Recent trends in the residential garage storage business make this a growth industry proudly based on coveting your neighbour's goods.

And why not?

When the neighbour's garage door rises on a tidy storage space bedecked with everything from protective flooring to overhead parking and modular wall storage systems, we don't just covet our neighbour's goods, we want to know if our own stuff could ever look that fabulous.

Just ask Don Fetherstonhaugh of Slide-Lok of Calgary, a garage storage business serving southern Alberta and south-eastern B.C.

Jack Dagley, Business Edge
Brian Plester of Garage Strategies leans on a fridge that looks like a tool box in a demo garage.

An entrepreneur by nature, Fetherstonhaugh got into the garage storage business soon after his first encounters with the well-organized garages of the southern U.S.

There, he found, basement-less home owners "have already accepted the garage as another room" worthy of some major organization and investment.

A master distributor for Slide-Lok garage products, Fetherstonhaugh cites industry statistics that say the garage storage industry is an $800-million business in the U.S. - a figure that's doubled since 2000.

His own company, which employs six and keeps about 100 garages in inventory at any given time, has outfitted garages in the Calgary area with up to $30,000 in storage and protective equipment.

One of their creations, an award-winning garage in southeastern B.C., showcases 17 cars and is equipped with three plasma TVs, a pool table, sauna and kitchen.

While Canadian stats are tough to come by, it's clear the garage storage products have tapped into a growing market in Alberta, says Brian Plester, president of Garage Strategies Inc. in Edmonton.

Believed to be the largest retail garage outfitting store in North America, Garage Strategies operates out of a 6,500-sq.-ft. space on 99th Street. It's their third retail location in three years, a testament to the company's rapid growth.

Their store houses four completely furbished residential garages, each one designed to give buyers a look at their own garage's potential, says general manager Taryn Plester.

While some of their clients are "gear-heads" who use the space to re-do motors, most are motivated by the desire to get a grip on garage clutter.

"The typical person has a double-car garage, but only the ability to park one car in it," says Plester.

So what are people buying? She says the "garage putterer" can expect to spend about $700 on a standard package featuring cabinets and work bench. A 15-foot modular work station would come in at about $3,000.

And that's still a deal compared to a custom product, adds Plester. "If you were building your house and you had a cabinet maker do it for you, it would be about $14,000."

Garage Strategies and Slide-Lok of Calgary both offer garage design services and complete installation, as well as cash-and-carry.

Leaders of both companies says the design and consultation service is critical, since few consumers really know how garage storage products can transform storage and garage use.

Motorized lifts, for example, optimize vertical space to store all-terrain vehicles or motorbikes.

Similarly, overhead storage and hoist systems can handle everything from the family Christmas tree to containers weighing 110 kg.

A Baby-Boomer trend toward downsized living space also complicates storage needs, since some people aren't yet ready to get rid of their toys, notes Fetherstonhaugh. These buyers benefit from wall-unit systems designed to keep everything from skis to bicycles and tools handy, yet safely out-of-the-way.

A self-described gear-head who admits stumbling on to the garage outfitting business when trying to improve his own garage work space, Brian Plester is convinced it's a matter of time before new-home buyers routinely ask to factor outfitted garages into their mortgages.

"What I'm hearing is that new-home builders are now getting requests (for outfitted garages)," says Plester, whose company has already outfitted a few show-home garages in Edmonton.

He expects the industry to really take off once more new-home builders offer garage storage packages.

Storage is just one aspect of the garage outfitting business, adds Taryn Plester.

Tired of the slushy mess tracked indoors? Then park on a mat that catches "up to 50 gallons (192 litres) of liquid and debris that falls off the vehicle. I totally think that they're necessary because it saves your garage from all of the sand and chemicals that you track into the house and around the garage and into the vehicle," says Plester.

The fussiest of garage-keepers can hose off the mat in late spring, but "most people do nothing ... it's typically so dry in the winter here that it will evaporate," rendering extra work an option.

Other buyers are flocking to buy revolutionary flooring systems in designer shades. And the latest of these products goes beyond mere protection.

This flooring is designed to prevent "hot" tires from leaving valued tread on garage floors.

Industry insiders say radiant infrared heaters, which heat a room's objects instead of the air, are another specialty item catching on among consumers.

Counter stools, spin sweepers, laser-light parking guides and microwave-fridge combinations are also valued by those who use their garages as additional work or entertainment spaces.

Some of these microwave-fridge combos include freezers - and one looks like a funky red toolbox on wheels.

Garage porn? Maybe. But it's no wonder the neighbours like it.

(Joy Gregory can be reached at joy@businessedge.ca)