How a Blown-Down Tin Shed Started Apex Shed Company

Apex Shed Company did not begin with a business plan.

There was no boardroom meeting, no investor pitch, no polished five-year plan, and definitely no marketing consultant telling us that the world needed another shed company.

It started with a flimsy tin shed.

And a Utah windstorm.

If you have lived in Utah long enough, you know the kind of storm I am talking about. One minute everything is fine, and the next minute the wind comes through like it has a personal grudge against patio furniture, trampolines, garbage cans, and apparently, cheap tin sheds.

That storm took one look at our little shed and decided it had been standing long enough.

By the time it was over, our shed was no longer what you would call a shed. It was more of a crumpled metal suggestion of a shed.

At first, I did what most people would do. I went shopping for a replacement.

I looked at Tuff Shed, Best Sheds, and just about every other shed builder I could find in Utah. I was hoping to find a strong, well-built shed at a fair price.

What I found instead was frustrating.

A lot of the sheds I looked at seemed overpriced for what they were. Even worse, I kept seeing places where corners had been cut. The floor systems, materials, framing, and overall construction just did not feel like the kind of shed I wanted to put in my own yard.

And after years of experience in construction, I could not stop thinking the same thing:

I can build a better shed than this.

That thought turned out to be dangerous.

Because once you decide you can build something better, eventually you have to prove it.

So I did.

I built my own shed.

At the time, that was all it was supposed to be. One shed. For me. Problem solved.

Except that is not where the story ended.

While I was building my shed, my next-door neighbor, Mike, saw what I was doing and asked if I would be willing to help him build one in his yard.

I agreed. It was more of a favor than a business decision. I built his shed for about the cost of materials and did not think much more about it.

Then the phone started ringing.

A couple of Mike’s friends called and said something along the lines of, “Your neighbor said you built him a really nice shed. Could you build one for me?”

So I built theirs too.

Then more people started calling.

Before long, I was getting calls from people around Utah County who had heard about “the guy from Santaquin” building high-quality sheds at fair prices.

At that point, I had to admit something:

This might actually be a business.

Apex Shed Company, originally known as Super Sheds by Durabuilt Products, officially began in August of 1995. What started as a windstorm, a wrecked tin shed, and a little frustration slowly grew into a full-time company.

For a while, I was building sheds on the side while still working my regular job. Eventually, the shed work grew to the point where I was spending more time building sheds than doing the job that was supposed to be my actual job.

That is when I made the leap.

I left my full-time job, hired a team, and committed to building storage sheds, garages, chicken coops, playhouses, and backyard buildings full time.

Looking back, it is kind of funny. I did not set out to start a shed company. I just wanted a better shed.

But that has always been the heart of Apex.

Build it better.
Price it fairly.
Treat people right.
Stand behind the work.

That sounds simple, but it is not always the easiest way to run a business.

There have been hard times. There have been slow seasons, long days, hard decisions, rising material costs, difficult jobs, weather delays, mistakes to fix, and plenty of moments where quitting would have been easier.

But grit, determination, hard work, and faith have carried us through a lot.

So has family.

My wife and I have eleven children. Yes, eleven. When people hear that, they usually pause for a second, either because they are impressed or because they are trying to calculate the grocery bill.

Raising a large family and running a business have a lot in common. Both require patience, communication, problem solving, forgiveness, a sense of humor, and the ability to keep going when everyone is tired and something is definitely broken.

Over the years, almost all of our kids have worked in the business at one time or another. Some helped when they were young. Some worked summers. Some learned tools, paint, deliveries, customer service, sales, scheduling, office work, and all the little things that keep a company running.

A few still help run the business today.

That matters to me.

Apex has never felt like just a company. It has been part of our family’s life. Our kids grew up around the shed business. They saw the long hours, the hard work, the customer conversations, the problem solving, and the pride that comes from building something the right way.

