Shed Geek Podcast

Shed Adventures and Roadside Tales: The Stover Twins' Journey from Farm Life to Shed Deliveries

• Shed Geek Podcast • Season 5 • Episode 5

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What happens when you combine the grit of rural farm life with the adventure of shed deliveries across the southern United States? Join us as we sit down with the Stover twins, Josh and Joe, who transform everyday logistics into extraordinary tales filled with unexpected truck troubles and encounters with some truly colorful characters. From North Carolina to Arizona, they paint a vivid picture of the cultural landscapes they navigate, complete with GPS-guided escapades and a hilarious run-in with a man with some very protective Belgian Malinois dogs.

Ever wondered how keeping calm amidst chaos can turn a rough day into a memorable story? Josh and Joe bring a fresh perspective on maintaining a positive mindset when things go awry on the road. Through laughter and chaos, they share the resilience needed in their shed and repo business, illustrating how embracing the unpredictable can lead to both personal and professional growth. And yes, they even touch on the cultural nuances of working in areas dominated by Spanish speakers, adding layers of depth to their road experiences.

From their roots on a Pennsylvania farm with 20,000 squawking chickens to the entrepreneurial leap that led them into the world of shed hauling and repossession, the Stover brothers discuss their journey with authenticity and humor. They reflect on balancing ambition with contentment and the potential for industry expansion, be it storm work, real estate, or even a TV show. With insights into the nitty-gritty of the shed industry and tales of overcoming obstacles, Josh and Joe invite you to join them on a journey filled with camaraderie, laughter, and a few lessons along the way.

For more information or to know more about the Shed Geek Podcast visit us at our website.

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To be a guest on the Shed Geek Podcast visit our website and fill out the "Contact Us" form.

To suggest show topics or ask questions you want answered email us at info@shedgeek.com.

This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Union Grove Lumber


Cardinal Manufacturing
Cardinal Leasing
Versabend
Shed Challenger



Sambassador:

Welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek podcast. Sambassador style. I'm your host, Sam Byler. And man, I am so happy and excited for my guests tonight. I've got them on the road. This is a. This is a new episode trial for me. I've got the Stover brothers, the Stover twins, the famous Josh Stover and Joe Stover. How are you guys tonight?

Josh:

Good good.

Sambassador:

How are?

Josh:

you.

Sambassador:

I'm doing well. I didn't get done today what I wanted to get done. Bessie decided to throw a wrench in my plans again, but we still had a good day, um, still working up in North Carolina trying to get people out of the cold in the sheds. So, um, we, we had a harky team out. They got some done for us. I was planning on getting four done today and for some reason, Bessie decided my truck, as y'all know, is named Bessie. She decided that, uh, she didn't want to build any power this morning. So, I don't know what's going on. We uh put a new map sensor in her the other day, so we put the old map sensor back in and now she's running fine. So, I don't know. You know trucks are. Y'all been around them long enough. You know exactly how they are.

Joe:

Yeah, it's always something, so where?

Sambassador:

are you?

Joe:

guys at.

Josh:

I am.

Sambassador:

Sound like twins.

Josh:

Oh, yeah, a little bit. Yeah, I'm down by the border. Oh, yeah, a little bit. Uh. Yeah, I'm down by the border um Brownsville, Los Fresnos, uh McAllen. Yeah, I'm uh headed to Edinburgh. Try to snag one more.

Sambassador:

Uh it's raining it's cold, I mean it's raining and cold yeah, yeah, 44 degrees, that's cold yeah, oh, come on 44. Yeah, that's cold. Oh, come on 44. Yeah, that's cold. Considering where you're at, that is pretty cold for down there you're down, let's see. You would be down about equal with Tampa or even maybe a little bit below Tampa as far as south wise. If you're down that far, joe, where?

Joe:

you at. I am right down by Corpus.

Sambassador:

What's your temperature?

Joe:

Forty-one. It's been missing off and on all day. That's pretty. It feels pretty cold.

Sambassador:

Yeah, no kidding. If it's wet, forty is cold, there's no doubt.

Joe:

Yeah, it's, it's pretty, it's uh, it's not comfortable.

Sambassador:

I'll tell you that well, believe you me, five, five degrees, with the wind blowing in spruce pine and Barnesville today, that wasn't comfortable either. That is not my kind of weather no no, thank you so what are you guys up to these days?

Josh:

well, um, you know, repo and buildings, um, I got three guys that do new deliveries, um one guy that picks up trailers and that keeps us pretty much running full-time. Oh, I hear you.

Sambassador:

I didn't know you were doing deliveries.

Josh:

Yeah, we deliver for Stormwater and Dirksen and InstaShed.

Sambassador:

In the same area, or where's that out of?

Josh:

It's the Valley we run, the Valley for Stormwater and Dirksen, and then InstaShed would be more towards Houston.

Sambassador:

I'm a little bit familiar with the Valley, but for those that aren't, just give people a general idea of where that is in Texas, the Valley is about as far south as you can go right on the Mexico border.

