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
Cool Air, Safer Storage, Smarter Sheds
Your shed shouldn’t feel like an oven or a gas cabinet. We dig into a practical, proven way to protect what you store by helping your building breathe—using low intake, high exhaust, and small solar-powered fans that move air exactly when heat strikes. Dan Rheaume, the mind behind Solar Blaster, breaks down the physics of convection, the myth of wind-dependent gable vents, and the simple CFM math that shows how often you can refresh the air inside a typical shed. Jamie from Your Shed Guy brings a decade of field results from Nevada’s harsh desert, where dust kills turbine bearings and gable vents pull silt across valuables, but low-profile solar vents quietly keep spaces cooler, drier, and far cleaner.
We get specific about real problems that cost you money: container rain caused by temperature swings, rusted tools, solidified concrete bags, and fumes from fuel or pool chemicals trapped in sealed spaces. You’ll hear how to pair proper intake with ridge or turtle vents, why even radiant barrier OSB needs airflow to work, and how a 5–10 minute install can change comfort and safety without tying into electrical. We talk pricing, warranty, and the sales edge that comes from a live demo on the lot—where customers can actually feel the draw at the vent and understand how solar assists natural airflow throughout the hottest hours.
Whether you build, sell, or own sheds and containers, this is a blueprint for smarter storage: design for convection, add solar assist, and keep your structure and belongings in better shape for longer. If you’ve ever opened a door to a wall of heat or fumes, this conversation offers a fix that’s affordable, durable, and easy to standardize or retrofit.
If this helped you rethink ventilation, subscribe, share it with a fellow builder or dealer, and leave a review with your biggest airflow question—we’ll tackle it next.
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This episodes Sponsors:
Studio Sponsor: Shed Pro
Cardinal Manufacturing
Digital Shed Builder
NewFound Solutions
Hello and welcome back to the Shed Geek Podcast. Here's a message from our studio sponsor. Let's be real. Running a shed business today isn't just about building great sheds. The industry is changing fast. We're all filling the squeeze, competing for fewer buyers, while expectations keep climbing. And yet, I hear from many of you that you're still juggling spreadsheets, clunky software, or disconnected systems. You're spending more time managing chaos than actually growing your business. That's why I want to talk to you about our studio sponsor, ShedPro. If you're not already using them, I really think you should check them out. ShedPro combines your 3D configurator, point of sale, RTO contracts, inventory, deliveries, and dealer tools all in one platform. They even integrate cleanly into our Shed Geek marketing solutions. From website lead to final delivery, you can quote, contract, collect payment, and schedule delivery in one clean workflow. No more double entries, no more back-and-forth chaos. Quoting is faster, orders are clean. And instead of chasing down paperwork, you're actually running your business. And if you mention Shed Geek, you'll get 25% off all setup fees. Check it out at shedpro.co/shed geek. Thank you, ShedPro, for being our studio sponsor and honestly for building something that helps the industry.
Shannon:Okay, welcome back to another episode of the Shed Geek Podcast. My goodness, by the time this thing's going out, we're looking at probably 2026. It's just so hard to believe, Dan, that uh it's been almost five years. March would be five years been doing a podcast now, and I remember we brought you on in year one. I think we brought you on again in year three. Now here we are again in year five. Uh, but this time we brought the bodyguard with us. We brought Jamie along with us. He's an actual Solar Blaster Fans customer. And uh I'll tell you what, Jamie, if you don't care, uh just introduce yourself, the name of your company, maybe tell us a little bit about what you do, sir.
Jamie Krolczyk:Yep, my name's Jamie Krolczyk. I'm the owner of Your Shed Guy LLC here in Pahrump, Nevada. We provide storage for people in a couple different ways, whether it's through sheds mostly and also shipping containers. Uh, we've been in business. My dad started this company about 30 years ago. Uh I was just thinking about that today. We renamed it about five or six years ago, took it over, bought out investors, um, and now I'm the sole owner of it.
Shannon:So, Your Shed Guy, I first of all, I love the name because everybody's always like, Who's the shed guy? Who's that shed guy down the road? And I think you're a little bit ahead on that by saying, you know, uh, especially for Google, right? Whenever somebody's like, Who's the shed guy near me, or something like that? Sounds like you show up.
Jamie Krolczyk:So yeah. The funny story is uh the company used to be called Storage Solutions, which is a great name. It's great, but I'd call and go, Hey, this is Jamie from Storage Solutions. They go, Who? I go, Your shed guy. Oh, hi. Like literally, like, you know, I'd because a majority of our people are older, you know. So literally, I'd have that conversation once, twice a week. Hey, it's your shed guy. Oh, hey, Jamie, hey, how's it going? Like, they know my name, but just the storage solutions thing. So, I owned your shedguy.com before I even had Your Shed Guy LLC.
