Shed Geek Podcast
The Shed Geek Podcast offers an in depth analysis of the ever growing and robust Shed Industry. Listeners will experience a variety of guests who identify or specialize in particular niche areas of the Shed Industry. You will be engaged as you hear amateur and professional personalities discuss topics such as: Shed hauling, sales, marketing, Rent to Own, shed history, shed faith, and much more. Host Shannon Latham is a self proclaimed "Shed Geek" who attempts to take you through discussions that are as exciting as the industry itself. Listeners of this podcast include those who play a role directly or indirectly with the Shed Industry itself.
Shed Geek Podcast
Warren Marshall on Building a Legacy with Barn Pros
How does a company transition from custom home building to market leader in high-end timber frame structures? Meet Warren Marshall, the dynamic marketing manager of Barn Pros, who shares his remarkable journey and the storied evolution of this family-oriented business based in Monroe, Washington. Since joining in 2019, Warren has worn many hats, from photography and filmmaking to a comprehensive marketing role. Listen as he celebrates Barn Pros' roots in the late 1980s and the tight-knit community that shaped its identity.
Explore the stunning craftsmanship behind Barn Pros' innovative timber frame structures, including their coveted Denali model. Warren reveals how the founders combined practical building experience with sharp business acumen to propel the company to the forefront of the industry. Learn how Barn Pros embraced modern marketing strategies, such as Google ads, to thrive in a traditionally conservative market. On a personal note, I share insights from my recent TV show on entrepreneurship, highlighting the parallels in innovation and market adaptation.
Discover the unparalleled commitment to quality and customer satisfaction that defines Barn Pros. Warren delves into the intricate process of construction, particularly in the equestrian barn sector, and underscores the indispensable role of customer feedback. Gain a deeper understanding of how Barn Pros' client-centric approach and robust processes ensure long-term customer success. From initial project inception to the final build, their exceptional service and support are designed to make the construction journey seamless and rewarding. Tune in for more enriching conversations on the Shed Geek podcast, and let's keep learning and growing together!
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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Union Grove Lumber
Versabend
Cold Spring Enterprises
This is Susan Frair, the Shed Gal, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Shed Geek podcast. I have the absolute pleasure today of having on my call Warren Marshall. He is the marketing manager of an incredible company called Barn Pros, which is located in Monroe, Washington. Now welcome, arren. Thank you for being here.
WARREN MARSHALL:Thank you so much for having me.
SHED GAL:I'm really excited to chat today. Yes and full disclosure. I'm a little partial. Monroe, Washington is where I was born and raised. I actually had tried to get Warren when I was up in Washington a few weeks, a couple of weeks ago, onto a you know, in-person podcast, but he's a very busy guy, they have a really busy operation and it just didn't work. So here we are and glad to have you. I'd like to start out by telling me a little bit about you. How did you get to working for Barn Pros?
WARREN MARSHALL:A little bit of that People like to know you Sure, sure Well, like you from the greater Seattle area, over the east side and the suburbs and stuff like that, and so I actually have a pretty cool connection to Barn Pros as a company, just because I've known most of the at least current employees here now for the good majority of my life. Actually it's a very family-oriented business and I was lucky enough to grow up with some of the families that were either part of the founding members or very early on joining the company. So I kind of was introduced to it through just some of my personal connections and friendships and then had the opportunity to kind of just some of my personal connections and friendships and then had the opportunity to kind of get my foot in the door and end up being part of Barn Pros full-time.
SHED GAL:So you, grew up on Eastside very family-oriented business. You kind of just you knew the folks that own Barn Pros. How long have you been with Barn Pros?
WARREN MARSHALL:I've been with Barn Pros since 2019, so about five-ish years now.
SHED GAL:Very nice, and did you start out in the marketing department or did you start in another role?
WARREN MARSHALL:Technically I started out in another role. I was brought on board just through. I have a background in photography, filmmaking and was doing some of my own marketing things before I actually joined barn pros full-time. So I started helping out the people here just by going out and shooting photos and videos of, you know, our clients, the local building process, um, just kind of. You know a lot of the different elements that go into visual marketing and a little bit of website design and back-end work there.
WARREN MARSHALL:Um, and I did that a little off and on for a little bit of website design and back end work there and I did that a little off and on for a couple well, not really off and on, I guess I did that pretty consistently for a couple of years and sort of just by the natural progression of you know, so much of media production ends up feeding marketing efforts.
WARREN MARSHALL:So you know we are a big company but a small. You know, relative to our size of business, I would suppose you would say we're a small group of actual individual people. You know number of employees. So there's a lot of you know people helping out others in different departments and you know we all work very closely together. So I ended up kind of just dabbling my toes and more of the actual marketing behind the company. Just you know, through the nature of the media I was helping produce and stuff, and so that kind of just you know snowballed from one thing into the other and then eventually I took on more of a full-time higher up capacity with overseeing not just the media side of the marketing efforts but really everything that that entails.
SHED GAL:Wonderful. I love that. How long has Barn Pros been in business?
WARREN MARSHALL:Barn Pros has been in Monroe, I believe since 1988. I'm a little fuzzy on the details of when the actual you know maybe paperwork was filed, but I know that our two founders, you know, essentially started the core of the business in the late 80s and then I think the actual farm pros brand name was established, maybe around 1990, 91, somewhere around there. But, like I mentioned, the kind of the core of the company was started a few years prior to what landed on paper well they, they have some history.
SHED GAL:Have they always been in monroe?
WARREN MARSHALL:uh, we've always been based out of monroe.