Josh:

There is more Spanish-speaking people down here than English, I think, uh, which I like to use to my advantage when I repo buildings, because I don't understand Spanish, so no you just keep on going. Yeah, that's a good point, but it's a very how do I put this? Like subdivisions down here of just portable buildings and old campers. You can pull into a place and there's 30 buildings. It's its own world down here.

Sambassador:

I've messed around some with doing pickups in reservations and places like that. Is it any of that or is it just pretty much open country, county wise?

Josh:

it's a lot of open country, flat, um, and the people down here are usually decent, like okay, fine, whatever. Yeah, you can have it. Um, but every once in a while there's a crazy one, you know. But it's usually open, windy, usually a breeze of some type, yeah.

Sambassador:

Yeah, usually, until it gets 44 and raining.

Josh:

Yeah, but in the summer then it's 120 down here. You know that's true. Yeah, so you take, you know, got to be careful setting barns. Take a break when you got to, yeah.

Sambassador:

Yeah, you pretty much stay down there.

Josh:

Yes, so basically for repos, I'll run the valley one week Houston, another week Dallas, another week Every three months I go to Arizona. I just had two guys come back One was Alabama, one was in Georgia and Florida, yeah, and Florida, uh, yeah. So yeah, we stay the, since deliveries are a little slower. I got some of the delivery guys jumping around doing repos to keep the wheels turning and I got you yeah.

Josh:

So it's yeah, it's yeah slow time, but do what you got to do to keep everybody running absolutely running all pickup trucks now are you still running some semis?

Josh:

uh, I run pickup for gooseneck. Um, one of the guys that runs for me, um, I lease him a trailer and a mule. He pulls a pickup or runs a pickup and there's a 450 and then there's one semi. Yeah, I got you. Yeah, cool. So, my dispatch actor lives up in Iowa. Actually, yeah, and she dispatches, she basically dispatched all the trucks and I just do my own thing, go around picking up repos and enjoy life I got you yeah nice, yeah.

Sambassador:

So, what about the other one over there, man, you don't know? I mean, some weeks I see him in Texas and the next week I'll see him in Ohio, then he's over. You never know. It's like playing. Where's Waldo, where's Joe?

Joe:

I mean, you never know where he's at. Yeah, they kind of just send me wherever.

Sambassador:

They

Joe:

yeah.

Sambassador:

Have you got one of those Iowa dispatchers too that just throws darts at a board and says you're?

Joe:

going here. No, I just have become kind of the rent-owned company that I pick up for. I'm kind of I don't know if I'd say I'm their guy or their go-to, but I'm definitely the guy that they like to send anywhere and everywhere.

Sambassador:

That's a true story.

Joe:

I don't mind it, I like it. I could be down on the border one week and then next week I could be in the hills of eastern Kentucky or West Virginia or Indiana. I just didn't run over to Kentucky and then went up into Indiana and Illinois a few weeks ago. I've repoed from Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi down to Florida. Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, down to Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia. We kind of run all over, if they'll let me.

Sambassador:

Yeah, and you seem to enjoy it. I was going to say you seem to enjoy it, I do, I was going to say you seem to enjoy it, I do, I do.

Joe:

I enjoy the different scenery all the time. I get bored if I get to stay in one place.

Josh:

Yeah.

Joe:

That's fair. I can run South Texas for about two to three weeks usually at a time, and then we're kind of caught up and then I start sniffing around and asking where else I can go. And you know, usually that's they'll pick a spot, Nice, and I'll go.

Sambassador:

So on average, like if you say you spend South Texas, you can be there two or three weeks. Let's say you go to Eastern Kentucky or West Virginia or Ohio. How long are you out there on average to clean up one of those areas?

Joe:

Usually on those. I'll try to go and work for a week and a half to two weeks. When I'm South Texas, I'm usually only working three or four days and then going home when I run out there. If it's more than about 10 hours, I'll just stay out over the weekend. If it's 10 than about 10 hours, I'll just stay out over the weekend. If it's 10 hours or less, I'll just go home. I got you, yeah, but when it's 10 hours or more, stay out there for a week and a half, two weeks and just get it. I mean, it kind of depends where you're. At Some places you can really clean house on a Sunday. You get into the Bible Belt and everybody's at church.

Sambassador:

They got long lunches. Oh yeah. So how do you guys, like I want to know where I don't even know this part Like I've? I've known Josh ever since we started the hauler page, um, I don't know exactly. I actually think we had some mutual friends, um that we connected on Facebook before we ever started the hauler page. I knew he, who he was, I knew who AJ was. Uh, AJ Stutzman, you remember him, josh yeah had that purple international remember that.

Sambassador:

And, uh, merle, there was a couple guys that I mean from day one we had found each other floating around on Facebook here and there. So I knew you've, I knew you've been in sheds a long time and I know you got connections back up into Indiana and places like that. How did the brother look in and say man, that's something I want to do.

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Sambassador:

Joe, how do you even find that?

Joe:

You know, that was kind of random. Actually, it was always an industry I wanted to stay away from because my brother was in it.