Shannon:Very wise, my friend. Very wise, very good move. And then, of course, you guys probably know Dan. Uh, Dan, but reintroduce yourself or anybody who's not had a chance to listen uh to any of the previous episodes and tell the listeners kind of like what your line of business is, what you do. You you're a veteran in this industry as well, too, sir.
Dan Rheaume:Yes, uh, my name is Dan Rheaume, and I started in the roofing business in 1986 and roofed in Seattle, Washington for 30 years. I looked down at one of the vents I was installing one day and had some problems associated with moisture and heat that the convective vent was supposed to solve, but in some conditions the air wasn't moving through that vent. And I thought, you know, I looked at the little kerf inside the vent and I said, you know, I could put a fan in there and I could put a solar panel on that vent, and we could make some air move through that, and we could remove heat and moisture, and we wouldn't have the problems such as warped plywood, uh moss growth, you know, in Washington State, and a lot of the mold, mildew associated problems that come from lack of air movement, and that's what we did. We went about inventing products uh that were compatible with uh sheds, uh homes, containers that moved air through them and improved the life and uh monetary uh situation uh for the customers that we serve.
Shannon:You know, uh first of all, I wrote down problem solver because that's what came to my mind immediately as you began to talk about this. And I'm thinking about, you know, I don't know, my 12 years in the industry where I started working in purchasing. You know, that's what I did, a procurement, you know, purchasing agent basically for this this uh manufacturing company. And you know, one of the things I always enjoyed the most, Dan, was being able to like, you know, explore different options. R&D. I wanted to know what was out there. You know, customers have a demand, you know, but sometimes customers don't know what to demand in in terms of like what they want. Or, you know, you don't that doesn't get back to R&D. And some of our some of our manufacturers, our listeners here today are small enough, they're like R&D, we don't have a research and development, you know, team. Like we are the research and development team. I'm the owner, I'm the I'm the I'm the R&D guy, I'm the sales guy, I'm the marketing guy, I'm the cheap trash taker outer. We just, you know, we're a small business, we do everything ourselves. And if you don't take the time to look at what benefits you on new products that you can bring to your customer that makes for a better end user experience, then sometimes you just don't know because you don't know. So, first of all, go to SolarBlasterFans.com, check out some of the information that they have on the website so that you can judge for yourself. Second of all, call Dan. If I know nothing about this guy, he answers his phone, he's old school and he handles the customer calls, he takes care of the customer. My favorite thing is I can call Dan anytime and he will always answer. He doesn't, he's not putting it off onto this robot, you know. I mean, nothing wrong with it. I'm just saying, you know, that uh that's old school, and I love that, and I know that that's welcome in this in this industry. So, Dan, let's talk about for those who haven't listened to any previous episodes, and by the way, if you do want to know more about it, go to our newsletter, click on the digital ad on our newsletter, it'll take you right to the previous episodes that we've done with Dan. Uh, and there's even a lead for there to fill out your information if you want to contact him, if you want to know more. But tell me a little bit about what your products are. Uh, I don't know, give me your elevator pitch, uh, Dan, so that the listeners understand what all you do.
Dan Rheaume:Well, you know, necessity is the mother of invention. And in the shed industry, specifically and especially, uh, there are uh issues related to heat and moisture that customers want to solve. They just don't know how to do it. Now, moving air through a shed naturally through the convective movement of hot air rising is a great way to do it, and a lot of them will go to the gable vents and other types of venting. But really, um the uh modern shed companies such as Jamie's is going more to the ridge vents and the uh can vents on the roof that protects the shingles, protects the building structure itself. Uh sheds sit on um the ground, so any ground moisture coming up through the shed needs to be expelled to prolong the life of the shed. And so that's what we do. We just work with the convective movement of air. We enhance it through solar power, powering uh small solar powered uh fan, and we also provide solar tube lighting for the shed, which is very nice. Uh it just enhanced the value, uh increased the life expectancy of the shed and the components such as the roof uh shingles that will last longer by removing the heat and moisture that degrades them. So um there's where we're there's where we're at with our elevator speech. I love it. I love it.