SHED GAL:Yes, okay, got Gotcha, because the name to me, I mean it's well known down driving through the Freilands and you know, but I didn. Couple of business partners started it out. Well, do you know what their vision was when they started the business? Because I think a lot of our listeners are in the shed industry, in the metal building industry, pole barn, you know we have a very diverse audience, but there's someone out there that's going to say maybe I can do this and they're not wrong. You know what was their vision when they started out originally.
WARREN MARSHALL:Yeah. So it's interesting as far as just the original sort of founding of the company and the story. It sort of goes like they, our two builders met, or sorry, excuse me, our two founders met because they were both local builders in the area and you know, just through the nature of a tight community, especially back then when the greater Seattle, the greater Seattle area, has obviously seen a lot of growth in the 35 years or so that we've existed, but they connected just through, you know, kind of being small town builders and whatnot. And then as they started building together they, you know, were mostly doing just custom homes actually when they first started. And then we founded, like you mentioned, we were founded in kind of the Monroe, Duval, greater Seattle area and for those not familiar with our area, it actually does get pretty rural very quickly around here. As soon as you leave the western side of Lake Washington, go over to the east, know our Bellevue, Redmond, Woodinville, Snohomish properties, they get pretty rural pretty fast. So through building custom homes around that area they got asked well, hey, you built my house, you know I'm interested in something for my horses, would you be interested in building a barn for us as well? And they got a couple of those and, honestly, just really fell in love with not only that building process but that community right.
WARREN MARSHALL:Some of our founders, while they start off as builders, they actually have backgrounds in equestrian roots as well. You know, one of our founders was a professional farrier for a while, his wife was a horse trainer, and so they have roots in both the building side and the equestrian community side. So as they started to get a little more of the request for building barns, as I mentioned, they just really fell in love with that process and that community. And so I think it's going back to your question of what the vision was. I can't speak to the entirety of that for them, but the way that I've heard the story told many times is, as they developed kind of more consistent business for the barn side of building, you know they just wanted to grow enough to be able to meet that demand that they were, they were receiving Right.
WARREN MARSHALL:So we started out or a day, I should say started out with a couple of what would become the, the models or the or the structure packages and kits that were known for these days because they were building similar things.
WARREN MARSHALL:You know a lot of the equestrian community at the end of the day has very similar needs as far as you know the aesthetic preferences and the um functionality that's needed to house um safely and sustainably their animals. And so they just started kind of noticing the patterns of not only what the clients needed but also what made these a very buildable product at the end of the day. And so that just kind of snowballed over the years into doing a lot more building locally and then to maybe jump forward a little bit ahead of your question over the years into doing a lot more building locally and then to maybe jump forward a little bit ahead of your question. But to bring us a little more to what really led Barnpost to take off and become a nationwide brand is they got involved early on with the startup of early. They were very early adopters of Google ads and having more of a website presence around the turn of early.
WARREN MARSHALL:Early they were very early adopters of Google ads and, you know, having more of a website presence around the turn of the yeah, around the turn of the early 2000s era, and then I'm jumping around a little bit on the timeline of this, but just trying to piece the-.
SHED GAL:I am so glad you brought that in, because that is amazing.
WARREN MARSHALL:Yeah. So I mean, it's kind of a part of really what speaks to the question of the vision they had, really the way that it transpired, really growing in tandem. As you know, other big successful companies really took off, like Microsoft, and you know people who are in this area and, you know, find themselves really interested in kind of their horse hobbies or their horse lifestyle and stuff like that. So we were able to really grow in tandem with some of the other successful businesses that we find ourselves being neighbors to, and so, again, maybe jumping ahead of your question a little bit, but going to bringing it to where we are, not only now, but how we got to be more of a nationwide brand, is once we had a good word of mouth, we built a lot of farms around this area and then we had a pretty healthy web presence, again being early adopters.
WARREN MARSHALL:Especially at that time we were getting requests from people all over the country, and so that was the opportunity that our founders saw as far as them really having the building experience and then paired with, like I mentioned, the familiarity with the equestrian clientele and what the needs and wants of those people are and really what makes a really successful barn, not just you know something that's pretty and can house your horses, but all of the little things that you don't think about unless you've done this dozens and dozens and dozens of times right, thinking of the needs of the people, the builders and the animals, kind of all in one. We really found a way to bring that all together into the barn pros that you know now and can see through the models and structures that we sell. So, really, what happened is they started getting requests from people.
SHED GAL:That's an incredible story.
WARREN MARSHALL:Yeah, we started getting requests from people all over the country of like, hey, we love this, can you come build for us? And when I say all over the country, I mean I think the very first out of state, out of Washington barn that was sold I believe it was somewhere way. Opportunity really presented itself through our original founders of we have the experience of building these things efficiently and successfully that are not technically, you know, Barn Pros employees, but we're helping serve our Barn Pros clients still by offering the models of barns that we do in a deliverable. We actually really don't like saying building package, because it's what we offer is so much more than a material drop, if you will right, because we go so deep with each of our clients into really figuring out what their needs and wants are, as well as what's going to work best for their locations and the number of animals they have. So it's much more than just a material job, but we found a way to bring our success out of state at a larger scale.
SHED GAL:Incredible, and I probably should have done this at the beginning, but I'm going to do it now because it seems like a good time To sum up. What is this? What? Not in 10 minutes, but in a minute or two? What's your elevator pitch?
