The word “edify” means to build up—to instruct or improve.
Grant Flory had people and structures in mind when he started his portable structure business and named it Edifice.
Based in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the company provides quality “edifices” to customers throughout the state and in western Texas.
It’s also “edifying” its people through meaningful experiences and business practices.
Shed Business Journal met with Flory, Primary Steward; and Dallas Mast, General Steward, in Las Cruces to talk about Edifice—the business, the people, and the structures.
How did you get into building sheds?
FLORY: I was sitting at my dinner table one evening at the end of 2019 with another brother in our local congregation. We moved here almost nine years ago to start a brethren church in this community.
We were discussing starting a business that could provide a place for some of our young men to work, and we just kind of got right with the program. What got us in it specifically is that shed building, in my opinion, is a relatively simple business model. It is not on a customer’s turf and that gives you a lot more options with the people you can hire.
McDonald’s has a claim for “the best first job” and I would like to think this industry is able to claim that in the realm of young men, ex-convicts, and apprenticeships. A place to actually make a difference in their lives, hence the name: Edifice.
The word edify, found in older versions of the Bible, means to build up, and it’s not just any structure, but a structure of grandeur, and magnificence.
I had a tagline under the name when we started in January 2020: Storage with Character. After about two weeks, I decided that was just going to be way too limiting! So, we renamed it Structures with Character.
Today, we’re working with sheds, portable decks, tiny homes, and park-model homes. Earlier in 2024, we were excited to finally get our license as modular builders here in the states of NM and TX. Praise God, due to answered prayers and having more than just sheds to sell, we were able to close 2024 as our best year yet.
When you first started, what kind of structures did you make?
FLORY: We started with basic sheds, 10 by 12s, 10 by 16s. We did a few 14 by 40s, but, on average, the largest would have been 24 to 30 feet long and 12 to 14 wide.
In 2020, we were just building business infrastructure. However, by 2021, we were able to start building and moving sheds. That year, the average sale price was $14,000 to $15,000. I didn’t know if that was high or low, as frankly, I had no clue about this industry.
Later, I found out those were high, but there were factors in those prices. Since the larger units were selling, I told our team to build those for spec, and we would custom-make the smaller ones as they were ordered.
In 2021 we only had a couple of guys in production, and our efficiencies were sub-par. We were just learning, and it definitely took some time to get to our rhythm.
The next year, our average price slid down, and our average now is around $6,000 to $7,000 not including tiny homes and park models, which we track separately.
You mentioned hiring folks coming out of the prison system. How’s that going?
Well, at Edifice, our core purpose is to glorify God and build character in people and in structures so this task seemed to fit this opportunity pretty closely. We’ve had a few of these guys and, so far, they have been very good experiences.
I remember walking into our local halfway house and sitting down with the director. I told him very bluntly, send me someone you really believe has it in them. Let’s develop a relationship where I can help you and you can help me.
There are times they say they don’t have anybody and times they say, I think I got one for you. My HR onboarding processes look a little different in these situations, but remember we are all people that will be loyal to someone. Have you thought about what makes your employees loyal to you?
How many employees do you have now?
MAST: We currently have 18 people on payroll including several part-time.
FLORY: That also includes in-house marketing and salespeople.
Is there a busy season here in New Mexico or is it year-round?
FLORY: We’re finding that people here pump the brakes on projects in June, July, and August, however, for the last three years our last and first quarters of the year have been our strongest, especially January. We think it is related to our heat which is our “inclimate” weather.
How do you handle sales? Do you use lots? How are you bringing in or finding customers?
FLORY: We do have several lots. We had 11 about one year ago, but we have really been disheartened with the traditional way of working with a dealer on a lot, and then turning them loose and letting them sort of do things their way with our products. We realize that this could have to do with the lack of development in the shed industry in our area.
There’s just a lot of dynamics that we don’t have any control over when you go down that dealer route. There are probably a lot of exceptions in areas where the industry is more developed than in the southwest, so this is certainly not an indictment against anyone or any area in particular, it is simply our experience so far.
While I am sure there will be plenty of seasoned, and wise shed company veterans who cluck their tongues at this, for us, in our area and at this time, we have found a lot of satisfaction, efficiency, profit, and awesome customer reviews by simply handling everything from the sale to the delivery by our own people. No one represents our company better than the people who are raising their families on the fruits of the well-being of the company.
To bring our sales in, we have an in-house marketer who is assisted by a marketing coach we hire for several hours a month to give guidance and direction to ads, print work, and other details. Also, a shout out to the amazing team at The Shed App who have really taken our sales and production flow to a whole new level. Lately, they have also taken our SEO, ads, and other online presence details to a performance level we had never been at before. Thanks, Shed App!
We have two production plants, and we’re currently mobilizing to maximize the one in Deming, NM, which is nice because it’s right on I-10. There’s a straight shot on I-10 between Deming and Las Cruces.
We do all our own delivery. We only outsourced one delivery at the very beginning. We didn’t have equipment big enough to take a big unit at that time, so we hired a mobile home guy.
The shed industry is not well developed here, and so my competition has haulers that come from other towns at certain intervals. We offer services like two-day delivery and clinch a lot of sales because of it. People love being served and I think we as an industry could all ask ourselves how each of us could improve in this area.
Are you finding customers online? Are you marketing online? Other ways?
MAST: In the summer of 2024, sales and leads slumped. We realized we had a sales process problem. Instead of blaming the economy, we looked at ourselves and asked “How can we fix this?”
Also, we had multiple salespeople and were getting massive differences. While one person suddenly wasn’t performing at all, you could have another who was just hitting it out of the park. We asked ourselves “What’s up with that?” The same economy and the same area. Maybe it’s a different lot, but they used to be the same and now they aren’t.