And whether they stayed in the business or moved on to other things, I hope they learned something important from it:

If you are going to do something, do it right.

That has always been one of my personal mottos.

I have never liked the attitude that says, “It is just a shed.”

That mindset is exactly why so many sheds are built poorly.

Some companies look at a shed and think, “It is just a shed, so we can save a few dollars here, cut a corner there, use lighter material, skip a step, or hope the customer never notices.”

I have always seen it differently. That difference in approach is a big part of what makes an Apex shed different.

It may be “just a shed” to someone else, but to the customer, it is part of their home. It is where they store their tools, equipment, memories, projects, business supplies, garden gear, motorcycles, bikes, Christmas decorations, or whatever else matters to them.

It sits in their yard every day. They look at it from their kitchen window. Their neighbors see it. Their kids use it. Their family depends on it.

So no, I do not believe in cutting corners just to save a few nickels and dimes.

Quality matters.

The floor matters. The framing matters. The siding matters. The roof matters. The doors matter. The trim matters. The paint matters. The way we treat the customer matters.

That does not mean we are perfect. We are not. Any company that has been around for more than 30 years has had to learn, improve, fix things, and get better along the way.

But the goal has always stayed the same:

Build sheds we can be proud of.

That goal has shaped more than the sheds we build. It has shaped the way we try to run the company.

The values behind Apex were not written in a conference room and printed on a poster. They were built into the company one shed, one customer, one job site, one hard lesson, and one long workday at a time.

Honesty.
Integrity.
Hard work.
Quality control.
Fair pricing.
Taking responsibility.
Treating people the way we would want to be treated.

Those values matter with customers, and they matter with our team.

Apex may have started with my family, but over the years it has grown into a larger family. Our employees are part of the Apex Shed Company family too, and we hope they feel that.

We work together. We laugh together. We struggle together. We solve problems together. We discover better ways to do things together. We deal with differences together. We learn to compromise together.

And every once in a while, we even find time to play together.

Like any family, we do not always agree on everything. Shocking, I know. Put enough people together with tools, schedules, deadlines, customers, weather, and a few strong opinions, and there are bound to be moments when compromise becomes just as important as craftsmanship.

But that is part of building something that lasts.

The truth is, Apex would not be what it is without the hardworking and dedicated people who have helped build it. Our team members show up, solve problems, work through hard days, take care of customers, and help carry the values this company was built on.

To every employee, past and present, who has been part of the Apex Shed Company family: thank you.

We could not do this without you.

Because when your name, your kids, your employees, your reputation, and your livelihood are tied to the work, you see the business differently. A shed is not just another order number. It is a promise.

A promise that we will do our best.
A promise that we will be honest.
A promise that we will build something worth owning.
A promise that if something needs to be made right, we will do our best to make it right.

Word of mouth helped start this company, and word of mouth is still a big part of what keeps it going.

That means a lot to us.

Every time someone recommends Apex to a neighbor, friend, family member, or coworker, it reminds me of how this all began. One neighbor liked his shed. Then his friends called. Then more people called. And somehow, a blown-down tin shed turned into Apex Shed Company.

We have grown a lot since those early days. We have built storage sheds, chicken coops, greenhouses, garages, playhouses, and custom backyard buildings for customers throughout Utah.

But in many ways, the mission has not changed.

We still believe sheds should be built better.
We still believe customers deserve honest answers.
We still believe quality is worth caring about.
We still believe hard work matters.
We still believe family values belong in business.

And we still believe that if you are going to do something, you ought to do it right.

So if you are considering Apex Shed Company for your storage shed, chicken coop, greenhouse, or backyard building, thank you.

We know you have options. We know a shed is an investment. And we know that the way we build and the way we treat people matters.

From our family to yours, thank you for considering Apex Shed Company.

And if you currently own a flimsy tin shed, maybe keep an eye on the weather forecast.

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You can also read more about our company on our Our Story page.

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