Small business optimism took another step back in March. The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index fell 3.3 points to 97.4, just below the 51-year average of 98, and the Uncertainty Index dropped eight points to 96 after February’s second-highest reading on record. The index is a monthly temperature reading of the small business economy, collected […]
Selling storage sheds to the public is one of the oldest retail formulas in construction: people accumulate stuff, and they need a place to put it. That basic demand has supported shed dealers for decades. Industry research put the global shed market at $6.8 billion in 2022, with forecasts crossing $11.95 billion by 2032, a
The shed and outdoor storage business runs on relationships. A homeowner buys a building from a dealer they trust, and that trust usually starts with a conversation. The industry works the same way: builders, dealers, and manufacturers who share what they know tend to outgrow those who keep quiet. Helping others get what they want
Rent-to-own is a sales tool that lets a customer take a shed home today and pay for it over time, with ownership transferring when the contract is completed. For builders and dealers it opens a second market: customers who cannot qualify for standard financing. The model asks for extra paperwork, and in return it delivers
Every salesperson has heard the old motto ABC: Always Be Closing. The problem with that philosophy is that it treats every conversation as a race to the contract, leaving no room for the thing customers actually respond to, which is being heard. A softer approach, Always Be Connecting, treats each customer as a relationship in
Every company in the portable building industry sends a message, whether the owner intends it or not. A showroom signals something different from a gravel lot full of inventory, and the way a firm structures sales, delivery, and financing says as much about its strategy as any advertisement. The industry is famously fragmented, with thousands
Taxes are the one construction cost that scales with success. A contractor who lands more work, buys more equipment, and hires more people also faces a bigger tax bill, and the difference between paying too much and paying what is owed is almost always timing. Builders plan pours around weather and material deliveries; the same
Growth in a construction business rarely ends with a loud failure. More often it tapers: the pipeline stays full, the crews stay busy, and revenue plateaus while the owner works harder for the same result. Owners who have watched a company stall describe the same feeling: the sky looked open, and then the business hit
In September 2015, a builder spent $25 on a cup of coffee in Venice, Italy. The same latte could be made at home for about 50 cents, and a national chain would sell something close for $4. Nobody forced the buyer to pay $25. He paid for the square, the string ensemble, and the memory.
A mentor’s words often outlast the mentor. When a longtime adviser died, a builder who wrote about the loss received the instructions he needed years earlier, delivered in one sentence: “When you get through this, you will lead the most effective years of your life.” The sentence carries two choices that matter to anyone running
