is going to be a lot cheaper and at the end of the day, steel's expensive and the carport is not a cheap portion, definitely a big line item in the overall budget. So I don't want to say we drive how people do stuff, but we can definitely help them from a building perspective and giving tips and advice. So

Scott Meyers (11:43):

Well, we've certainly seen a shift where many times in the past it was you would garner more rent for putting a canopy up versus just an open space, even if you are putting up the canopy. But then you would begin to, there's some diminishing returns when you put up a full enclosure, an enclosed building with four walls and a drive-through for an rv. And again, that's some markets and certain projects, but I would find that what we found is that typically a canopy is going to be the best option for us or even call it a lean to, we've got three sides, but open and it's not a

(12:18):

Drive-through.

(12:20):

To take that a step further, and I know you just said you don't do a lot of consulting, but do you give some type of a feedback to your folks that are looking for an ROI ON solar to be able to offset the electricity or in some cases to be able to sell it back to the grid? How involved do you get in that side?

Travis Bailey (12:37):

Yeah, that's a great question. Back in, it's tough, right? We work in a lot of different markets. We're based here in the southwest, but we work anywhere from Oklahoma to Washington state and everywhere in between. And we're looking at projects on the outside of those areas as well. And so every area you go into is going to have different rules, different regulations, different utility rates, and so it's hard to just give a blanket answer of, Hey, this is the best way to do it. That said, I'd feel like 10 years ago or so, there was a really good opportunity for developers to go and build these massive RV storage facilities and do solar on top, and then they would just sell the power back to the grid and make a fortune doing it very quickly. The utilities were like, Hey, we're not doing that anymore.

(13:29):

We don't want to be losing money. And so solar, I feel from my perspective, it's become less popular with RV storage. There is, particularly in California, there's still quite a few projects out there that are doing it, maybe not large scale, where they try to cram every square inch of the roof with solar panels. A lot of times California also I believe has some green building initiative where you almost have to have a portion of solar built into your project. I don't know that for a fact, but I've heard that. And so a lot of these projects we're doing will have canopies, all steel deck canopies, and then they'll have a portion of it that is still dedicated to solar that a lot of times won't use for lights or charging. It'll go back to the building itself, whether it's an onsite residence or a self storage building on the property as well. And so you got to have that demand to be able to offset something on site. And so that's why they'll try to channel it back to the meter on site or something. And so in terms of telling, trying to give advice on it, again, I hate to sound like the only thing we do is just build a carport, but the RV port, but that's kind of what we do, but we team up with a lot of very good contractors that do provide that. And so if someone's interested in solar, fantastic, we'll bring a solar expert to the table. They can bring in their knowledge and expertise on what the ROI is and whether it's a smart decision or not to try to implement some solar in the project.

Scott Meyers (15:00):

Well, and I imagine grants probably factor into that as well. Exactly. Any of these questions that I ask you as you just said without saying it depends for all the reasons Sunny days we're talking about Washington State, very few. I mean, that thing probably does a pencil very well up there versus Tucson. But yeah, let's talk about grants grant writing and what's available from the states. So Travis, I've known in the past that many states along with the green initiatives that you've mentioned, they do offer grants as well for certain areas for certain buildings. If you're going to build solar, then you can get a certain amount of money off a rebate, if you will, by the state for putting these energy saving measures in place or even from the utility companies themselves because their grid may be overloaded. And I know it varies in different places, but have you seen any shifts or changes in that landscape recently that you're at least hearing from your consultants or from some of your clients?

Travis Bailey (15:57):

Yeah, good question. Again, I think that, again, I think all channels back to California. California's kind of the front runner for a lot of these things. And in California in particular, some of the developers we work with have been implementing solar on every one of their projects. I don't know exactly what grants or what incentives are pushing them to try to incorporate that solar into their project, but there's definitely something out there that is either requiring them or they're getting some sort of benefit from doing solar on it, not just a green incentive. I don't know. I don't know the specifics of it, but I will say that majority of the RV storage projects that we're doing in California have some sort of solar built into 'em, if not a significant amount of solar. But I feel like it's also very specific to California. Come over here to Arizona, very little solar we're doing on top of canopies, go out to Texas, very little solar, Colorado, Nevada, same thing. It's just there's not a big push for solar being on these projects.

Scott Meyers (17:04):

So let's just talk about the market in general, Travis, depending upon where you're looking, who you're talking to from the publications and the blogs to the individuals that are out developing, the market's hot or the market's not, it's horrible. We're developing right now, we're converting industrial buildings and we are not waiting around for interest rates to get better. We're building in today's interest rates if they pencil out and we know it's going to get better, and there's still a demand for storage, but I know many of the developers are seeing a slowdown because there are some folks that are still sitting on the sidelines. What do you see compared to say, before we call it this downturn in comparison to your activity level? Is it just steady as she goes? Did you see a pullback or a small pullback, or has it just been all guns blazing since 2020 on until now?