Joe:

That's exactly right, you know I had no interest in it whatsoever, but I was in construction with a construction company in Wyoming and then moved to Texas and it was slow, it was hard to keep good guys around and something came up of this company looking for somebody to pick up carports Repo carports and Josh hit me up. He was like, hey, you have any desire to do this? I said, well, I don't know, does it pay anything? He gave me some numbers. I said, well, I'll try it. So, I went out this is November, November, maybe 2020. Went out in November, took a couple carports down by myself.

Joe:

I had no clue really what I was doing oh my word took a few down and I'm looking at it and I was like you know what? That's pretty good money. Maybe I should stick with it and do some more. So, I did Stuck carports, hired a couple guys to run with me and we started taking down carports all over the us. I mean, we went up to Colorado a couple times, we, you know New Mexico wow Florida.

Joe:

We went everywhere with that and company I was picking up for was like hey, we like what you're doing. Would you ever consider picking up sheds as well?

Sambassador:

No.

Joe:

No, I don't want to do that. So, they dropped it. Then they came back again and said hey, we really would be interested if you would be willing to start picking up sheds. I said I don't know. I called Josh and Josh said it's a terrible idea. Don't do it, you're not going to make any money. Stay far, far away from it. And I said, well, well, that's my cue, called him back and told him yes, that sounds about right.

Sambassador:

Did they ever listen to you, Josh?

Joe:

no that's how I got started and it's just kind of stuck, I guess.

Sambassador:

Yeah, that's great. It's been about three years now. Yeah, no, looking back you seem wide open.

Joe:

No, I, yeah, my first. Well, I got lucky. My first week I went to the Valley and it had been sitting stagnant for quite a while, guys not picking stuff up, stuff that they couldn't get or wouldn't get, you know, you know the type. And I was new and hungry and we needed money. Bad, and I just took off with it and I didn't really have any quit or any real understanding of when I could or couldn't say no.

Joe:

So, I just did whatever. And that first week went really, really well and I'm like, wow, there's actually some pretty good money there. Maybe we stick with it and see where it goes. And yeah, that was that you seem to.

Sambassador:

You seem to have figured out how to stay steady at it, better than that other one over there. You know, we're always placing bets on how long he stays in and how long he stays out. Yeah, well, what's the current bet on how long he stays in?

Joe:

uh, I think he stays until he's just completely tired. I haven't been wanting to do it at all anymore well, that's every six months.

Sambassador:

He gets tired of it yeah I don't know. I've never taken bets on him oh, you, you know better, don't you? I've lost a couple and I've won a couple. I've done pretty good. All in all, I can't complain, but there's always a bet out about him.

Josh:

Yeah.

Sambassador:

No comment, Josh, or what. Well, it is what it is. I'm not going to argue.

Josh:

I've been here been left, come back. But it took a lot of failure to figure out what I figured out today.

Sambassador:

There's your nugget right there.

Josh:

Luna Trump is literally the greatest thing, yeah and so leasing guys own leasing out equipment. You know that completely changed everything for me. You know I'm not running 80 hours a week coming home and spending, you know, the entire weekend working on trucks in my shop oh, my word, I don't know how many weekends I'll watch you do that yeah, I'm. I'm coming home back in the rig in the park in the driveway and, uh, going hunting you know, or pulling the rv out like you know it's.

Josh:

Yeah, I went from running like that to doing features days a week yeah yeah, yeah so, and yeah, I don't know. So, I think that's been more the factor of me staying, because I would, I would just burn myself out is what would happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I burned myself out and then go do something else. I was like, okay, I think I didn't come back, right, but you know, if you can find that, find your limit, figure out the best way and, you know, fail multiple times, I guess Cause you know I learned hard apparently, and uh, yeah, Get to this point here where you know it kind of it feels like I figured it out right.

Sambassador:

Yeah, yeah. I hear so much GPS. Sorry, I love hearing GPS on a Zoom call. That means somebody's actually driving around.

Sambassador:

They're not just sitting there waiting on it.

Sambassador:

You made it, did you pick up, yet

Josh:

it's too dark.

Sambassador:

It's too dark, uh, too dark. I know that in the back uh-oh, that's not good. You can't sneak in the back I got. I gotta tell y'all something about being on. I don't talk to josh on the phone near as much as I used to or as much as some other people did, but I remember, just to show you how Stover's operate when you're on the phone with them and you never know what they're up to or what they're doing.

Sambassador:

I was on the phone with Josh one day. You were in your semi. I don't know if you remember this or not, but we were talking along for a good little while and all of a sudden I realized you just kind of going quiet and I heard you messing around or doing something, and I don't remember exactly. You were on, you were in a semi, but you had got out, opened the hood and you were doing something. All of a sudden you just said, oh, that's not good.

Sambassador:

You remember that kind of and I don't I don't remember if a pulley had come off or a belt, something, or, but all of a sudden you were stuck there beside the road and I don't I don't remember if a pulley had come off or a belt, something or. But all of a sudden you were stuck there beside the road and I'd been talking to you for probably five minutes while you were out there looking at that thing, trying to figure out what the deal was, and all of a sudden it was just like, oh, but we're done for now, and you didn't like it, it didn't phase you or nothing. You were just like, well, this is what we got to do. So, yeah, you're probably out there hooking up to a building right now, and I don't even know it I'm about five minutes away.