Shannon:Uh so that that then leads you to folks like Jamie as you're out here traveling around in the industry. You've been doing this for several years. Dan, you're out west. You guys are located in Phoenix, you know. So, I don't know how many shed guys agree out there. To be honest with you, I haven't got a chance to get out to Arizona. I was out down to four corners, the closest I came last year. And I thought about you, Dan, and I was like, I wish I could make the trek over there and just say hello to him, but we're just too a little too far away still. But I'm gonna make it a point to fly out there, get out there, see you guys. But you run across people like Jamie in this industry, you know, who's a 30-year native, his dad's been doing this for a long time, started the business. Jamie comes up, he says, Hey, how do we take this thing to the next level? Part of that, Jamie, is adding products like what Dan has here at Solar Blaster. So uh tell us tell us a little bit about your experience with the product.
Jamie Krolczyk:Well, let's start off bouncing back a little bit. Dan walked up on my on my porch one day. The Lord blessed me with Dan. Okay, he really did. We've been friends ever since, but I was trying to get away from the whirly birds, the turban thing. I thought those were so archaic. The gable vents. I live in the middle of the desert. You know how horrible gable vents out here? They move some air, but do you want like a silt and dust all over your stuff? No, so that's what I love about those vents that he's you know that he invented is the low profile of them, everything. You know, I talked him into finally doing some connex vents, and it's been a blessing ever since then, too. I'm a I own them on my own stuff, like I'm a customer, but I'm also I have them on my garage, my containers, my sheds, so I know they work. Um, so that's why I kind of love Dan, you know, doing what he's doing and blessing me with his product and other people around the country.
Shannon:And the beauty really of what you do is not just sheds. I mean, you are your shed guy, you are the shed guy, but you do so much more because you do containers, and that's the crossover in this industry that we're seeing, to be honest with you, is we say shed because it's the common denominator that kind of connects us all, you know, but storage is really uh what's connecting us because you're providing that storage in in a container. Many people are you know jumping over into the tiny home parts model uh thing. Look, all of these things, if I know anything, there's air inside of all of these things, there's a potential for mode. Uh I mean, like even your light. Uh I I'm not sure. I can't see because the screen's kind of small. That's what's right behind you. I thought it was. Right there. Yeah, I thought it was, Jamie. I mean, there's just so many different products, but like um, what's been the what's been a benefit for you carrying those lines of product? What's like been the end user, the customer's experience, Jamie, once you started adding these things to your containers and your sheds?
Jamie Krolczyk:The big difference is just taking the heat out of these buildings. Where I live at, you know, it's 120 degrees, 115 degrees in the summertime. With these sheds, you know, even with like the radiant barrier OSB that I use for the roads, it's still hot in there. And the air is just stagnant, not moving. So any air movement's a plus. Just like me and Dan were saying, do you want to melt your stuff? Well, how about moving some air, you know, alleviating some heat from that thing? So that's been the big difference for me. People love them. I got people that have bought multiple um, you know, the vents and uh the solar tubes just because they know they and it know it works and it moves air. It's kind of the same thing I did. I bought one from my garage, and I'll tell this thing works. So we started putting them on everywhere. Um, so you know, that's the benefit. I think people see the difference, especially with like the dust, those whirly birds. I I had one here before I met Dan on a model here on display. And the guy's like, Oh, what do you think about these turbines? And a dust devil came through my office at the time. It was the craziest thing. It was like God was speaking to me right there. It was like it was like the perfect scenario for this guy to see it. It was and it's only happened one other time ever in 30 years of me doing this. But the plume of smoke came in like smoke through this whirly bird that was just spinning crazy. The dust devil caught at the angle perfect, and the dust just kicked right in there. And I was like, oh wow. So that little testament right there alone kind of made me think about some other way to go. And I didn't know the other way to go at the time. So when Dan kind of showed up and we, you know, kind of showed me his product, I was like, oh, like the light bulb went off and I couldn't wait to get it.
Shannon:What's been your customer experience whenever they come in and they actually see that working? Uh, or the solar light or some of the different products? Uh have you noticed the difference in sheds versus containers? Or like do customers notice even? Is it is it clearly?
Jamie Krolczyk:Yeah, they're impressed. They they're impressed by the product themselves. They don't understand how it works. Like, is there a is there a motor in there? So like there's a motor, is there a battery? They start asking all the questions. So you got to kind of explain it to them now, you know, and they kind of explain to them uh how we install it and everything else, the longevity of it, how long it lasts. You know, I've been talking people out of solar, I mean out of uh whirly bird turbines or typical turbines forever. And then, you know, just for that reason, and now this is a reason to actually talk people into it because it works, you know. I've seen the results, especially on the containers. We do the heat gun on the containers, uh, you know, in the summertime. It's like 126 the roof on here on some of these. So, man, this will move air and take some of that heat off. There's no doubt about it. It's pretty simple.