Travis Bailey (17:54):

Yeah, no, it's interesting. We work with a wide range of clients and I feel like all of them kind of have different motives for what they're doing. Mean they obviously want to make money, but at the same time, some of 'em are institutional money. Some of 'em are family money, some of 'em, they're just a guy owns the land and he's got nothing to do with it, wants to turn it over. And so I feel like we get a wide range of clientele, and so it keeps us busy regardless of what the overall atmosphere is at that time. For example, when interest rates are super low, we're getting a lot of these big institutional money developers that come in and they're just buying up these massive properties and doing several hundred thousand square foot facilities that just hundreds and hundreds of RV storage under 'em. But then when interest rates are going up and that's not as attractive, we're seeing a lot of mom and PA shops that are coming out and they have this property that's been in their family forever or hey, they made a lot of money in something and they're interested in experimenting in RV storage.

(19:07):

And so fortunately we've seen a demand, steady demand over the last 5, 6, 7 years, regardless of what is going on in the economy. We're still seeing that demand. And I would say that it seems like it's getting greater and greater. I saw you at the ISS self storage, or excuse me, the trade show earlier this year and at a booth right across from you there. And I mean, I was blown away by how many people were interested in, I've heard, like you mentioned, I've heard people be like, oh, money's too expensive. We can't build it right now. Building costs are too expensive, land's too expensive. We're not going to do it. We're going to mothball everything until stuff's cheaper. I don't know if it's getting cheaper. And so I think people are starting to realize that this is kind of the new norm is prices aren't going to come back down to what they were pre COVID, and if you don't jump on, then you're going to miss the train and people are jumping on. And we saw a massive demand at the self storage show from all over the country, from all types of clients.

Scott Meyers (20:15):

So Travis, do you go all over the country? Will you go all over the country?

Travis Bailey (20:18):

Good question. So we've been asked if we will, and we've always been about cautious growth. We've grown almost, I feel like it's consistently a good 20% if not more every year for the last 10, 15 years. And so we've kind of exploded and every year just, and I keep thinking like, oh, we're not going to take on more. And every year we keep expanding. And so right now, I mean certain clients that we do projects with that we have a comfort level of working with them where we will entertain projects outside of the southwest west coast. But if someone were to call me and say, Hey, I got a project up in Vermont and I want to cover 15,000 square foot of RV storage, I'd probably recommend that they try to reach out to a local steel guy. It's not something that right now we have the bandwidth to do, or also from a cost perspective, we just wouldn't be the most cost effective to travel across the country at this time. So not to dance around your question, but it depends again to go back to it depends, of course.

Scott Meyers (21:25):

So how many states are you really active in, would you say? What's your footprint right now?

Travis Bailey (21:32):

Yeah, so we're in about eight, I want to say eight states actively. Our biggest markets are definitely California, Texas and Arizona. Beyond that, we are doing quite a bit of work up in Colorado. We work in New Mexico, we work in Nevada, we work in Utah. And just this year we're starting to do our first projects up in Washington state, but we've done work in Oklahoma. We're looking at stuff in Louisiana. So we'll slowly branch out. And again, it just goes back to that depends on who we're working with and what the project looks like. If it's a really small little project, a couple spaces or a handful of spaces that they want to cover, it just financially doesn't make sense for us or the developer to go out there. But if it's a big project where we can send out a crew and set up shop and it's going to take several months, then it's definitely something we'd entertain.

Scott Meyers (22:23):

Have you seen the states that you're very active in, has that been recent? Has that been steady growth or are you seeing a shift during COVID? We saw a shift back to the sunshine states or the smile states as we call it, where people were sent back home to work and that meant that they can work anywhere and move anywhere, and we saw a migration down to your part of the country, southeast, Southwest. Are you seeing any particular market or state that's seeing exponential growth or that's outpacing the others? And if so, what do you attribute that to?

Travis Bailey (22:52):

Yeah, I'd have to credit this very intelligent developers we work with because again, we just go and build these things and they have models looking at residential homes being built, apartment complexes being built, and all these different indicators showing what's going on. That said, Phoenix is an unbelievable market and it just keeps growing and booming and there's a lot of money being pumped into that economy. And

Scott Meyers (23:17):

So

Travis Bailey (23:18):

Arizona in general has been great. Phoenix specifically has been, we've had a tremendous amount of growth there and a lot of RV storage we do is in Phoenix. Along with that, Texas, obviously a lot of California companies are trying to shift out towards Texas and take advantage of their tax situation and cheaper operation costs out there. And so we've seen not just in RV storage specifically, but in general building and solar and everything, Dallas, Austin, Houston, San Antonio, all those big cities out there in Texas are experiencing tremendous growth as well. And then California is just kind of always busy, even with a lot of industries trying to get out of there. There still is just a ton of opportunity. And so the Southwest has been, I guess south and Southwest has been very busy and good to us for sure.