Josh:

But that whole, I think that that actually, you know, our dad taught us that. You know you can't change it right, it happens right. Getting upset, worked up about things doesn't change anything, you know, and so that's one thing that's always stuck, you know, with me is, you know, oh well, stuff's gonna break and when it does, it's just life. We just pivot and move on, you know, and, yeah, maybe get a coke and some and a hamburger if you broke down beside the road and wait for the tow truck.

Josh:

You know like yeah, screaming, yelling, uh, getting mad, it gets you nowhere, except just you know, work yourself up. Yeah, and so you know, even when I had all the semis.

Joe:

If I got a coke, that's trash drink, yeah, no kidding, that's true, I don't drink coke.

Josh:

I've dr pepper, but oh no.

Sambassador:

Are you going downhill? Uh, you're supposed to. You're supposed to go the other way, not, not? You're supposed to grab a snickers. Not going anywhere, grab a snickers. Yep, which one of y'all had the gps going?

Joe:

that was me. I'm over here by corpus. I uh, I was gonna go try to pick up one more. It's only five minutes from the lot, but oh nice it was. Yeah, it was real dark, it's raining, it's cold, uh, and in south Texas, that means everyone's home. So at 7.30 at night you're liable to get shot at.

Sambassador:

You're not in the mood when it's wet.

Joe:

So we'll just come back tomorrow and not get shot at hopefully.

Sambassador:

It's true.

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Josh:

I had a guy pull a gun on me today.

Sambassador:

Today.

Josh:

Yeah.

Sambassador:

That's not good.

Josh:

The first guy was a crackhead that yelled at me for an hour about how that I couldn't disconnect his electric because I wasn't certified.

Josh:

And I said I'll show you certified Yep. I said it's a high speed grinder and you wait for it to go pop, all right, and he's like he had seven dogs in it. All right, so you get the dogs out, I'll take care of the rest. So, he yelled at me for a while and finally I convinced him to get the dogs out and then he goes inside and rips all the power out of it. And then I was like all right, you want me to go and hook that breaker box? And he said oh, I did it, I'm a certified electrician oh, you just yelled at me for 10 minutes after all that yeah.

Josh:

So then the next guy had those Belgian Malinois and I made friends with them, I fed them tortillas and then I jumped the guy's fence and went knocking the front door and a little bit late no one answered. So I turn around and walk away and I hear what are you doing? And I turn around, there's this guy with a gun.

Sambassador:

Oh yeah.

Josh:

And I was like, ah, yeah, and talk to you about that building in the back. Yeah, he's like how did you get past my dogs? I don't know, we're friends. He's like they bite anyone that comes over that gate.

Sambassador:

Nope.

Josh:

He's like maybe because it's cold.

Sambassador:

I was like no, they know good people when they can smell them.

Joe:

I said I don't know about that. I've had plenty of dogs try to bite me and I'm a quality person.

Sambassador:

Maybe they were just looking for high quality steaks at the moment. Could be so, did he?

Josh:

let you get the building. He's like, well, well, you know you can't have it's coming with me one way or the other. So, I gave him an hour to clean it out, went and picked up another building and came back and I helped him finish cleaning it out and I picked it up yeah, wow. So yeah, he wasn't gonna let stuff in it and then come to the lot and, you know, clean it out. Then he realized that he's gonna have to pay a fee to get his stuff and I was like, look, that's dumb here, let's get to work, I'll help you, yeah so I just helped him clean it out and we scooped that thing up and hauled it so what, how you guys do this all the time?

Sambassador:

what are your like? What you know? Everybody's got their stories out there and everybody thinks you know the repo men are all the bad guys or whatever, and they escalate situations and everything. How do you guys get? How do you guys get it done? I mean, you guys seem to get it done. That's why you're in demand. Yeah, make friends with them. Make friends with them, yeah, yep.

Joe:

I've got places all over. I guarantee you, from Colorado to southern Florida, that I could call people and have somewhere to stay. There's one guy in eastern Kentucky that I repoed from that I still use as an escort driver every time I'm over there.

Sambassador:

That's great, you got to love that.

Josh:

I got a family down here in the valley that every time I come down here if I tell them I'm in town they take me out to eat. And I repoed a 1640 and a 1232 from them and they were about to go legal and I convinced them to not go legal and to clean them out and I worked the 1232 that one day. I got there at 5 in the evening. We worked till 11 o'clock that night cleaning it out. And the 1440, I got there at 3 in the afternoon. We worked till midnight cleaning that thing out. The 1640 yeah yeah, and.

Josh:

But yeah, I agree, make friends and treat everyone with respect, right, even if they are deadbeats and they clearly are, you know, doing drugs yeah right treat them with respect and when they start yelling or getting that way, you know, remain calm, but also know when to push back you know, you gotta, you gotta, when you walk up to someone, you gotta be able to read them and you know, yeah, and that's that's it, and then act accordingly.