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Shannon:Dan, give me some give me some geek language here. I'm a Shed Geek, and I know that you are a uh Solar Geek and a Fan Geek and so many other things. Uh tell me how this benefits the customer in the end, because the one thing I see in the in the industry that can be difficult is if the customer doesn't demand, right, Jamie? That that like they don't know that these things exist.
Jamie Krolczyk:They don't know what they need, just like you were saying earlier. I wanted to get back to they don't they don't know what they need. And your customer in the west might need something different than the other, and they don't know it. They just move from back east where you know it's the little bit more humid, and this the dust is pluming in, like I just said. So they don't know that. So that low profile design and all that, you kind of kind of steer them what they do need, and Dan kind of can attest to that.
Shannon:Yeah, Dan, what's the what's the geek speak on this? You know, whatever it really comes down to um uh we understand, okay, rather than have static air. I mean, every shed lot I know that I visited in in at least 30 states at this point has that typical static gable vent on the end, right? And like, yes, air the hot air rises, and the idea is that that air releases through that gable vent. But why is it so much more beneficial? Where's the value add if a manufacturer says, Hey Dan, give me a pallet of those things. I'm gonna try them out and install them on a line of sheds and see if it really makes that much difference. What is the expectation for that manufacturer? And like, what is the selling point for the customer in having that on the actual shed?
Dan Rheaume:Well, the first value add is it just protects the shed. I use two examples. When folks buy a shed, they'll do a couple things, they'll throw some tools in a metal toolbox and throw it over in the corner. Um, those tools are gonna rust because of the moisture. The there's always a difference in air temperature between inside and outside, and this especially applies to containers, and we call it the beer can effect, where you set a cold beverage outside and immediately it begins to condensate on the outside of the cold can. Well, that's not air coming from inside the can, that's air coming from the outside air condensing onto the can itself. And the same thing occurs inside, and they call it container rain, they actually have a name for it. Um, and so that is when you put the product on a container, that is eliminated because there's air movement that moves the moisture and keeps the ambient temperature equaled. So that the reason it has the container rain is the difference in the uh temperature between inside and out, and that occurs both ways. Um so uh the other examples uh for shed folks, they'll go do a little concrete job and they'll leave a bag of concrete in the corner of the shed. Everybody's got one, and it's solid. A year down the road, it's solid. The reason is because it absorbed all that moisture and turned into concrete. Well, removing that moisture does so many things for a shed. It helps the structure, keeps um from any mold growth, and this is all regional too. Uh, Jamie doesn't worry about mold growth in Pahrump, Nevada. But up in Michigan, where he's from, you do. You get the snow load on top, and then the shed heats up, and so that can cause health concerns um and uh um you know structural concerns. So what we do is we just take a small 50,000-hour uh solar-powered motor, it's a two-ball-bearing high-speed industrial motor, and we match it up to a solar panel and off it goes. 50,000 hour rated is nine hours a day for 15 years. So, and one of the reasons Jamie's um is such a fascinating example of you know the use of our product is because, like he Says uh when those um winds blow in Pahrump, Nevada, and they pick up that dust and throw it at a whirly bird bearing that just destroys the whirly bird bearing, and then the whirly bird is useless, not counting the aesthetic components. Our fans, and he he'll tell you don't wear out. And when they do, they're easily replaced. And of course, our company has the no questions asked policy. If one breaks or goes bad, we just send you a new one. It's just easy that way. We don't require you to send the old one in for testing. They sometimes they just go bad, rarely. But Jamie can tell you how often that occurs in Pahrump, Nevada, and he's got hundreds, maybe thousands. I don't know. I'd say thousands. I didn't want to, yeah.
Jamie Krolczyk:I've had two problems out of literally thousands, a thousand of those. So that's a pretty good margin of error, I would say.
Shannon:Now, Jamie, are you are you manufacturing sheds there? Are you so you okay? So, you're actually doing the installation process uh as well, too. What does that look like? Either one of you guys want to take that question, that's fine. I'm just kind of curious. Like, I'm trying to play the role of a listener here. And imagine I was a manufacturer somewhere in the United States, uh, listening to this podcast, uh, building sheds, and saying, okay, so let's throw this on here. Uh, I've got everything set up in in jigs, like we've got our process. This is gonna be a big undertaking for me to be able to like throw you know some of these fans uh in here to replace the gable vents, or should they even be used in conjunction with gable vents? You guys educate me here. I'm curious.