Scott Meyers (24:13):

Alright, Travis, so get your crystal ball out. Where do you see the industry heading right now? Call it covered parking boats and R RV parking, and then what are your specific plans for Park 'n Shade to take advantage of the growth that you're seeing out there?

Travis Bailey (24:29):

Yeah, absolutely. So I think that the industry is on an upward trend for sure. I think that RV storage is just becoming more and more popular. I think more people are trying to get into it, not just the same big guys that own a bunch of different facilities. There's a lot of people that are wanting to explore it and try to own their own facilities. And so it's very positive looking. It's exciting. And in terms of what is Parkens Shade doing to be part of that, fortunately, we're in a position where we're kind of along for the ride and we're taking advantage of being in the right place at the right time. We're a reputable steel carport installer. There's a lot of companies out there that do steel, but companies that only do steel carports, there's not a ton of them around the country. And so we're in a good spot. We have great relationships, we've got a great name in the industry. And so as we make more relationships with every type of client out there, big institutional money to smaller developers, it's a good position to be in to where they kind of take us along for the ride and help us spread out and tackle more markets, go into new areas and build all kinds of projects. Big, small, you name everything in between.

(25:54):

And so I could say the goal for Park 'n Shade is to keep growing with the industry. I don't know that I can predict exactly where it's going to go. 10 years ago, we only worked in Arizona and California, that's it.

(26:09):

But now we're working in eight different states or something like that and looking at other opportunities as well. So to answer your question, we're kind of just rolling with it. We're in the right place at the right time and ramping up to take on as much as we possibly can. Me personally, as a goal is, yeah, I mean help park and share, grow, help, try to capture more, develop a lot of these relationships, and hopefully get in on my own RV storage and try to own some properties myself as a personal goal, which is something I'm looking at. But I've just been so busy building other people's facilities, hard to go and build my own. I got to focus on my day job. So that's kind of where I'm at.

Scott Meyers (26:53):

Well, Travis, congratulations since 2020. Fantastic growth. They got the right guy at the helm, and congratulations to all your success. Now. How do people get in touch with you if they want to find out a little bit more about what you do and if it's right for them and their plot of land?

Travis Bailey (27:07):

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Appreciate that. We're not big on marketing. I'd say that we're kind of old school when it comes to that. So we're not big in flashing, push ourselves out there a lot. We have just a general website, Park 'n Shade.com, and if people go on there, they can reach out to our contact. I work a lot directly with people looking to build these facilities, and so if they reach out or my direct email, justTravis@parkandshade.com, and I'm happy to work with basically anybody and everybody looking to get into this. And we're also very straightforward and we'll help out. If it's something that doesn't fit us or something that we're not able to help with, I have no problem trying to help them find someone who can help them with their projects. Yeah,

Scott Meyers (27:55):

Fantastic. Well, Travis, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it. And typically when we end a podcast, I'll ask a question of our guests such as, what is the best book you've ever read or what are you reading now or the best piece of advice you've ever been given? I want to customize this one a little bit. And I want to ask, what is the best piece of advice your dad gave you when he handed the keys over to you to run the business?

Travis Bailey (28:21):

Man, that is caught me on the spot with that one, Scott. He, I'd say that he taught me a lot of things, hard work's a big one,

(28:31):

But also I think indirectly, not just telling me, but I think through his actions, just always doing what was right. Maybe it wasn't the best financial decision for Parkade, and maybe we lost a client or maybe we didn't win a job, but at the end of the day, he could lay his head on his bill and knowing he did what was right. And I think that that was probably one of the best things that my dad ever taught me was just do what's right and everything else will work out. And again, may not win everything out there, but at least you'll have a lot of great relationships and you'll work with the people you want to work with. And so that's probably what he probably the best thing you taught me.

Scott Meyers (29:11):

Yeah. Well, integrity isn't advice because it's not learned. It's something that is just that you embody. But if you live by that, and sometimes people are, even if they do have integrity, they're tempted to do something they shouldn't do in business. But those that are in it for the long haul, this is a marathon, not a sprint. Those who remain above reproach and operate from a place of integrity are the ones that typically are winning in business. So yeah, hold onto that advice, my friend, and it'll serve you well,

Travis Bailey (29:40):

I appreciate that. Thank you, Scott.

Scott Meyers (29:42):

Yeah, my pleasure, Travis, thanks once again for your time, folks, storage Nation. You've been listening to Travis Bailey of Park 'n Shade, and that we will include all of your information, Travis, in the show notes for everyone to be able to follow up with you, should they have a need, and when is the time for them to also get into the Boat N RV storage business, as well as covering those Boat N RV storage units. So with that, awesome, Travis, thanks for your time once again, and for the rest of you, we'll catch you all on the next one. Take care.

Travis Bailey (30:10):

Awesome. Thanks, Scott.

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