Josh:

You know, it's just. It's not all about just coming in there and yanking a build. It's asking about the dog that's laying over there because it looks nice, you know, or? You know, tell him he's got a cool car, you know, and if he wants to show you the his motorcycle, you take the time, even though you're busy, because yeah, yeah yeah yeah, that's, that's.

Sambassador:

Yeah, I agree, that's cool. You said you mentioned something a little while ago about your dad told you it doesn't do any good to get worked up or whatever. I want to go back. Okay, how far back can we go? And you guys are still comfortable. Like, where did you grow up? Did you grow up on a farm? Did you grow up in construction?

Josh:

Where are you guys from Pennsylvania On a farm? Yeah, Pennsylvania on a farm. We had. Correct me if I'm wrong, joe. How many chickens does that chicken house hold? 20,000? Yeah, about 20. Yeah, so we grew up yeah, we grew up packing eggs. Every morning before we went to school, come home to pack eggs. You know, our brothers had dairy farms that went down the road. We stacked a lot of hay over summer and fished and hunted since we were 10 years old.

Sambassador:

Somehow I ended up both into trucking.

Josh:

Hold on, I got it.

Sambassador:

Oh, here we go.

Josh:

Yeah, the building. Yeah, can you move this car? Thank you.

Sambassador:

This is great. All right, I told you it's a request. Oh, it's a request, you can't see.

Josh:

Yeah, of course this is a request. It's 1232. Actually, tall walls and it's behind a trailer and the one driver said I can't get it.

Joe:

And I had one of those the other day. The driver said there was a car in front of it. It was blocked in, fenced in branch on top of it. Two additions electric water and sewer Cannot obtain, and so I obtained it.

Sambassador:

You obtained it. I love the way y'all just calmly say yep, I just obtained it. The additions didn't fare well, but we did get the building. The additions didn't fare well.

Josh:

Anyway, we got off your subject. Yeah, ask away.

Sambassador:

Yeah, I mean, just like you grew up together on a, on a farm um which which one of like, I don't even know which one of y'all's the oldest uh me by you know whatever, 30 seconds five minutes.

Sambassador:

Yeah, so which one of you? Okay? So yeah, I mean, I kind of grew up in the same situation as y'all did. One day I'm like I'm out of here and, uh, you know, my dad and I had argued enough and yelled at each other enough and I had a girlfriend that lived seven hours south and I'm like I'm I'm gonna move down here. And from that time on, our relationship got better. We're like what, at what point do you decide you're not going to raise chickens, you're going to go do something else?

Josh:

Well, I'm going to say how old were we, joe, when we were shipped out or whatever? 17. Yeah, 17 years old, and got sent out to boys homes and 101 Missouri and that was probably the point, yep, it was probably. Then. When got back from that, you know, things changed, yeah. So Yep Moved out. Joe never came back he started life in Colorado.

Sambassador:

Yeah or Wyoming okay, but and and you were in Missouri weren't you me?

Josh:

yeah, I went back to uh, Pennsylvania and then moved to Missouri and then Florida and then moved to Missouri and then Florida and then ended up in Indiana. Missouri is where I started hauling sheds. Yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking yeah who you hauling sheds for Missouri uh, it was uh Dirksen, but it was his son, uh, John Berryman. So they now it's now super sheds, but at that point it's called Dirksen and yeah, I started driving for a guy and then I went back, huh.

Sambassador:

Was that Farmville?

Josh:

area no out of Sedalia, Missouri.

Sambassador:

Sedalia, there you go.

Josh:

Yeah, yeah, that was back when you could sell your routes, you know, with your truck, yeah, and so I didn't know any better. And this started driving for this guy and about three months in he said I like you, you want to buy my business. And I said, well, I don't really have any money. And he's like, doesn't matter, we'll do 70-30. 30% of every paycheck comes to me and I want $200,000 for the rig and all my lots and I said, okay, yeah, it's fine.

Josh:

No no, yeah, and so yeah, I spent two years, I think, running on that.

Sambassador:

Do you remember what year that was when you started?

Josh:

No, I'd have to look. I think it's been been.

Sambassador:

I think it's going on eight years, yeah so no, yeah, I'm not saying you're wrong, but I feel like I've known you longer now, like did you hold for him for a couple years before you bought it.

Josh:

He got me, he sold me that business about six months in.

Sambassador:

Okay, all right.

Josh:

He was about six months in. He was like yeah, I'm busy, I'll sell it to you I think it was two years and paid him like $150,000 or something like that. The owner, don Berryman, figured out what was happening. He's like wait, they're something like that. Yeah, and the owner Don Berryman figured out what was happening and he's like wait, they're really not. That was about the time that they decided that you couldn't sell your route anymore. So, john's like if you want it, it's yours. You don't owe him anything else. Yeah, I did so. What I did is I sold the trailer and the mule and I used that money to finish paying him off. Yeah, and then I ordered myself all brand new equipment.