WARREN MARSHALL:What do you guys do, just so if someone says what's barn pros and they don't want to go to their computer, tell me what you do yeah, so we have, um, kind of three main areas of clientele that we serve these days, but or sorry, I kind of said that I'm answering that a little sideways. So barn pros is a company that sells high-end timber frame structures that are meant to be very buildable. For the average general contractor it's more than just a handyman, it is quite a project. But we sell high-end timber frame structures for equestrian needs and really beyond that these days, because so many of what we see our clients doing with our barns these days is they're very beautiful, very well-designed structures, very durable, have a very classic look and we kind of offer three main different genres of structure, if you will. We have over, I think, 30 models these days and we kind of have our three main genres, at least as we start to bucket them.
WARREN MARSHALL:From the initial glance of just your traditional barn, you're at your agricultural barn, your equestrian barn. We have living models because that's become a very popular demand that we saw over the years and we were also very early adopters of that. The barn dominium has been quite a trend in recent years, but really even beyond. You know what people were seeing on Pinterest these days. You know this goes back a number of years. That predates, obviously, social media and is something that is very interested in very early on. So living models is something that we see a lot of with, which is actually probably what we sell the most of these days.
WARREN MARSHALL:Kind of our flagship model is called the Denali and it's basically a barn apartment or a barn home above any number of, you know, stalls or open garage space or really whatever you want to configure it as within maybe a few parameters. But generally speaking, that's kind of the main, the main sense of what it is. And then, along with your ag barns or your horse barns and your living spaces, we also kind of have more of a genre that's more shop related. You know, kind of single, single story, but very big, very open, barn inspired structures.
SHED GAL:Yes, I think that's great and I I'll tell you viewers, if you want some inspiration on a beautiful website and the content, barn proscom should be your go-to. It is just, it's a spectacular website. The content's incredible, it's easy, it's easy on the eyes. Uh, apparently their marketing manager is doing a mighty fine job, because it truly is beautiful. I am so glad you brought up here's what I thought okay, it's a couple of partners. I didn't know before, right now, how they started. It's a couple of partners. They just grew organically and then, you know, word of mouth, that's not what happened. I mean, it did to some extent, but what you said was it really took off. It really blew up when we were a leader by having a website and by, you know, utilizing Google when no one else was using it. I want to talk about that. Did these folks that founded this building, did they have business degrees or were they boots on the ground, people building houses?
WARREN MARSHALL:It's really the best of both worlds, I would say. One of our founders comes from probably more of the traditional building background, very hands-on, very, very smart obviously. But the other business owner did come from, I would say, a little bit more from my understanding of a business background. It specifically came from finance and was just really familiar with kind of more of the corporate world and corporate community rather than just the business side of things, but had a pretty diverse background and stuff. And then he himself is a very competent builder as well, and so it kind of was just the best of both worlds coming together Wow.
SHED GAL:You know, and only they could answer. That. It makes me wonder. I mean, we don't know what we don't know, obviously, but I'll bet when they first started out you know, yeah, they're building houses Then they get started and get requests for you know, hey, I also need this barn I'll bet they really had no idea of what this could be, but at a certain point they did. I mean, you know, because I mean, you guys earned a huge presence in the market and so, you know, I'm always curious about that.
SHED GAL:We and I want to excuse everybody. I just got done coming back from a week of taping a TV show, and so my voice is already crazy normally, but it's really crazy today. So, listeners, my apologies. Um. 21 hours of sleep over six days taping an entrepreneurial ship bootcamp TV show. It is not for the faint of heart. So that'll be coming out soon and, of course, I'll be publicizing that. You won't want to miss it. It's a fantastic opportunity that I had. So do pardon my voice.
SHED GAL:The forward thinking, the Google ads, the doing things differently I want to talk about that, and I had no idea when we started where this conversation will go and I don't know where it'll end, but I am a huge proponent in the shed industry, for we have to do things differently or the metal, and the same for the metal building industry, because those industries and no, no harm meant to anyone they are behind the times and I don't think there's anyone in the industry that doesn't know that. It's just they don't know how to change it. What do you think sets those apart? Like, have they not taken the opportunity to do Google and to have the website? The impact as far as growth on the company probably would have been much different.
WARREN MARSHALL:Yeah, I mean, I think that's one of those things where you could probably paint a million different scenarios and it's just guesswork at the end of the day trying to think about what could have been in other directions.
WARREN MARSHALL:But I very much agree with your point of you know, I think people that end up finding great success and it should probably be stated that it's very industry, location dependent and stuff you know there's nothing wrong with the word of mouth is always going to be your best and most probably cherished.
WARREN MARSHALL:You know you can't put a price on on word of mouth and just a good community, human to human relationship, human to human relationship, as far as what that does for not just everybody finding success in their business but really people on both ends having a better experience at the end of the day. But to your point of what would things have looked like if they hadn't been early adopters of Google, that's a great question. I think anybody could sort of it's anybody's best guess, because it is like I mentioned a huge part of our story and that having an early presence on the internet with our website and specifically Google Ads, expanding our, our reach and discoverability I don't know how or if or to what extent we ever would have started getting the requests to. You know bring our, bring our products and expand our clientele to places outside of just, you know, Washington, Oregon, maybe the Northwest.
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SHED GAL:I'll bet you, when they started doing it, they were like, oh my gosh, this is working. We're going to keep doing more of it and you know, I think that's incredible. So, again, I'm really glad you brought that up, because I think part of the battle in this industry overall is we just get stuck and we aren't willing to take the risk of trying things outside the box. Let's talk a little more about the living spaces, and I love the fact that you call them living spaces. Sure, and most of us in the industry refer to them as barn dominiums or barn does, and that's fine too, but living spaces to me, when you said it, I went, oh, it's higher quality, it's high end. And then you brought up the word we are high end. I love that. So I want to talk a little bit about the living spaces and some things that you know, maybe trends that you're seeing. But I wanted to start with are there companies cheaper than you?