We put together a sales process to be tenacious with follow-up. I mean more than just calling someone back once or twice. We put together a process to call someone back up to 18 times over a span of about two weeks if they are not otherwise responsive.
We bought a tool called The Predictive Index. We used it to find our people’s sweet spots, and what we found out was the common denominator between two salespeople who were consistently performing in a healthy zone. They were not being held hostage by the economy and trends.
Since then, we’ve made multiple hires utilizing the Predictive Index filter, and it has had a direct impact on sales. We now have people who are hungry, engaged, and who get it. Find the right person and they will take off and be productive in a few days instead of a few months. Give them awesome support with clear, easy-to-follow systems, and they just take it from there.
Back to the follow-up system, if you call a lead one time, you’ve done what 50% of salespeople will do. By the time you’ve called them back four times, you’ve done what only 5% of salespeople will do.
We started tracking our close rates this past summer and found that our average numbers for contact points were around 13 touch points before the person purchased.
Our goal is a 10-to-15-minute response time on any of those online leads that come in, and we work you through our system quickly. We do a total of 18 touchpoints, whether it’s calls, texts, or emails.
On the first day, we reach out immediately, and if you don’t answer, we’ll leave a voicemail, and then send a text and an email. That will happen within 20 minutes or so. Then we’ll wait 45 minutes or so and call again, but we won’t leave a second voicemail. We don’t want to fill someone’s voicemail. We will send another text, another email, and call again a little later. We hit that hard the first day, and we replicated this process with different time variances through the next few days until we either contacted you or tried to 18 times before saying this person was not going to respond. That’s been very successful.
FLORY: We have walk-in leads of people who come onto physical lots, and then we have the people who come in from the Internet. We take the view that not responding to the lead that comes in from the internet is just as ridiculous as staying in your office when someone drives on your lot. We take the view that everyone who comes in is shopping, everyone’s interested, and if we don’t sell to them, that’s our problem, not their problem.
We’ve also moved away from the whole “salesperson” idea. We call them product consultants.
We are here to consult with people about their needs and solve their needs. If I can’t solve their needs, I don’t even want their money. I want to be able to solve their true needs.
That’s where things start. People actually feel like the consultant is there to work with them, not there to sell them the shed. The consultant is there to help them solve an issue, taking care of them all the way through to the delivery.
You’ve talked about sales and marketing, tell us a little about the Edifice structures.
FLORY: We’re coming up on about four years from our first unit being delivered, and we’ve had very few warranty issues on anything. We’re sticklers on making sure the structure’s ready to go and we have a detailed quality control process.
We don’t cantilever our floors past one foot beyond a skid except for some of our Frontier models. You need to have support under where most people are going to put weight, along the walls, and that will have to do with the longevity of your building. I am like, just do it and charge more money, and if I lose some sales, so be it. I want people to be happy in 25 and 35 years that they bought an Edifice instead of another one. We’re not here for the short run.
We’re helping the customer. They look around, and we hear it often, they’re like, “I don’t know what it is, but your sheds just look different. I’m coming back here.”
As to what’s popular, it depends on and varies a lot even within an hour and a half of each other. Two years ago, we brought on our Frontier line. We have three buildings in our Frontier line, and if someone comes in and they’re just wanting basic storage, that’s the model they usually go with. They want the best building at the lowest price that they can get it.
Beyond that, our Western Barn and our Garden Shed are probably the two biggest sellers in storage.
Getting into our higher-end developments in Las Cruces, El Paso, and even in Smugglers’ Roost, which is an RV park about an hour from Deming, we sell more of our premium models. This is to people who are retired or semi-retired all coming from California or Montana, and they’re retiring in the desert where it’s warm in the wintertime and then they go back home for the summer. They usually have the funds to get the buildings that they want, and they purchase mostly from nicer buildings like our Sunshine Studio, which is a single-slope building with a 10-foot front wall, a lot of windows, and quite a few upgrades. Our Alpine Cabin, which is another Studio style with 7/12 pitch roof, 10-inch overhangs all the way around and a really nice classic look, tends to be pretty popular if someone’s looking at a little workshop, a home office, even a tiny home.
What are you looking at for the future for your business?
FLORY: Our goal is to grow by rewarding every employee as an owner. If you want to know more about this, I encourage you to read Jack Stacks book, The Great Game of Business” or reach out to me where I help my clients implement this in their companies: (gdflory@circumspectadvisors.com)
We have a one-year plan, a three-year picture, and a 10-year target with profitability goals. You can move a lot of dollars and sheds and hold onto a lot of stress and have nothing but worn-out people and equipment when it’s done. We need to run profitable companies that can truly bless their people. As we develop the Park Model and Tiny Home market in the western US we will stay committed to our core values, to give our best to have fun, work hard, own our mistakes, compliment others, and innovate simplicity.
As Edifice brings quality to life with beautifully crafted, tiny homes, sturdy sheds, and functional decks, we target outdoor enthusiasts, investors, minimalists, grandmother suites, and homeowners. The three main things that we believe set us apart are an unforgettable buying experience, heirloom products, and a character-focused team.
Any final thoughts for the readers?
It doesn’t matter if you build a thousand $3,000 buildings or if you build just a few $100,000 buildings. It’s not the number of buildings that matters to us. It’s the way we serve others.At the end of the day, we are committed to measuring the net effects of life. Net character, net blessing to the community, net faithfulness to Jesus Christ, and net profits that affect the net blessing of our employees. Measuring success through the number of buildings, speed of framing, and all those kinds of things may have their place and be fun, but it comes up short when we look at the entire picture of business and life. Reach out, stop by, or send us a message to let us know how you have built character in people and structures, I know we have a lot to learn from all of you… thanks to all the readers for letting us be a small part of a great industry!