Josh:

Yeah.

Sambassador:

Yeah.

Josh:

And that's how I got started.

Sambassador:

That's when the white truck showed up, the white pickup.

Josh:

Yeah, we had a white Ram when it was with him, and that's when the white Duramax with the black wheels and the white trailer showed up. Yep, that was my first trailer I ever ordered.

Sambassador:

Nice, yep.

Josh:

I was so proud of that thing.

Sambassador:

That was a cool rig. No doubt it was sweet.

Josh:

Yeah, and from there? Yeah, that's where things went from there. Yeah, cool, yeah, cool yeah.

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Sambassador:

Joe went to Colorado and then ended up in Texas. If you could just pick tomorrow and not have to worry about a job, money or anything.

Joe:

Texas or Colorado.

Sambassador:

Texas, all day.

Joe:

That's cool. I spent most of my time up there in Wyoming, so I was up there for 12 years, I think, and I was in Colorado about three out of those 12.

Sambassador:

Okay.

Joe:

But most of it was Wyoming, Colorado's kind of Wyoming's yuppie little brother, so but yeah, Wyoming was where it's at. It's a beautiful place. It's just really, really cool.

Sambassador:

And windy.

Joe:

And very windy. Yeah, and that's what eventually got me to move to Texas, and I was rodeoing at the time and there's just so much more, so much more in the rodeo side of things that you can do in Texas than you can anywhere else in the world.

Sambassador:

Even Wyoming.

Joe:

Oh yeah, in Wyoming I was driving an hour and a half, two hours, three hours to get on practice pools Once a week. If I was lucky Texas, once I kind of got to know people, people I could get on pools every day of the week within 30 minutes of the house no way so it was just a huge difference, um, just in so many different ways.

Joe:

but that was a big pull for me was the weather, and and at that time I was pretty focused on rodeo, and so that's kind of what took me down that way.

Sambassador:

Yeah, still do any.

Joe:

No, I hung that up about three years ago.

Sambassador:

Nice yeah. So now you, just now, you just hook up to your RV and go spend time with Josh. I don't have an RV oh, I thought y'all both had one no, I rent one about once a year you go hang out on the beach we'll go the 4th of July together.

Joe:

But yeah, the RV life, it's cool but it's a little too slow for me. I got to, I heard that You're stuck in one place. You got to plan and I really enjoy it once or twice a year. But once or twice a year isn't enough to go buy one.

Sambassador:

Oh no, definitely not. I agree, you're better off just renting one when you need it.

Joe:

If you do that, yes, so we rent one and we enjoy it a couple times a year, but I'm very much a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of guy.

Sambassador:

You guys ride bikes, some don't you?

Josh:

I do. Yeah, that's Joe. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sambassador:

I see you every once in a while on Facebook. You look like you like the cool stuff.

Joe:

Yeah, I'd say, once you get a taste of something like riding, you're always kind of, if you quit something like that that you did regularly for so long, you're always looking for something to kind of replace that little thrill.

Sambassador:

Yeah.

Joe:

The repo. Life does it for me most of the time. But go home and ride the motorcycles every now and again. Keep the adrenaline pumping.

Sambassador:

It's good for the soul. Yep, yep, I agree. Where do you go from here?

Joe:

that's a good question.

Sambassador:

That's a good question pretty like, pretty happy for the next 10 years yeah, I'd say I am.

Josh:

I mean, I probably continue to lease trucks on, you know yeah yeah, as the work provides and allows.

Josh:

Obviously, you know I stay more than busy with, just you know, the for rent own companies I pick up, for it's been reposed so I never really had to search for work. Yeah, so yeah it's. I know we talked earlier about that. You find that balance right, yeah, and when you find it, you just kind of I don't know Not really not all about what it used to be, how it was. Let's see how fast we can add trucks and how fast we can grow. You know it's more of a hey as it comes to you, we'll do it, yeah, yeah.

Joe:

That's good Joe oh, I just think the shed industry opens a lot of the worse if you take the opportunity we last year opened a lot to sell sheds for storm work, uh, and I'd like to explore that outside a little bit more um, you know, go towards opening maybe some more lots and then kind of take that and use those locations to start maybe selling and renting some trailers and start doing site prep stuff. Like that Kind of grew up from there. I don't know, I think it'd be cool to buy a bar. You know, just I just see it as a.

Joe:

There's so many opportunities that the shed industry gives you if you're willing, if you think outside the box, like a lot of guys stuck in the little hole of you know, I can expand in this industry and you can very easily actually, and I've seen guys I mean I've seen Josh did very well with that it, I don't know. I just think there's a lot outside of the industry that doors.

Josh:

It'll open doors up in a lot of other areas if you just keep your eyes open.

Joe:

So I'm just always looking to grow in other avenues, other ways. There's just so much out there.

Sambassador:

Yep, put more eggs in your basket, yeah.

Josh:

Yeah, I was going to say I don't know I could be wrong, right, Another industry that offers a man to come in one truck, work hard and make kind of money and have money left over to. You know, have started trying to dabble in. You know, real estate, rental properties, right, and I don't know, yeah, with one truck. You know what I mean. Like you said, the opportunities are there.

