Nine shed insiders share their perspectives on the industry.
At the recent Shed Builder Expo, I had the opportunity to interview nine experts about the shed industry via Facebook Live.
Each brought a unique perspective to the conversation: supply, manufacturing, sales, and delivery. And the conversations were enlightening about what the industry has been facing in the past year and what’s coming in 2026.
The following are some of the highlights and key thoughts to come from those conversations.
How has the past year gone for your business?
Jared Ledford, Dayton Barns & All-Steel Buildings, Urbana, Ohio: We’re taking on a lot more. Three years ago, we were just selling metal buildings and doing some wood sheds. This past year, we’ve really scaled our business. We started working with some folks to do pole barns. We’re actually doing full-scale projects from start to finish while also trying to get the largest SEO in the game. We’re really getting into the place where leads are not going to be the problem anymore. It’s having the right partners, and this year has been so good for creating those beneficial relationships.
Eric Olson, Dayton Barns & All-Steel Buildings: Facebook ads are king. I think most people do Facebook ads, but we have committed to peel off of them as our primary source for leads. That’s painful because it’s a risky leap of faith to build a website and trust that, because you can’t turn the website on and off, like you can Facebook. We saw a vision, turned the rudder, started sailing, and the commitment now is kind of paying off. We’re really looking forward to 2026, honestly,
Spencer Baldwin, Dairyman’s Supply, Mayfield, Kentucky: We survived COVID, and those were tough times, as we all know. Beyond that we’re celebrating our 100th anniversary this year as a family-owned, fifth-generation company. Business is great. We’ve got plenty of supplies, and we’re excited to be able to get the customers what they want.
Steve Byler, EOS Worldwide, Harrisonburg, Virginia: It’s been a good business year as a whole. I work with some companies in the shed industry that are trying to pivot their strategy, and a pivoting strategy is always challenging. The shed industry worked for years in its early stages putting sheds on lots, and people showed up and bought sheds. They’re just now discovering what the real business is like. You actually have to work. You have to be strategic. It’s part of the learning curve that people are learning, and so it’s a good season again.
Steve Borntrager, Cardinal Manufacturing, Carrier Mills, Illinois: The past year has been good. It’s not been crazy like the COVID years but steady to strong compared to the last couple years.
Cody Petersheim, Yoder Storage Sheds, Penrose, Colorado: This year’s been a little bit of a dip for us, compared to last year. It seems like some people are steady, some are little higher, and some are lower. We found our website was not doing what it was quite supposed to, so we have found an area we can work on to expand our processes and sales. We are actively working on that and fixing that issue, so that next year can be our best year yet.
Sam Byler, Shed Haulers Brotherhood, Williamston, South Carolina: I basically shut the door and walked away for nine months (to help Kentucky tornado victims), and it’s been a little harder to get that going back again. I’ve got my fingers in all kinds of parts of the industry, and I have a lot of really good partners that carry me through on a lot of stuff. I have good workers, and that helps, but for me, personally, it’s been tough to get back on that side and get that going again, but I’m blessed.
Shannon Latham, Shed Geek, Metropolis, Illinois: It’s been really good. Lots of opportunity. I think there’s a lot of room in the industry for educational opportunities. I like to interview those who have the answers, and I think that gives us community. I think that people want to have a conversation. It’s a great opportunity, and Shed Geek’s been able to benefit from those conversations.
From your perspective, how has the past year been for the overall shed industry?
Kyle Graham, Dairyman’s Supply, Gadsden, Alabama: It’s had its ups and downs throughout the year, but the past few months have been pretty hectic, but in a good way. That’s the up for us. Orders keep coming in. We work hard for them, but it’s definitely going up for sure.
BALDWIN: I’m seeing a lot of guys experimenting with new products, just trying new things.
PETERSHEIM: We’ve seen a lot of new ideas come into play. One thing that we as a company have jumped into is finished office spaces. That has been doing very well for us. We also jumped into detached garages, and so we have seen a massive increase in sales for our company. We’ve also done quite a number of golf simulators. People are getting sheds for putting a golf simulator in. I think this year alone, we’ve sold at least four or five specifically for that purpose.
SAM BYLER: Nobody just seems to be coasting. They’re either struggling to keep up or struggling to stay where they need to be, or they’re busy. That’s kind of what I see.
LATHAM: I think I’ll go back to the educational piece. We’re big on branding. When you think about the growth of the industry and how it was fragmented, it’s kind of growing up. It’s like going from a teenager to an adult. It’s really getting organized, and you’re starting to see real numbers. With NSRA creating the membership that they did, that brings people in. We’re able to get data and are able to use that data for our industry. I always like to say, and Tyler Mayhan coined the phrase, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” We need to make the pie bigger, and I think we do that through collaboration and working together.