WARREN MARSHALL:Almost certainly.
SHED GAL:Yeah, and the reason I say that is we get, and especially on the dealer side, when we talk, when I work directly with dealers, you know all the time, you know well, down the street they're cheaper than us. I don't care, you know, I don't care. Or down the street they offer. Well, they offer one thing that we don't. I don't care, we all find our niche and we have to own that space. I bet you don't get pushback on being high end. I bet you get. I want to be your customer because you are high end.
SHED GAL:Was there a certain point that they took the philosophy that we are going to be the high end option and we are going to have living spaces rather than barn dominiums? I think it's a play on words in my opinion, but I mean just in my opinion. As far as how I view it, I think it's amazing. It's fantastic. Did they start off that way or did they work themselves into that way? Because I've seen your products, I mean your. Your buildings are absolutely incredible. They are far beyond what else I see in the market, for the most you know. Did they, did they choose to do that intentionally or work their way into it is my question um, I will admit that this does predate my time here.
WARREN MARSHALL:Obviously, like I mentioned, this goes back all the way to the 90s and early 2000s, so quite a bit a ways before my time here. But I do know the owners very well and I would feel pretty confident in saying that they've always had a vision for being a very premier class business. You know, not just in their proficiency as builders, but you know just their relationships and who they are as people. They're both wonderful, wonderful people and I think that you know. Again, going back to, what makes businesses successful is they just have the attitude of we want to be the best. But it is interesting to the other angle of your question of did they have a vision for starting off that way intentionally? Or I would say very much yes to the question of quality of building and product and experience. But, as I mentioned before, going back to how early we started as a company and sort of what was and, almost in this case, what wasn't happening at the time, barn dominiums weren't really a thing back in the 90s and stuff. Now I'm sure did there exist such a thing as somebody who built an apartment above a barn or an old shop? Sure, I'm sure that's gone back arguably for centuries, you could say even. But barn dominiums as we know it today, you know the trend of the last decade or so. It was definitely in its infancy and so I think the vision probably developed in real time.
WARREN MARSHALL:A lot of the cases, year by year, trend by trend and I think that honestly speaks to a bigger piece of who Barn Pros is as a company, as a brand is because we really got to where we are and continue to get to where we are going, even just by listening to our clientele are going, even just by listening to our clientele, right?
WARREN MARSHALL:I mean, that is so much how the notion of a living space type model or living space type models as a genre of product line really came to be, and the way we've been able to achieve not just ideas for different model designs but even optimizing and really making the building process and the functionality very, very efficient is because, through repetition, through project after project, year after year, we've just continually listened to the feedback from the clients that we've received and paid attention to what people were asking for and just started to notice, as I mentioned, through repetition, the kind of the common threads of, you know identifying problems that we've seen in the past and then we can help. You know future clients. You know work around or avoid or prepare for, and then just you know things that are as detail oriented as the type of you know 2x4 versus whatever to help a horse not be able to kick through a door. It's that concept applied all the way from the small details up through the entire thread of the company.
SHED GAL:Really almost sounds like the lean method, where you're, you're, you're putting something out there and then you're, you're taking the data or the feedback, or or well, we had a problem here and we didn't hear, and then you're, you know, analyzing that and tweaking that information. I, I think you know oftentimes companies, for they forget that and and I love the fact that you said listen to your customer. You know that's so critical and I know you're ingrained in it. I know to you it's normal and I bet you cannot even imagine that other companies are not this way, but I can assure you that there are a lot of companies that aren't that way. And it isn't even that a company has to be the high-end leader. It's just, it's the.
SHED GAL:It almost sounds to me like you chose your identity for the company, which is we are a high-end company and and we prove it to you with the quality of our products and you have the processes in place. That that's huge, because I heard you allude a couple of times saying you know making things more efficient. Well, what does that do? That drives up a profit. Why are we all listening to this podcast and in this industry? Because we want to make money, right, do you is your company, one that has standard operating procedures for a lot of the things you do, I would say so, yeah, yeah, and that was that was gonna be my guess, but you know, not even an educated one.
SHED GAL:Just, you know that, you know you're really really good at what you do and and yeah, and mark that. So let me ask you this I'm a potential, potential customer. Maybe I'm referred for my friend, betty, who just had this beautiful barn built on her 10 acres out in Machias or wherever, because that's going to be completely different from the shed industry, where you know, hey, here's our sheds and you know, yeah, you can put a window over here instead of over there, but it's not the same. So let's talk about that a little bit, because I really want an education.
WARREN MARSHALL:What does that process look like? Yeah, I mean there's a couple of have usually seen our website or our social media presence and are familiar with. You know. Our brand, going back to it being such a client-based or relationship-based business, is, yes, we have designed a lot of models for structures over the years because we've done so many builds and seen a lot of similar patterns, but at the end of the day, we still very much want to get to know you and understand what are your needs and wants, right. When I get to know you and understand what are your needs and wants, right, that's a huge thing. That is really one of the biggest places to start Maybe not the biggest place, but one of the biggest places that we, as a company, combined with a potential client, is just really understanding what are the needs and wants for your structure, for your project, right?
