There are many ways to measure success in the shed-building industry.
Number of structures sold, annual sales in dollars, profit per shed, and more.
Jon Eveleth, owner of Rockwood Sheds in Hamilton, Montana, has a different measuring stick for success.
“The biggest success for me has been to come to the place where I see my business as a means to relationships,” he says.
“All of our sales come through our office, and I have been able to interact with the majority of our customers. I have had the pleasure of seeing numerous customers become friends through the sale of a building.”
Eveleth says that he’s enjoyed meeting many interesting people since starting the business.
“One customer who was traveling and living out of his van, spent the winter in Mexico designing his cabin,” he shares. “He came back to Montana in the spring and started doing his own site prep. I was a little concerned about the quality of customer site prep as I have some that were not very good at all. We got his cabin done and set up a delivery date. He was still very concerned that he had everything ready for us and called and emailed nearly every day.
“We got to the site, which was a long drive—he had done a professional job on his site and the set went perfect. He walked in the cabin for the first time and stood there with tears running down his face. It was exactly like he had planned and was overwhelming to him to have his dreams become reality.”
On the delivery side, Eveleth says they receive many comments about the equipment they use.
“At one delivery I dropped the sideway wheels and moved the trailer to line up with the customer’s site,” he says. “He stood there amazed with what he just saw, and then he said, ‘If I had those on my RV, it would help my marriage!’
“Another customer that had purchased several buildings and later needed them moved asked if I could just bring the ‘robot’ and move these sheds for her.
“One customer did his own gravel pad and said he hoped it was packed well enough. He said he used a ‘slap slapper’ (aka jumping jack) on it.”
BUILT ON RELATIONSHIPS
Eveleth got his start in the industry in 2004 when his brother-in-law started a shed company in Missouri. He needed someone to handle deliveries, so Eveleth, with a $20,000 investment, built his own trailer and started delivering sheds.
“I also helped out with building sheds as well and learned the build process,” he adds.
“After a few years, we moved back to Washington where I was from and I did general construction until 2012 when I started working at Sturdy Built Sheds in Clayton, Washington. My main job was delivery again; however, I also did some sales, building, and learned a lot more about the shed business.”
Rockwood Sheds started in 2017 after Eveleth moved to Hamilton, Montana. In 2018, Jadon Hursh joined the team after also working at Sturdy Built for a year.
“He has been with us since and has taken on the majority of the building responsibility as well as many of the other jobs that happen, back-up delivery driver, pilot car, sales, etc.,” Eveleth shares. “Cody Eveleth has been working summers and is planning to join full-time.
“A shout-out to Jeff Gehman from Sturdy Built Sheds for helping me get Rockwood Sheds going with advice, building designs, material connections, etc.”
SMALLER, PERSONAL BUSINESS
Rockwood Sheds is a smaller shed business, with just the three men handling the entire process, from sales to delivery. The company sells around 100 buildings annually.
“Our customer base tends to be retirees and higher income sales,” he shares. “Our rent-to-own sales are less the 2 percent of our sales with very few customers even asking about it.”
Rockwood Sheds offers quite a lot of customization on structures and will frequently take a customer’s drawing or descriptions and build what they are looking for.
“There have been numerous times that we have built a one-of-a-kind building,” Eveleth says. “Some of our most popular requests are for matching existing buildings for HOA purposes or just customer preference. This includes colors, siding, roofing, roof pitch, windows, garage doors, etc.
“Our 3D configurator on our website has been very helpful for customers to be able to visualize their buildings.”
He adds that the business receives many of its leads through its website and has one unmanned satellite display lot.
Rockwood Sheds offers several building designs. Most are geared toward storage sheds; however, Eveleth says it also builds animal shelters, chicken coops, dog kennels, and cabin shells. In fact, the business is seeing higher demand for cabins and tiny homes.
“We source most of the materials from Western sawmills,” he says. “We are very particular about the quality of our lumber, sourcing grades that are not only strong enough but also have a good visual.
“We use only plywood products. We frequently hear from our customers that our buildings have the smell of new wood and not of OSB.
“We have just purchased a spray foam machine and will be insulating our own buildings as well. We work with a local electrician who can run the electrical in our buildings and also connect them up for the customers with permitted power.”
Rockwood Sheds builds its structures in a 50 by 50 shop, so the team can only build one portable structure at a time, usually.
“We use half of the shop for cutting and layout with the other side for building,” Eveleth shares. “Our guys work on the same building from start to finish.”
From start to finish is a good way to describe the Rockwood Sheds operation. Not only does the team build the structures, but they also deliver them using a Ford F-450, a Pine Hill Trailer, and a Mule 524.
“In Montana, we have very little issues with hauling buildings up to 16 feet high on the trailer and 18 feet wide,” points out Eveleth. “However, as you know, highways are not the only places we haul, so we get into some very interesting places once we leave the main roads.
“We work with a local excavation company who does our gravel pads, which we frequently sell with the larger buildings and recommend for all of our buildings.
“If we are unable to get the building to the site or if the HOA requires they be built on site, we do onsite builds as well.”
For onsite builds up to 10 by 16, Rockwood usually preps the building in the shop with the floor and walls built and painted. Then, the team carries the pieces to the site and puts them together with minimal assembly and painting onsite.
“Our lead time can vary quite a lot depending on the time of year,” shares Eveleth. “We can go from a two-week lead time in February to as much as 12 weeks by the middle of summer.
“Our time per building depends a lot on the size and options, with small buildings being done in a day and the larger ones taking up to a week.”
CONTINUING RELATIONSHIPS
Like most businesses, there have been numerous challenges in the last few years for Rockwood Sheds, from supply shortages to price increases.
“One of my big challenges was the need to raise pricing to the point where I wondered if sales would stop,” Eveleth shares. “I started working with Jason Kauffman from The Mentoring Group. I was able to get a better understanding of where my business was at and where my pricing should be to continue moving forward.
“Our goal for the future for Rockwood Sheds is to see the business grow; however, we are not looking to become a large business. We would like to continue to meet our customers’ needs for custom buildings.”