BORNTRAGER: It seems to be good over all but a bit spotty. A lot of guys are reporting an excellent, even record, year while others seem to be struggling a bit more. I don’t know what is making all the difference, it might be geography, seems like some geographies are more up and some are more flat to soft.
LEDFORD: “Changing” would probably be the one word I’d use for 2025. There’s so much more RTO available than there were five years ago, in my opinion. There are so many more players in the industry than there was five years ago. I think what you’re starting to see is the cream rise to the top. I think Eric and I share the vision of taking shed sales online. I think there is an endless variety of shed makers out there that do all kinds of different cool things, and there are people sitting on their couch who want to build this thing on their phone and want it in their backyard in two weeks. I think more people are going to do it that way.
OLSON: Let me drop this nugget. We got a lead yesterday morning, or two days ago, that was from Chat GPT. Somebody on Chat GPT typed in “need building near me,” and we showed up, and they clicked on it. It was the first, but it won’t be the last. People are turning to AI. They’re trusting technology.
What’s gone well in the industry?
LATHAM: I think you do have people walking across the aisle to shake each other’s hands. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have competition. It keeps us sharp. We need that. But what collaboration does is it allows us to give the industry a good name to the customer and to each other. I think, ultimately, if you’re going to be involved in any industry, whatever it is, you want the best for it. I’ve been seeing a lot of folks come across the aisle. We’ve had some folks coming on the podcast that I’m so happy about. They’ve got a chance to speak, to share their story, to share their product to build community.
SAM BYLER: What I see the industry doing well is stepping up to the plate when there’s a need and meeting that. That would be my first answer. After that, I see us doing better with people. They’re doing better at asking what can I do to help my company? People aren’t just going into a job and doing their job. They’re trying to help, to be invested.
STEVE BYLER: One of the things I’ve seen continue to go well is the small home-based business model, low overheads, direct-to-consumer. It’s really a niche. And then there are more mature businesses that have their systems and processes and are able to hire great talent. They’re doing well. It’s some of the companies kind of in the middle that are trying to decide what their focus is that are a bit challenged asking the question what do we need to do?
BALDWIN: It seems like the consumer, people, can buy sheds, and that’s a good thing for us. I was a little concerned in August. We had a little dry spell. Things are picking up now. Things are just going well.
OLSON: Businesses are trying to find different ways to sell buildings. They’re having to get more creative, and so they’re being forced to grow and get uncomfortable, and that’s a good thing. People are wanting to do something different, and we should encourage that.
LEDFORD: I think that the industry is trending toward a more focused vision, and I think that we’re going to end up with higher-quality products. Personally, I have seen the quality of buildings go up as you’ve seen municipalities ask for zoning requirements and forcing the hand of manufacturers. If we all work inside the rules, and we all work together to better everyone in the industry, the customer is going to be the person who wins and that keeps us selling more buildings tomorrow. There are a lot of people who need to feed their kids and need to eat. I’m one of them and I love this industry, and I think if we can rise to the level of meeting those needs of those municipalities, making sure that stud centering is proper, making sure that we’re using OSB, and making sure that we’re doing all of these additional things that make the shed that much better for the end user, we all win. If we keep racing to the bottom, we’re going to end up with junk, and nobody wants junk.
BORNTRAGER: The fact that the the industry is steady to strong overall and most guys are optimistic is a great sign of good things to come if the trend continues.
PETERSHEIM: I think there’s growing awareness that sheds are bigger than just the big box stores. There’s more awareness for people in the area that there’s more to sheds than just sheds. I think the industry itself is growing as well. More people getting into it. More RTO companies coming out of it. More 3D design options. Overall, the industry has just been growing. I love seeing that.
What’s been challenging for the industry?
BORNTRAGER: The tariff uncertainties have been the biggest challange.
GRAHAM: With the whole tariff situation, getting in the Euro premium lumber we need to carry for of some of our customers has been chaotic. But, once again, we’re kind of on the up-and-up now is what I would say. That was the biggest hurdle. Some of our metal sales have kind of lagged off.
BALDWIN: I buy some aluminum drip edge, and aluminum went just straight up. The prices are reflecting that, so that’s been pretty tough on the customers and myself as a purchaser.
SAM BYLER: The biggest challenge, I think, will always be how we balance supply and demand, and that’s just not based on what we’re selling. It’s based on what we’re buying. For a manufacturer, it could be based on materials, or it could be based on the tools. He also has to have it right now. There are all kinds of technology and stuff, and it’s constantly getting thrown at us all the time. I’m not saying that is a bad thing, but you walk in here and you’ve never seen anything like this, and you start to understand what all is available.