Sambassador:

Yeah, yeah, it is, yep, one of the reasons I like this industry. You can come straight in off the street, work hard, save a little money up, pay attention to what you're doing, and you can very easily branch out and collect a couple other things along the way.

Josh:

Yeah, you sure can. Yep, and yeah, you know, like I had what a day of training A day we set two sheds. When I started like I knew nothing, kind of like joe, joe went out there and that first week he called me. Oh, maybe once a day, but hey, what about this? And that was his training.

Sambassador:

He did other than that yeah yeah, yeah, oh yeah.

Sambassador:

It took me five hours set my first shed and it wasn't even that big, it was a 12 by 24 metal building it got high centered and I couldn't get it over the center and I tore up two inches just because I couldn't figure out how to get it off a high center over this little hill I was trying to go over. Of course I didn't have a mule or nothing. They didn't even have those. Well, they might have had the easel, but they didn't even. Nobody even knew what a mule was. I mean, you just you use pipes and block and tackle and cables and pushed and shoved and I got a 12 by 24 high centered and it uh, dude, I was so done I'm like I'm never doing this again, but you keep right on going, because that's what you do yeah so what do you want to get your shed?

Sambassador:

Yeah, I'm, I'm in the street with it right now and it's like not a single hit was given whatsoever, that you that you even had it or did anything with it. Did you mule it out or trailer it out?

Josh:

I'm yielded. It was tucked in behind a house real tight. Yeah, had to do a bunch of maneuvering to get it out, or trailer it out.

Sambassador:

Nah, I mule it. It was tucked in behind a house real tight, yeah, had to do a bunch of maneuvering to get it out, literally hooked a mule to it and pulled it out while we've been on this call. Yeah, that is mind-blowing. That is just epic Ever think about getting a TV crew to follow you around. I have. There's another egg in your basket.

Joe:

I had a guy offer. He was fairly well connected, he was from LA, met him in Panama City on one of my repo runs down there and he said the day I was ready to do it, to give him a call and he had connections and he would do it. But the only problem is with repo and um, it's you. You're treading a very, very thin line on a lot of stuff. Oh I agree.

Joe:

I mean I probably with areas I run. I probably cut two to three locks off a day and I probably take down at least three fences a week, at least three fences a week.

Joe:

Yesterday or two days ago I moved a car, took down a fence, cut the electric water, all that stuff, and then came back. I broke their water line, had to come back, dig their water line up, fix that. And then they said we need the name of the red town company because our electricity is not working now either. I said, oh, that's weird In their house.

Joe:

I said well, it's on a completely different circuit, so it doesn't make any sense. I said, well, it's on a completely different circuit, so it doesn't make any sense. I said, well, it's not working, so we need their number, we need their info. And so I went over and jiggled their breaker box it was all way out Jiggled the breaker box on their house and the lights came back on and I said, oh, look at that, you guys should get the breaker box. And then the guy was like, well, yeah, our breaker box was condemned. We just kind of hoping no one ever notices.

Sambassador:

Then his wife comes running out.

Joe:

She said you're an electrician too. She's like you took the fence down and put it back up. You fixed the water line, you fixed the electricity. Is there anything you can't do? And I said there's plenty I can't do. She wanted to hire me to replace their breaker box. She asked me if I did painting. Like I said, there's a lot of instances where you can get into a lot of other work, yep.

Sambassador:

Some days I'm like I just got to stay in my lane.

Josh:

Yeah.

Sambassador:

Got to do what I'm good at.

Josh:

Yeah.

Sambassador:

Yep.

Josh:

Oof. I mean these vehicles have stopped coming. It's raining, it's windy, there's vehicles running up and down the street.

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Sambassador:

You have got one serious good. What are you running? Like? A parrot or a blue tooth or what I mean? A tiger or what? A blue parrot?

Sambassador:

Blue parrot Yep Because.

Josh:

I can hear absolutely nothing.

Sambassador:

It sounds like you've been on the phone the whole time just chilling in your chair.

Josh:

Yeah, they've the blue parrot. I think is what is? The five, fifties, the ones that are more expensive ones. They last the longest for me and, yeah, the noise counseling is unprecedented, really. Yeah.

Sambassador:

I need, I need to talk to them about sponsoring the podcast, because, man, that's, that is amazing. Yeah, it's like I haven't heard a single thing whatsoever.

Josh:

Yeah, and I just had my head right by my motor on my mule because I was trying to look under my trailer. Yeah, it's really impressive.

Sambassador:

Yeah, well, I know one thing there is a lot of shed haulers out there that said, everything that has ever been able to have been done has been done. I don't know a single one that's been able to do a podcast while they pick up a building Not at all, which I know you're famous for spending a lot of time on the phone talking. It's probably all secondhand to you, but somewhere along the line I would have either dropped the call, dropped the building or lost my mule.

