Chris Long built a storage-yard business after a construction setback

Long, 38, founded Longyards to rent secure outdoor space to contractors and other businesses on a month-to-month basis. Customers can park work vehicles, containers and equipment or store materials behind a gate, without committing to a long warehouse lease. “We brought this self-storage model to dirt,” he told Business Insider.

The idea came from his own construction work. After years as a carpenter, Long started Conrad Construction, named for his grandfather, and later bought residential properties. Managing tenants frustrated him, and he still lacked a place for his tools and equipment. He bought a 10-acre Ottawa property for the storage-yard project, but the unpaid construction job wiped out the cash he expected to use to develop it. The seller-financed loan gave him two years to pay.

The yard opened on October 1, 2019. Long said he had about six to eight weeks to lease spaces before winter slowed activity in Canada. He cold-called landscapers and approached prospective customers at gas stations, Home Depot parking lots and even at red lights. A roofer, an electrician, a landscaper and an RV-and-boat operator were among the first tenants. Long said he leased the initial spaces within six weeks, helping him attract an investor who paid off the seller financing shortly before the deadline.

Longyards now has four locations: its Ottawa flagship, two in Florida and one in Texas. Long and his family moved from Canada to the US, where he says he sees “10 times the opportunity” as a business owner. He expands using what he calls “demand first, land second”: the company checks for interest from local businesses before seeking a suitable site. Zoning, permits, site work and local demand can all make apparently cheap land unsuitable.

A yard needs gravel, fencing, cameras, gates, lights and software for sign-ups and digital access, but Long said the work is not passive. Operators must screen tenants, enforce insurance requirements, manage security and monitor contamination risks. “There are still headaches,” he said, adding that the business lacks an established playbook. Long said one yard has generated more income than his former construction operation, which involved 17 employees and multiple jobs. “I went from bankrupt carpenter in Canada to financially free in Florida from a single storage yard,” he said.