PETERSHEIM: Our lumber prices have stayed fairly the same. It does help to have good suppliers to maintain the pricing. They’ve helped us save quite a bit. I know shed prices have gone up over the last number of years, and it’s definitely been interesting, seeing prices come up, but obviously just as with everything else, it all just tends to float upward. We don’t see a lot of negative reaction. I think people have grown accustomed to our prices. I would say 95 percent of our customers who we talked to, they actually appreciate our pricing. We provide a lot of value with the product, so price becomes less of an issue, and we’ve seen a good increase in sales because of our customer response to our price.
OLSON: Tariffs matter, but it hasn’t affected things as much. I think it was a talking point, and people got less confident because the word “tariff.” The steel tariffs were 25 percent on July 17th. Our sales have not slowed down because of that. I think it’s just more of a media word that they use, and it spooks people. You get past it.
LEDFORD: I think one of the consistent struggles in this industry that may have gotten worse this year, is I hear a lot of folks out there who are in agreements with certain manufacturers to be dealers for them, and they’re getting that much harder on the dealers themselves to stay within the confines of that agreement—which aren’t necessarily beneficial to the dealer. My job is to advocate on behalf of people like me who sell sheds, we should be able to sell sheds for whoever we want. The days of non-competes and all these things, and it’s just my opinion, those days are through, because we need to be able to sell. We have a nationwide advertising push. We can help so many people accomplish what they want to accomplish in the industry, but if we continue to have the reins pulled back on us, it hurts the entire process, in my opinion.
STEVE BYLER: I’ve heard concerns about the cost, particularly, of imported goods. Some of that was lumber. Some of it was the components of buildings that are coming in. Probably the number one challenge I hear is people finding great talent, keeping great talent, keeping great salespeople, finding great salespeople, finding that head of sales who’s going to deliver our numbers for us. It’s nothing new because in the end, in business coaching, we typically say 80 percent of business-to-business issues are people issues. We’ve had a few immigration and documented worker issues, but really it’s just finding that talent and then serving them.
Where do you see the shed industry heading in the next year?
LATHAM: If I’m looking at a crystal ball, I see the journey into adulthood of the industry as it begins to really grow. I think you’re going to see more acquisitions, mergers, and challenges to how we’re going to grow business, and I guess we’re going to see how that plays out.
STEVE BYLER: There does seem to be a fresh wave of startups, but there’s also consolidation taking place. I expect to see consolidation kind of pick up some speed. But I also think there’s something unique about the shed industry in that it will always have a very large representation of home-based, small manufacturers. Those people aren’t interested in consolidation. They have a family business that’s working well for them. They want to be that way forever, and you can’t buy those people out. That’s a great business model, fantastic business model, so that’s not going away. I think the challenge is for them is how do we adapt to the market? That requires some technology for the marketing, sales, and process sides.
SAM BYLER: I like what I see. I like the steadier growth instead of skyrocketing. I want to see growth. I want to see everybody make money. That’s one of the things I tell the haulers all the time, you have to split the pie with everybody. Everybody wants more. We know that, but the market’s only so big. We divvy it up equally, where everybody works together, and that’s back to what I said. What I like about the industry, people are talking across the aisles more, across the streets more, and as long as we keep doing that, we keep good, steady growth.
OLSON: Online sales. We have a big push on our website to generate SEO traffic. I think it’s going to move more online. I would say a little bit more. Also, I think some of the wood manufacturers are going to start dabbling in other building types.
LEDFORD: I feel like metal buildings and wood sheds in 2026 could really see that merger. I think there’s a chance that a metal building manufacturer might acquire a shed manufacturer or vice versa and might really work together to bring that opportunity on a massive level because you don’t know what you can do with 200 dealers with a wood or metal side if you’ve never done that before. You can sell your wood sheds or vice versa, and to me that is both extremely exciting and extremely dangerous at the same time because I do think that we love metal buildings, don’t get us wrong, we love wood sheds, too, but our business is built on steel buildings. We do a lot of business with steel buildings. We want to do more sheds. The problem is we’ve had issues with exactly what I talked about. We want to be able to sell for everybody.
PETERSHEIM: I would say a lot more people are going to buildings for more than just storage. They’re going to mother-in-law suites, backyard offices, golf simulators, etc. A lot more people who are working from home are getting something that’s outside of the house. I feel like the industry is headed toward more of a specific use than just I need a storage shed to store my stuff. We’ve focused a lot on online sales, and we’ve seen great success with that as compared to our competitors, and I know they do online as well. I know that when you take the sales process and pair that with the online, great success comes with it. That’s what we’ve seen in the convenience of being able to just go on your phone, buy a shed, and it shows up to your house.
BORNTRAGER: The industry seems fairly stable, so unless something changes drastically, I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t stay steady to strong in 2026.