WARREN MARSHALL:And it goes back to is this a place that you're going to live in? Is this just a place for, you know, storing your RV and your boat and kind of like a fun hangout space? Or is this going to be you know, I'm going to be boarding courses here, either just my own or actually running a facility? It's all about the needs and wants of the project in the early stages and then it'll graduate onto some more of the fine details of you know. Do you have land yet? If so, where are you building? What are the regulations around that? And obviously it's a very iterative, very in-depth process, but I would say where it starts is just, honestly just. We want to hear from you and understand what you're looking for and figure out how we can be a good fit.
SHED GAL:We frequently in the shed metal building industry get asked do you do permits? And the answer for me and my team was no. Now we will guide our customers as much as we can through that process but at the end of the day and dealers, if you're out there manufacturers and you're doing permitting, I salute you. I think that's wonderful. I just could not wrap my head around. I felt like I would spend 90% of my time on permitting issues. That's going to be a big deal with your structures. Is that something where you walk the customers through?
WARREN MARSHALL:that process? Yes and no. I mean, like you said, we don't offer any, I would say, explicit or efficient official permitting service. However, because we are such a historic company or we have a history of, you know, over 30 years now and we've we've built and shipped um north of 2000 structures all across you know, north america, basically right. So we have a lot of experience and that is something that I think is, along with a premier product, is a huge part of who we are as a, as a brand, is.
WARREN MARSHALL:It's so much more than just can you build this? How much does it cost? It's, you know, the thing that we've um a sad reality of construction that we've noticed all too much and we're a huge part of our mission is wanting to change this is just how stressful and time consuming and expensive it can be, if I wouldn't say not done properly, because it is a huge project, but it's really hard to know what you don't know if you've never gone through this before, right? So, bringing it back to your question of permitting, I think this is actually a larger theme that I'd be happy to to touch on a little bit further in some other areas, if you like, but with permitting, we don't offer explicit permitting services. However, like I mentioned, because we've done so many of these projects, we know where to help guide you. To probably do ask you do you do permitting? Is that fair?
SHED GAL:I mean that at least asking you if you do it. I mean we even get that in the shed metal building industry and it's not. It's that line we have to draw in the sand that we don't. But we're going to help you as much as we can to guide you based on the experience we have. But I'll bet that a lot of people during the process with you ask is that fair? Is that a fair thing to assume? Yeah, definitely.
WARREN MARSHALL:That's something we certainly speak to in our frequently asked questions section.
SHED GAL:Yes, okay, perfect, and so you know. And that's another thing you have the procedure in place where, h ey, this is a frequently asked question. We have a document that addresses that. I think the reason I wanted to bring that up is, you know, in the shed industry, when someone's buying a small shed, and it's a you know five or ten thousand thing versus a five hundred thousand dollar thing, sometimes we still get the same questions and one could say well, they have this high end product, why aren't they doing this? Well, because that's not your expertise and, just like in the sheds, that's not our expertise. So it's funny how some things overlap, even though it's completely different, completely different.
SHED GAL:At the end of the day, customers are customers. So I'm a customer and I've decided that I am going to. And I don't know a whole lot about horses. Let's just say that I did have one when I was 14, down in the Freilands, not too far from where you're located, my first day. That was before the houses were there. First day I rode my horse. It bucked me off and I broke my tailbone and that was then my first horses. So we're going to pretend like I have some horses, I'm going to order a very high-end and very nice equestrian barn from you, and I live in Oregon. I'm in Bend, Oregon. That's a beautiful area.
WARREN MARSHALL:Oh it's lovely.
SHED GAL:How do I get my building to me, like I've ordered it? You've walked me through your process. We've designed it, I've picked everything. I've got the money, because money's never an issue right, it is always an issue. But how does that building get to me? And built on my property?
WARREN MARSHALL:Yeah, so our part of our offering is that we ship all over the lower 48 and and to Canada, actually, I should say, but specifically the lower 48 of the United States and everything, all the material. For what's included in our portion of the building package. There's certain elements, like, you know, your roofing material, your insulation and, if you're doing a living structure, some of the other, you know, interior components are not something that we supply, but for everything that does come with our kit, we um pre-engineer everything for your site specific. So that's part of our offering. And then we build and assemble material and it's ship it out on trucks right here from our warehouse in monroe to wherever you're building okay.
SHED GAL:So now I'm in Bend, Oregon, and the truck has arrived. Now what happens? Who's going to put it together for me?
WARREN MARSHALL:Exactly, yeah. So, along with your question of permitting, we do get that one as well. As do you build the structures? And, like I mentioned in our origin story, that is very much our roots as being builders and that is how we came to design the structures. Um, again, not just for the needs aesthetically needs, uh, or wants aesthetically from the equestrian side of things but for for the builders. Right, we wanted to make a product that was very approachable, very buildable, very structurally integral, um, and so we don, because we have scaled up to the point where we're shipping all over North America year after year.
WARREN MARSHALL:We are not building, we are not the ones building those all across the country every year, right? So, similar to the permitting process, we can do our best to help you find a builder. As far as you know the network that we have done this, having done this across the country for so many years, and there's certainly different hotbeds that we find our products going to, or our structures, I should say, going to more frequently. So, through the nature of those, you know, year after year cycles, we have established different relationships and networks of builders in the area, and that's again one of those things where we may have recommendations of. You know we have had clients build. Three of our clients have used this builder before we could recommend you reach out to him. We don't have anything that's you know, an official network or an official referral program at the moment. But, similar to the permitting process, we help connect the dots for you when we can. And the other big part that is super helpful for our process is the entirety of the building cycle and really beyond that, even once it's finished and you know you get to enjoy your structure for decades to come. But particularly for the sake of the question here, one of the big off value adds for our system or our process is you get built support from the for the entirety of that.