Jamie Krolczyk:I think I think not in conjunction so much. Um just depends like you're like if you're in the East Coast or the gable vents could probably work with that. Where I'm at, I just don't do I talk people out of gable vents constantly where I'm at. I've just seen it, you know, I've seen what it does. I've had ones, I've had my own shed with a gable vent before. I know. So I've trial and erred everything. The way I build my sheds, the products I use. We've been through everything doing this to how long we've done. We know it works. And listen, I'm not getting rid of these vents ever. These work. I'm not just saying it because Dan or this or that. I'm the perfect testimonial customer because they do work. So that's the difference. Um I and still, people still want these whirly bird turbans, and I just won't put them on, or I try to talk them out of some other way. I don't, it's not even an upsell of this of trying to get this product on there per se all the time. It's just trying to do the best job for the customer. And like Libby said earlier, they don't really know what they need.
Shannon:One of my biggest criticisms is honestly that we don't try anything new a lot of times. Like we're a very conservative podcast. We talk to a very conservative uh group or listener base, if you will. And the one thing, and I always like to take shots at our own our own conservatism, uh, and the way I do that is I'm not uh uh I'm not saying someone's doing something wrong. I'm saying we're slow to change, we're slow to add new things. We're you know, like we like things the way they were. It's literally in our terms conserving, conserving the way things are. Change is the enemy. But you know, like customers, you know, a lot of times are seeing the benefit from this. And if we're not if we're not doing the research and development, if we're not exploring, if we're not creating, to use Dan's word early on, whenever he saw this in in uh Seattle, you know, uh Dan, you know, even you, Jamie, while you were here talking about it being regional. I live in southern Illinois. We were joking around earlier about how you guys had this beautiful weather, and I'm so jealous right now where you guys are. You know, I've got 35 degrees and it feels like 27, but guess what? It still hits 106 with massive humidity here in the summertime. And I know it does within five, 10 uh hours of us, and we're right in the middle of the USA. So all that humidity is coming in, all that moisture is coming in. I mean, look, we're trying to keep a loaf of fresh bread here. The only way to do that is to keep that bad air out, right, Dan?
Dan Rheaume:Right. Well, you what we're talking about when we talk about conserving is that what I always call the least path of resistance. The river will follow as it runs downhill the least path of resistance to the ocean. And with the same with the product, air rises, hot air rises. And so we're just working with that. We're not we gable vents are wind-driven vents, period. They are not convective vents. So convective vents require uh an intake and an exhaust. So, what you really want to do is you want to put a low-end vent uh on your container or shed, and you want that to suck the cool air in and then exhaust out high on the roof. So you can do that with a variety of ways. The metal roofs are going with the ridge vents, and we've got two uh great products for the metal roofs, and uh our customers love those two products for the composition roofs. We're using the um um canned vents, I guess is the slang, or a lot of um folks call them the turtle vents. Um, and they're easily is when I go to see Jamie over there, uh we've been working together for over 10 years now, and he's always got the same crew of guys. So he's real good to his folks. They stick around, he takes care of them, and when they're building his sheds and then going out installing the container vents, they follow um such great workmanship. But the key is to create low-end intake, high-end exhaust, let nature do its work with hot air rising, and then just assist that when the sun comes out. And the thing is, like when you swirl a bathtub or a hot tub, I use as an example, um you the water tends to stay in motion. Once you've boosted air all day long, it tends to stay in motion well into the evening and pull in what I call the clothesline fresh air, because everything in the shed, then like Jamie was talking about, from stagnant becomes closed line fresh, moisture free, hot uh hot air free. So that's what we're looking for is not to reinvent the wheel, but just kind of work with it uh as it rolls.
Shannon:Gosh, I'll tell you what, I remember the first episode that we did, Dan, and you really went, man, you went heavy. We asked you some heavy questions, and I was so impressed at the amount of knowledge, like what a lot of people in the shed industry, very close uh knit group of individuals in the shed industry, and you guys find yourself kind of out there, you know, a little bit further out west than some of the meccas of what you see in Lancaster or North and South Carolina or Kentucky, you know, where there's just a lot of manufacturing uh for sheds. Um, but you guys have been out there, Jamie. You're on testimony 30 years doing this. Dan, a lot of people don't know. You've been selling these solar blaster fans for how long to people in the shed industry?
Dan Rheaume:15 years.
Shannon:15 years.
Dan Rheaume:Yes, sir.
Shannon:You've made you've made your way around to actually quite a few uh uh shed manufacturers just hopping in your truck and going around saying hello across the country uh a couple times.
