Tips for getting 3 day office/storage space rented (in Vancouver)

June 19, 2013 1:34 PM

I'm running a festival from the 29th June to the 1st July on Granville Street between Smithe and Pender. That's the end of next week (gulp). We have street performers coming into town who need a "green room" to store their equipment (chainsaws, knives, clubs, amps etc) and relax between shows. It doesn't have to be big (an RV would be enough) and it doesn't have to be nice (an empty room would be enough) but so far I'm having trouble finding people willing to rent us something for 5 days only (28th, 29th, 30th, 1st and returned on the 2nd). We have advertising space in a newspaper we can give them worth $1,400. So, where should I look? Proximity to Granville Street essential for an office. RV rental could be from anywhere (we'll just park it on Granville). Cheapest option wins. Thank you so much for any advice!
posted by omnigut to Work & Money (18 answers total)

I would consider posting on craigslist, seeing if perhaps there are people (private owners) who have RVs that they could loan out.
posted by phunniemee at 1:47 PM on June 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Does it need, like... power and A/C? If you truly only need an empty room, check PODS. Looks like you can get a 12-foot container for $289 for one month. Phunnimee's idea is probably better honestly.
posted by showbiz_liz at 1:48 PM on June 19, 2013

Maybe talk to companies that rent trailers for filming? Lots of filming happens in Vancouver, and they have to keep their movie stars someplace when they aren't shooting. I know if I were trying to do this in LA I'd be in touch with Star Waggons since you see them everywhere, but probably there are local outfits that do the same.
posted by town of cats at 1:49 PM on June 19, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: I looked on Craigslist, but the options didn't seem to fit the bill: job offered; gig offered (I'm hiring for a short-term, small or odd job); resume / job wanted; housing offered; housing wanted; item wanted, service offered; community; event. Not to be too pathetic, but which place would you post in?
posted by omnigut at 1:51 PM on June 19, 2013

I'd also make a Facebook event or page and ask everyone to share and repost it. Make an image with all the details and tag / share it widely.
posted by barnone at 1:59 PM on June 19, 2013

The site absolutely refuses to load on my phone(I hate mobile sites that redirect to the homepage and have no "view desktop site" button...) but have you checked out cruise America? On googling it seems like they also rent RVs in Canada, and In fact the first result for "cruise America Vancouver bc" mentioned in the pull quote that they had a location there.

Me+a friend+several other people were once talking about renting one from them for the same number of days for a music festival+the drive there and back. They had no issues giving us an estimate and as far as I know never even mentioned the length or reacted in any way to that.
posted by emptythought at 2:00 PM on June 19, 2013

Also - presumably you have city permits for the festival. Ask the city permitting office or city hall if they have any ability to secure storefront space or mobile trailers for you. They'd have more info on permits for parking the trailer on the street for several days at a time.
posted by barnone at 2:01 PM on June 19, 2013

Response by poster: Only problem with PODS if we have to haul it in and out each day, and their drivers are booked over those times. I'm getting $600-$800 quotes from Cruise America, Budget and so on. We do have city permits, but not overnight. And they say they have no leads on shop space. I'm going to ask Budget to give us a better price based on our advertising opportunity :)

Thanks everyone!
posted by omnigut at 2:57 PM on June 19, 2013

There are tons of places to rent RV's in town. This place gave a quote of $600 to $800 for four days rental (plus $500 deposit). Seems to be the going rate.
posted by PercussivePaul at 3:01 PM on June 19, 2013

Response by poster: Yeah, I think it is. IDEAL space would be an office/basement/anything that's near Granville Street. Like, in a building. Where do you think I should look for that kind of thing?
posted by omnigut at 3:15 PM on June 19, 2013

SFU Harbour Centre, Hastings @ Seymour, rents meeting rooms/classroom space. Deets.
posted by doublesix at 3:42 PM on June 19, 2013

Tom Lee Music is right on Granville and has a big building. They've got a couple of offices listed via an agent on spacelist.ca under a "downtown" search on page 8.

Or try calling them directly. Their page is here: www.tomleemusic.ca/
posted by lunaazul at 4:23 PM on June 19, 2013

Response by poster: Thank you! SFU sounded really positive (who knows, though) and Tom Lee will call me back. Fingers crossed.
posted by omnigut at 5:01 PM on June 19, 2013

Oh! That reminds me. UBC Robson Square also rents rooms. Smithe and Howe, $235 per day, 8am to 10pm for a small boardroom.
posted by PercussivePaul at 5:46 PM on June 19, 2013

Horse / stock trailer? How about U-Haul type truck?
posted by mightshould at 6:02 PM on June 19, 2013

I would check with hotels in the area, for meeting rooms you could use. Also potentially back rooms of cafes/pubs? We get free green room and backstage type space for our theatre festival from local merchants, but we also have more notice.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 6:24 PM on June 19, 2013

Another one that just occured to me is looking in to band practice/rehearsal spaces. They're usually open 24 hours, don't care if you're loud, are designed for bands to load gear in/out of without being too irritating so they'll have good street access for whatever stuff you need to be hauling in and out. A lot of them will quote you some obscene rate >$20 an hour(or, 480+ every 24 hours) unless you want to do monthly... but if you explained what you needed to do and how long you wanted it for they might be willing to cut you a deal.

There's a lot of places in seattle that rent them out for less than $300 a month. There's got to be a place up there that will let you use one of their junkier/more trashed rooms or one that someone just got kicked out of for a few days like that. If not, they're just leaving money on the table. Offer them some money and possibly the advertising and i bet they'd do it.

Most office/meeting hall type places are actually pretty expensive and will have weird access hours, rules, large deposits etc and might be sketched out by what you're trying to do. I would be shocked if a practice space cared though, since those places tend to be really laid back.
posted by emptythought at 7:00 PM on June 19, 2013

Call a local RV dealer, see if you can get a discount or free rental in exchange for ad space. If you aren't their target market your ad space might not be worth $1,400 to them.
posted by yohko at 12:53 AM on June 21, 2013