WARREN MARSHALL:So we have builders that have built these structures that work with us in our engineering department.
WARREN MARSHALL:Here we have not only our project specialists who will have been working with you throughout the, you know, since the inception of when you first reached out to us and started talking about you know, the project that you had in mind and then you also will have a dedicated fulfillment specialist.
WARREN MARSHALL:So once you go through and you've kind of figured out what structure model is going to work for you, you've dialed in your permitting and it looks like everything's going to be a go and you decide to proceed. That's the point where you'll start working not only with your project specialist, who is sort of your first point of contact, if you will, to help answer your early on questions and again help you complete sort of the earlier stages, but then you'll begin working with what we will call your fulfillment specialist. So they'll basically carry you through the next phase of all of that coordinating right, like they can help connect you with builders if you don't have one already. If you have people in mind and they have questions for us, you know, prior to the structure shipping out, that's something that they can help you, either the fulfillment specialist or specifically our engineering and build support departments. It's a very group-centric or group-coordinated effort to basically just do as much as we can for you all along the way, from start to finish and really even beyond that, as I mentioned.
SHED GAL:What I'm hearing you say without actually saying it.
SHED GAL:Your, your focus is on the customer experience. Yes, absolutely. You can't do something for them and gosh, and again, it doesn't matter what the product is folks that are listening it comes back to the same thing. I think that so often in most in in, in a lot of industries, we try to get the customer, we need that lead, and now we've got someone and now we're trying to sell them and then bye, good luck.
SHED GAL:And I, I'm hearing that you're different, you know, like the fulfillment specialist, even the name implies to me that someone's going to be there to take care of me. I just, it is so impressive. I hope and it won't be this weekend because I've got short time when I'm in Monroe, but I really hope that the next time I'm out that way and I have some time, I would, I would really love to come by and shake your hand in person and, and you know just so. So, in a nutshell, going back to the question, you may have someone that you can refer them to, because perhaps other customers use them, and you'll refer someone them to someone a contractor, if you can, or the customer can choose their own local contractor, and then that person or that company is going to install the building and if there's issues along the way then they could reach out. And you're not done just when you drop off the stuff on the truck?
WARREN MARSHALL:Oh, absolutely not. Yeah, that's exactly the heart of what we do, you know, is always being able to, always wanting to give as much value and help as we can, and we truly mean that. Right, I suppose we always when I say that we always want to give value. You know there's different ways that that looks like right, but really, as I mentioned, I keep finding myself coming back to through the course of our conversation here is one of the biggest things that we are very mission driven on these days is just leveraging our experience to help people. Right, because it's a very few select.
WARREN MARSHALL:There's not many people that have done what we've done, I should say, as far as being around for this long, building this many structures, seeing this many projects come to fruition, you know, talking to this many people, you know we, we, we dip dozens or hundreds of structures a year. We've seen several thousand of these built successfully over the course of our our 30, almost 35 year history now, and so there's just so much we've learned along the way. Right, and going back to your question of you know helping connect the dots for people, is we always want to give you some answer that you're going to either have your question fully resolved or we're going to help guide you in identifying the steps or the resources that you can help. We can help you pursue if we aren't able to give you a direct answer on something right. So finding a builder is a pretty easy example to point to, along with permitting, like you mentioned. If it's not something that we can directly give an answer to, we usually or almost certainly always can help identify the next steps that you should take.
WARREN MARSHALL:Not just what steps to take, but sometimes it's not just about knowing what to do. There's more to it than that. We're going to help teach you how to do these things and where you can go specifically If we don't have a builder sort of in our network, if you will in your area. We know these are the usual resources that we see people find success in finding builders, or if this is a permitting, you know hang up that we often see. These are the steps that we've noticed and helped people along with that generally lead to their success. So those are the steps that we're going to recommend to you.
SHED GAL:Wonderful. It's a it truly is going a step beyond. And again, you know, when we have listeners and there's a lot of us, you know it's I hear every day oh, it's the economy or it's who's going to be your president or not going to be president that affect things. But it comes down to the service you provide, and this is living proof that you can have a very high-end, very expensive product and if you do the right things and have the right processes, you can be very, very successful, probably more successful than they ever dreamed of, which is wonderful. And they're still around and thriving. So I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that I, you, I would bet you you get a lot of referrals yeah, yeah, absolutely yeah, and that's.
SHED GAL:You know what's the easiest. What do we do? We spend so much time as as business people and companies trying to find a customer and then we really are not treating them the way they should be treated. To continue that process. And you guys have honed in and it is working and you're doing it and you're.
SHED GAL:You know, you led the pack with the google ads, you led the pack with the website and I can just imagine, because I was around when websites were cut first, coming out, and I'm just like in tarnation, how's this ever going to help us, you know, and so I bet there was people that were like, oh, you don't need to do that, or now you're just wasting your money on that. And, yeah, look at you now. Right, uh, have you continued throughout the years? Have you seen that they? They try to be on the cutting edge of things? Because even like your website and, granted, it's a successful company and if we're talking with a small shed manufacturer versus, you know, a company that that's got your longevity and success, I get that budgets are different, but the course come down to the content and aesthetically looking good, uh, are. Are they still continuing to try to be cutting edge.