Dan Rheaume:And it's great, you know, from um here in in Phoenix, and we were talking about earlier about Ted's sheds up there in Colorado, where we walked in the door to offer them our products, and there was our products already sitting on his showroom floor. So yeah, um we love visiting um everywhere there is a shed company, we'll pop in and hand them a card and talk to them, and uh it's begin uh become a source of uh of joy, I guess, because we enjoy it so much. You know, we're doing um as someone famous we talked about earlier today, uh says, uh doing what I was born to do. And the reason I was placed here on this earth is to do this. And I'm so thankful for that that gift that I just I want to go out. It's so simple, it's just like we said, it's just hot air rising. So, it's um the future of the shed industry will lean toward the solar-powered uh vent and done correctly with cool air intake and hot air exhaust.
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Dan Rheaume:Well, there's two components here that you're speaking of. You got the power generation component, and that of course is bad-mouthed in in many ways, and probably by the oil industry. I don't know how the propaganda all works, but I do know that when the Model T came out, um everybody was still hooked on their horses. And especially so the other component is that small uses for solar panels are really the way to go. Your small uses, um like stop signs where there's safety issues concerned where they're running a blinking light, or outdoor uses where you have a spotlight somewhere where you don't have electricity and you put up a little panel and a light, you know, in our case, hooking it directly to uh a fan that that that you don't have any outside external power required. Uh the other thing is people fear uh hail um with the panels. And there have been some instances where hail has broken large panels, but we have had zero panel failure with hail, zero. And we've been through some golf ball and larger sized hail. Um so we know we've been hit, uh, but we have had no failure. So, there's been zero, not even one warranty call as far as hail is concerned. You know, and in in Jamie's case, there in Pahrump, Nevada. Um, I mean, he just saw the vision, saw what the future was, and started applying it, and his customers um you know like it. So I know it's gonna happen, and I really want to help folks make that happen for them in the shit industry.
Shannon:Tell me a little bit more, Jamie, about like your experience. You've been how long have you been carrying these lines and the containers, uh, you know, fans and lights and all that?
Jamie Krolczyk:I've been doing the containers for about 10 years now, right when I met Dan. Um, it all kind of happened when the housing crunch hit and kind of uh prices went down, people weren't buying sheds so much. And then after, you know, that's kind of when we got together. That's when I kind of when I first started getting containers. The price of wood after that went crazy, you know, during the unfortunate Biden administration. And uh so people went to containers, you know, when contain when sheds were double, triple the price, people started going to containers. That was a cheaper alternative. So, you know, the transition from that and back and forth. Now we're kind of selling more sheds again. But um with it just kind of goes hand in hand with any moving of any error. You have to have these. I'm not just saying that to be like that, but I'm driving home that point. As soon as I met Dan, I haven't used a Whirley Bird since that's not a coincidence. It ain't because I love him that much, it's because the product, you know what I mean? Um with the intakes and everything like that, it just makes sense. I have solar power on my office, solar runs my office. So um I'm all for it, especially like these people are like, where do you plug it in at? I'm like, you don't have to plug it in. Like people ask me, How do you plug the vent in? You know, it doesn't need electricity. No, it doesn't need anything. So they're happy. Yeah.
Shannon:Speak to the manufacturers that are listening here or speak to the dealers who have influence with their uh their manufacturing. I haven't been out there to Nevada to kind of like uh see the how the shit industry works, Jamie. But I'm gonna come see you, dude. We're gonna come out there.
Jamie Krolczyk:I have a perfect yeah, I have a perfect word I use to people sometimes. Hey, do you like, oh, do you want to have a vent on there? No, maybe not today. I said, do you want to incubate your stuff? And that's like the perfect term for where I'm at. It's not the same. You can't say that in southern Illinois or Michigan or Utah or maybe parts of Utah, but do you want to incubate your stuff? Do you want to just melt it? Do you care about your stuff in there? Oh, you do? Okay. This little vent that you're spending five, six thousand dollars on a shed for, this cheaper you know, cost that can preserve your things. You know, let's talk about preservation of things. Do you like your stuff? You do? Cool. Let's preserve it a little bit. Let's not melt the records, you know what I mean? So it speaks for itself, you know, it sells itself to me out here.
Shannon:Isn't that the whole value proposition, honestly, to the shed manufacturers and the dealers who are listening who are like, hey, we'd like, I mean, I'm trying to think, you know, from a manufacturing perspective, why you don't want to put these on initially, sell them. You build, you make that into the cost. And I mean, honestly, it's a small, it's a small cost in comparison to the grand, you know, picture of this, but the value proposition outweighs the cost, you know, to put this unit on here because of the value it brings on per uh preserving your stuff. As a manufacturer yourself, is it is the installation difficult? Is it, you know, like what's been your I'm trying to think of questions they might would ask if they were on your installation is so yeah.