Josh:

I promise you there's no way I'd have done it all yeah, other day I was picking one up and I was on the phone with my dispatcher and I was going over some stuff for the week for the guys and she said something about that time. A lady come out of the house just yelling and screaming and I thought, Jamie, I got, I got to go, yeah, yeah.

Sambassador:

I got to go yeah. Yeah, that might be. Well. That'd be the time I'd be like hey, you just hang on the line here for a minute. I might need you here in a second.

Josh:

Yeah, I don't know.

Sambassador:

It's all right, I like it.

Josh:

When are we going home Tonight, after I dropped this last bill and I got three and a half hours to the house. You're coming up on 8 o'clock, unless there's a possibility that I stay and grab one more in the morning. We'll see, I'm out of socks and my feet are wet. I should go home.

Sambassador:

That's a good call. That's a rookie move.

Josh:

Yeah.

Sambassador:

That's a rookie move.

Josh:

How do you pack them? I forgot to pack socks.

Joe:

Gotta have about 10 pairs of socks and three pairs of hey dudes.

Josh:

Yeah, I got that. You'll just keep rocking. Hey, I was gonna say earlier. I carry three quarter inch, one inch and like three eighths or whatever ball valves and a little can of PVC glue in my pocket all the times? No way, yeah, cause I've hit water lines and had to stop and run to the store to fix them, so I just keep all that stuff in my toolbox. It saved me a lot of time, yeah.

Sambassador:

Fixing water lines.

Josh:

Yeah.

Joe:

Water lines are the most common thing that you'll break.

Josh:

Because they're exposed in South Texas, because they don't get cold enough to bury them.

Sambassador:

Yeah.

Josh:

So, yeah, I was just throwing it out there, Joe, it saved me the other day when I busted one.

Joe:

I usually just turn their water off and leave, but when they're home and they catch you, you can't. That's not advised.

Sambassador:

You gotta fix it. Oh, that is great.

Joe:

But then you get to look like the hero, because if you leave and circle back, they don't think you're actually going to come back. So you come back and now you took their building. But you came back and fixed their water and now you're the greatest guy they've ever seen.

Sambassador:

That's awesome. Yep, might just go a little bit further next time around.

Joe:

Yep, yeah.

Sambassador:

Yeah, that is great. Guys, I'm going to jump off of here. I have thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed talking to you guys. Absolutely love you dudes. Couldn't be prouder to know anybody in the shed industry than you two. Always know that if I need something, you guys got my back. Absolutely loved having you on Anything you want to throw out there for the whole shed industry. That's like hey, this is my little soapbox, I want to stand on for a minute and get out to the world.

Joe:

Man, honestly a lot of these guys. You don't have to be Mr Big Shot, low Hard Guy to repo. You can treat these people with respect. You'll get a whole lot further. It's just that's one thing that I absolutely cannot stand. These guys do repos and brag about. You know how they talk to this person and that person Punch this dude or almost punch that guy and all this stuff. I don't like it.

Joe:

It's not necessary. I've been doing it for three years and haven't hit somebody. Yet I'm not saying there aren't instances where you shouldn't. I did push a little old lady one time and it was warranted. She pushed me first. However, and I know it was that one time the man broke my phone. We had to call Josh, get him to come help me. That's a story all on it's own, nice. I wish that people would realize that, because it gives all of us a bad need oh yeah, yep, it does, agreed Josh.

Sambassador:

I say oh yeah, yep, it does, agreed Josh.

Josh:

Yeah, I say yeah If it comes to repos, yeah, treat them as if you the way you want to be treated. You know and respect the little man on the corner, the same as you expect, got, you know, three million dollars. It gets you further. And know your limits as a operator. Right, it's okay to say no, you know? Yeah, I mean I say that as I'm picking up 12, 32 at eight o'clock at night, but, you know, while you're doing a podcast, yeah, it's okay to say no. And to, to, to find that spot and the feeling of that often comes, that, oh, I'm gonna lose work if I say no. And to find that spot, and the feeling that often comes. Oh, I'm going to lose work if I say no? Probably not, and if you do, it's okay.

Sambassador:

I didn't need it. Yeah, it's okay.

Josh:

Yeah, it's okay.

Sambassador:

You know, what.

Joe:

It is okay to say no, because then they'll call me.

Sambassador:

And I love that for me. I was waiting on somebody to say it.

Josh:

I didn't mean about the repos. I meant in general deliveries, whatnot, you know.

Sambassador:

Yeah.

Josh:

So because, yeah, we all know it's easy to just say yes, because you're worried the next guy is going to take some work from you. Yeah, yeah.

Sambassador:

That's okay. Good point, yep, but Other than that, we appreciate it Sam. Yes, sir, thank you all so much Enjoyed having you on. Guys, thank you for listening to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. Sambassador, Friday Fun Days. We had fun today. Josh Stover, Joe Stover, twin Brothers. Appreciate you guys, appreciate we had fun today. Um, josh Stover, joe Stover, twin brothers, appreciate you guys, appreciate you having you on. Till next time, y'all have a great evening.

Josh:

Thank you, sir, you too.

Joe:

Thank you.