SHED GAL:Are you on Twitter? Is Twitter a good spot, or TikTok? I guess it would be. Are you on, not Twitter, necessarily TikTok? Are you on Instagram? Or did you draw the line and say, yeah, we're not going there?
WARREN MARSHALL:Well, I don't believe we're on TikTok or Twitter at the moment, but our Facebook and our Instagram are efforts that we've had for many years now as well, along with the website and stuff. So for the visuals, that's probably the best place to come visit us. Youtube is somewhere we're trying to be a little more present, just because you know, we have so many client stories to tell and so many things to show off that people love to see and learn about.
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SHED GAL:Do you get a lot of customer testimonials after the fact? Where you're getting that feedback from them about how the process was or how they felt about the process while it was happening?
WARREN MARSHALL:late right is, as I mentioned, I've been I've personally been, with the company for about five years now and that's how I got my start is is being a part of that storytelling process through visual media right.
WARREN MARSHALL:But we have so many more people that we could highlight and people are willing and they love it. So our our biggest, frankly the biggest struggle with that regard is the geographical spread, I suppose, of just how far away some of these people are. And it is interesting just uh maybe a small anecdote for me that people can laugh at a little bit is coming from somebody who was, uh, a professional photographer for several years. And again, that's sort of how I, how I first got my foot in the door with with Barn here, um, and somewhere I still continue to spend a lot of my effort is uh because we were building, you know, so fast and furious and growing so much during, uh, you know, the early 2000s and mid-2000s era. We have a ton of photos from that era of things, but it's funny because they don't really hold up these days. You know, the old flip phone cameras are not what the modern iPhones or professional level gear are.
WARREN MARSHALL:So that's something we've been circling around to the last couple of years and trying to, you know, put more effort into showing more of the people's stories as well as the structures, right? So I actually just flew back from the east coast last week. We went out to massachusetts from uh to visit a client who built with us in 2017. They built a denali, which is our, our flagship living structure um, big, beautiful barn, uh, living space back on the east coast. So that was really cool and we got to actually do a pretty cool sit down with them. That was a, you know, just a chat, an honest conversation about, you know, working with farm pros. What they've enjoyed about the structure because that's the cool thing, right is they've been there for a handful of years now.
WARREN MARSHALL:So, while the building process is something that's interesting to talk about, you know, maybe, right, when folks finish, what's really cool for us is being able to come back years later and still hearing that excitement and that enjoyment, and you know how they're and that enjoyment and you know how they're actually using the structure, cause you know it's going to be around for so much longer than just the building process in that early stage.
WARREN MARSHALL:So it was really cool to get to sit down with them and it was one of the first times, I believe, that we've got a client and builder actually, you know, doing a joint interview together. So I think that was something that was really cool and we'll be really excited to get that out and you should be able to share that, hopefully in the next couple of weeks as we dive into, you know, editing the photos and video from that recent shoot. But, yeah, getting to getting to hear from people, not only the, the clients, but the builders and really just show off more of the stories, because it's really all about the people at the end of the day, more than the buildings even.
SHED GAL:Absolutely Say that louder, would you? It's all about the what.
WARREN MARSHALL:It's all about the people.
SHED GAL:Yeah, and you know that follow-up like I can just see you know someone going. Well, you know I don't in the shed industry or metal building, because'm telling you folks, doesn't matter what the product is, your results will be the same as far as referrals and that, no matter what your product is, if your process is the same as what they're doing and I'm thinking there could be people I'm not going to go out there and go back to a customer from three years ago. They might have a complaint. Well, they might have a complaint. Well they might, but why not address it? And why not address it? And how many? I'm just thinking I bet that customer from way back then is just like, wow, they still care about me. That that's really cool. That's really cool on average. How really cool On average. How many buildings a year? Just a roundabout number, nothing specific.
WARREN MARSHALL:It's interesting to say just because the last couple of years during and post-COVID has just been such a roller coaster and stuff. But I mean, I would say generally anywhere from 75 to 100 shipments a year is probably what we aim for We've done.
SHED GAL:I think the busiest year we had was somewhere around like 140, I believe yeah, it's a lot, it's a big operation, yeah that's a lot of of buildings and a lot of this for here and that for there, and and to be able to keep the stellar reputation amongst the chaos, really, uh, it's not really chaos for you, though, because you have the processes in place, but I think so many of us are fighting the chaos on a day-to-day basis. Um, you could not do what you are doing and being so successful at it if you did not have processes in place. Um, and that folks, that's so critical. It doesn't matter, manufacturer, um, I don't care if you're a hauler and I love you shed haulers, I'll tell you what, but you know it's processes for that. It's processes for following up. We, we see on the shed hauler side hey, I'm not knocking anybody I hauled some sheds up in Washington. In fact, warren, you, probably you I had a shed I was hauling on I-5 in Burlington. It fell off the back of my trailer. That was on Saturday.
SHED GAL:But the processes of how many callers call their customers after they've delivered the building and just say how is it? Well, most of them I'm going to speak for some that I know they're not going to do that, because then it opens up the door of the. Well, it's not perfectly level or this, or they don't have time for that. Man, I'm telling you, challenge yourselves, folks. Sometimes you go back and you do the right thing, even if it isn't your fault originally. It will go so far in in how customers will tell their well, something went sideways but they fixed it and they were so great and it. You know it took a week because they're busy, but they did it. And I just see you guys going the the extra mile. I mean I want to order a building from you and I don't even have property to put it on. So I mean that you're, you know you're selling me without even selling me. What do you know? The biggest building you've ever done square footage wise?