Jamie Krolczyk:I've had a guy because I install them on everything, but I have a guy that comes and just buys some from me and he installs them himself. And I asked him that same question. How is he like, oh, it takes me 10 minutes? One guy, oh, it takes me five minutes. I pay my guys a pretty good wage to put them on. They jump for joy when I can have, hey, go put a couple of these vents on somewhere because it's that easy. It takes longer to drive out to these places than it does to install two vents. So, you know, that's another thing. It comes with a little diagram, it has a little um grid you can cut right around the hole. It's so easy. Dan makes it, you know, worry-free, easy. Um, like uh what's a 101 dummies could do it, you know, like the book for dummies installing these. Literally, it's so simple.
Shannon:That's what we need. We need a solar blaster for dummies.
Jamie Krolczyk:Yeah, that's right.
Shannon:You know, Dan, that's a it's he brings up a very valid point. You know, we think about the manufacture all the time, but there's a lot of do-it-yourself homeowners, you know. Like uh, if I'm putting something on my shed, I usually just take care of it myself. Uh especially since I already have the shed now. It's not like I can get it manufactured with a solar blaster fan on it, but I can put one on now uh for dealers who are even listening today. I mean, uh you can drop ship, you know, a pallet to those guys and they can upsell these things, you know, to customers who come in because you can say, hey, you know, even though this isn't installed on your shed today, this is a pretty in simple installation for you as well.
Dan Rheaume:Well, Jamie and I started a um there in Pahrump, Nevada, they have a um you gotta go over the hill to get to Vegas. And they call it a hump. There's an uh a magazine in in uh Pahrump called Over the Hump. And it's everybody's everybody gets it. And so Jamie and I are starting some advertising with uh co-opting, uh the advertising, so to just to let the shed guys know we're interested in stuff like that. We want to do stuff like that to get out, and we're gonna start some advertising together, and he should uh hopefully gain some business with those type of folks. Do it yourselves, folks, where uh he can have the wholesale price um in buying the product and then retail it at a fair price. Um uh there and proper they can install it themselves.
Shannon:Very cool, very yeah. No, I think it's a great idea. I'm gonna stop right there and say don't forget to go solarblasterfans.com. That's where you're looking for this information at today, solarblasterfans.com. Talk to me. I didn't um I didn't ask you these questions, Dan. I'm gonna put you on the spot here. You know, do you have pricing on the website? It's been a little bit since I've been on there. So, like, hey, if people are curious about what that looks like, you know, what's uh what's the cost of a solar blaster fan? I mean, what are we looking at?
Dan Rheaume:You're uh somewhere between $149 uh to $249. There are our high end models. We have two models of fans. We have a 80 uh uh millimeter and a 120 millimeter fan, uh a 39 CFM fan. And when I say 39 CFM, what I Like folks to do and what Jamie does with his customers. And I'd sure like to hear from Jamie about what difference it makes when he's out there competing. Uh if by offering the pro is he winning jobs with his competitors there in Pahrump, Nevada by offering that. But what I'd like to share with folks is how to do the math on the uh CFM or the cubic feet on the interior of a shed. And your length time width time height uh will give you your cubic feet on your shed, and you divide that by the fan CFM, which is either 39 or our large fan at 96. And what you'll see in most cases on an average 10-foot shed is that they're uh replenishing air inside several times per hour. And so, when people say, Well, what that little fan, what's that do? Well, I like to show them the replenishment factor inside the shed, then they're like, whoa, six times an hour I'm getting clean, clothesline, fresh air pumped through my shed, and it makes a difference to the folks. But as far as I'd really like to hear from Jamie about if it creates an advantage for him over his competitors.
Jamie Krolczyk:And I use that same terminology too, the 39 cubic feet a minute. And I tell people, like when we're in a model or something I have over here, and I go, Oh, you feel that air? Yeah, every hour. I say the word hour, I don't want to go by minutes or you know, everybody, but it's pretty easy. I go, you get fresh air in here every hour. They're like, oh, that like it raises eyebrows. People are impressed by that. So even if my product is a little bit, say, more expensive or maybe the same price as someone around the corner, you know what I mean? That just kind of the products we have, the little items like that kind of might change or sway someone. Oh, they're you know, so that's kind of what's the benefit of having the product, they can see it on a model. They, you know, we have one here, we have on the porch. We you can put your hand up to it and you can feel the air sucking. Like, you know, you're you can feel the hand. So if you're like, oh, like so just that little stuff I think matters. It kind of's a great sales point, you know, sales pitch, or like you could say.