WARREN MARSHALL:I'm just curious, just a roundabout, because I bet you've done some big stuff oh man, I don't know off the top of my head what the biggest square footage would be. Um, I would say for anybody who's curious on that question, though, if you're able to navigate to our website, we, I know one of the biggest structures we've designed and sold a few of is called the Preakness and it's like several barns attached to each other with a giant riding arena in the middle, and I mean, all of our structures are pretty big and that one is massive. But yeah, it's very interesting. And going back to the larger theme that we've talked about here today, of a huge part of what we do and I really don't want to come across as being overly markety or salesy, because it truly isn't that we always just try to stay so tethered to the relationship and helping add value, not just making the sale and shipping another structure right. And a huge part of our process, like I said, just because we've done this for so long now, is not telling anybody what to do, but knowing what questions to help you ask yourself and what things to help think through, and the flow of thinking through planning a project and stuff, because it is very interesting, you know. Um, just a small, small side tangent.
WARREN MARSHALL:On the the subject of the size of the structures, right, I mentioned I was just in um, I was just on the East coast filming, uh, that client interview with um, someone who has a Denali, and they have a probably a pretty medium sized Denali.
WARREN MARSHALL:It's a 36 by 60, which I'd say we, I think the smallest Denali is 36 and it can go all the way up to like 108 feet long by 36 wide, like they are not small and it was the first time I'd actually stepped foot in one for some amount of time and I, you know, I see him on the computer all the time doing things and I see our trucks being shipped out. But when you actually stand next to one or get one for some amount of time and I, you know, I see them on the computer all the time doing, doing things and I see our trucks being shipped out. But when you actually stand next to one or get to walk through one that's built and it's done and it's, they are massive buildings and they're beautiful and they're, it kind of makes you giddy every time you see one, and I've seen a lot of them so if you can sum up the six, I don't know that you're gonna be able to do this.
SHED GAL:So here I'm putting you on the spot. We don't prep for these. Nobody ever knows what susan the shed gal is gonna ask him. So if you can sum up the success of barn pros in one or two words, what are those words?
WARREN MARSHALL:well, I mean, like I I would confess, like I said, I have not been around for the vast majority of this company, but I very much am tethered to all of us.
WARREN MARSHALL:Here are Everybody who works at Barn Pros, like I mentioned, for frankly, I think for the size of our operation, people might be a little surprised to see how I wouldn't say how few people are here, but maybe just for lack of a better phrase how few people are here, but maybe just for lack of a better, a better phrase, how few people are here just as far as number of employees go.
WARREN MARSHALL:So everybody that's here really gives it their all and really works, you know, with their heart in it, with each other and for everybody and I think I would I would personally use those same words to describe the mission statement behind the company is doing the right thing for people to not only have the best product right and maybe you've picked up on me coming back to that sentiment a lot during this discussion is because you know we do have a very established and very premier product right.
WARREN MARSHALL:Our structures are beautiful. We're well known across the nation for that because we've been able to build and maintain and grow that reputation for over 30 years. But I will say, with some of the things that Barn Pros is working on not just continually, but even some specific things that Barn Pros is working on not just continually but even some specific initiatives that we're really excited about. You know, releasing here soon is very much a heart we have for community and for people out there and just wanting to share everything that we've learned and our expertise along our history to help you find better, faster, more joyful success in the projects that you go pursue.
SHED GAL:Amazing. I was just thinking, like, just from what I know, the limited amount I know, the only two words that I can think of are customer success, and what I mean by that is the whole way, from before they've even contacted you to through the process of them then buying from you or not, exactly and then installation and then the after. That's what makes the customer success. And if any one of those is missing and it's missing a lot in a lot of different industries, and that's just if I had to come up with two words it's customer success because of all that you do from start to finish, and your finish is not where a lot of our finish line is. It isn't like the down payment or the payment Right. So I think it's wonderful. I was, I was taking some notes here. I wasn't, I wasn't texting, I was just taking yeah.
SHED GAL:I wanted to make sure someone's like she's. I'm going to write in an email anonymously to the shed geek because Susan is texting during an interview. No, I'm not taking notes, folks take notes. It's just intriguing to me. So we'll wrap this up and I have to tell you I could go on for hours because I'm just so involved in this industry and just so intrigued by companies and the processes that they do, and there's not any one necessarily right way. But, um boy, I think they're going to be around for a very long time and, of course, we're going to put up the website and the phone number and, um, you know, maybe maybe drive some business to you that way. Uh, who knows, you might have some people in the industry, you know, reaching out for some consulting advice, and whether you talk to them, that's up to you or not. But I just challenge everybody. You know, if you want a business model that works, that's customer centric, I mean here, it is right here, and he doesn't look miserable, he looks like a happy guy.
WARREN MARSHALL:Very grateful for him.
SHED GAL:Well, and you mentioned the family atmosphere and everybody's very connected at the business, and that tells me that things are working. So I sure appreciate your time, warren. Do you have any final comments before we go?
WARREN MARSHALL:No, I just want to thank you for the opportunity to chat today and it was wonderful and I hope people found it interesting.
SHED GAL:Wonderful, thank you. So thank you everyone for watching or listening to this week's episode of the Shed Geek podcast, which happens to be hosted by me, Susan the Shed Gal, on Magnificent Mondays. Go, have a great week and let's do this again soon.
ADVERTISEMENT:Thanks everybody week and let's do this again soon. Thanks everybody. Hey, this is Mo Lunsford in sunny Union Grove, North Carolina, and we want to say thank you to all the guests and listeners.