Shannon:Well, you know, Dan, you kind of took the question right out of my mouth for Jamie, and I wrote this down here. You know, does it does it help you sell? I mean, that's the that's the basic question that I want to the premise that I think a lot of people want to get to. Does having the solar blaster fans on your products, does it help you sell to customers?
Jamie Krolczyk:I'm gonna take it from Dan in case he wanted to answer. The answer is definitely yes. It's not gonna hurt anything, you know what I mean? I go on a on a on a value scale. We all start at zero, okay? There's negative and there's positive. There's nothing but positive with these vents. If you got the intakes right, even if you're in the east coast, like mission, like dancing where I'm from, there's moisture in everything. I went to my dad's shed this week, and there it's like humid in there. It's humid, and it's got tools in there, it's got a rust golf club set. Why what why should that be rusting in a shed? Well, I think Dan answered that question earlier. Moisture in the air, stagnant, you know what I mean? So the concrete bag theory, you know what I mean? So no matter where you're at, this it's pop, these are positive. They're only gonna help you, you know, sell something or help you promote your product better. It makes your product look better. It's like this, I'll put it like this. I just thought it was I have a Porsche. I saw I sell the Porsche. Well, there's a little fin I can put on it, it makes it look nicer. This is the fin, this is the little like attributes that can sell it for me. You know what I mean?
Shannon:Well, you said something earlier, Jamie. It's sort of a no-brainer. You know, I remember getting into storage uh, you know, sales in general, and uh one of my good friends mentioned to me at the time, you know, uh said, said, you know, don't these things kind of sell their self? Well, to some extent, but there's a certain level of like confidence and information that you have to be able to transfer about what these things actually do. But I mean, what is the purpose of purchasing a storage shed or a container in general, anyway? It's to store your things. So, like, why don't you want to take care of those things? The best way to take care of those things is to keep the air purified. And, you know, I think Dan is the one who told me this the first time that we did an interview near four years ago now, Dan, as you were like, you know, air is the best purifier that exists anyway. And I that has stuck with me now for so many years now. They're like, it doesn't matter what uh uh uh chemicals you use, this, that, and another. There's nothing better than opening up the windows on a nice breezy day and airing out the house. We've done this since I was a child. We do it still today. It sells itself, Jamie, to your point. There's no reason not to have it. And for the for the cost versus the value proposition, I feel like I'm pushing really hard to get the manufacturers to understand that. That's why I really wanted to have a manufacturer on here who understood the product and who could talk about it at a high level. But even you dealers who are out here listen today, go to solarblasterfans.com, get that number, reach out to us, go to our newsletter. Like I will get you in contact with Dan. I'll do all I can. Hey, wink wink. I'll even do all I can to save you a little bit of money. I don't know. I'll do I'll do my best work. Uh we'll see if Dan will let me. But you know, the idea is it just it's such a high value proposition for such a low additional cost, Jamie, you know, to add onto your line of sheds. And even if you're selling whether you're selling it in the installation and the prefab rollout of the shed, or if you're a shed dealer who's like, you know what? I know that you guys just bought this and we didn't actually install this, but I've got this product here called Solar Blaster fans. Check it out. Go watch a YouTube video on it, right? Understand how it works. You get a fairly, you know, uh fairly good do-it-yourselfer. Like you said, 10 or 15 minute installation. Now you've increased the value of the shed as it's sitting there, but more than anything, you've protected your belongings.
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Jamie Krolczyk:You made me think of something like I like Dan said, we never heard up. We have a lot of off-road vehicles, guys with side-by-sides, ATVs, little dune buggies. The first person I asked, the first question I asked people is Do you have to store something with gas in there? You got flammable stuff, you don't want to move air. Hopefully, you don't smoke either. If you smoke cigarettes, it could be a problem. You know what I mean? So that's another thing across the country. It doesn't matter where you're at. If you have anything flammable, chemicals, chlorine, pool stuff in there, get that air out of there. Get those chemicals, get the fresh air in there so you're not breathing that stuff in.
Shannon:I'll tell you what, you're exactly right. I've got chemicals, I've got pool chemicals in my own. And I'm sitting here thinking to myself, like, you know, like I so I have a solar blaster fan here uh at my office, and we have it here to show uh people whenever they come here, do podcasts or whatever. It's an opportunity for me to brag on those who, you know, uh uh develop these products, manufacture these products, put them out in the industry, have been doing it for years. Um, Dan, I'm gonna have to get one. I'm gonna have to buy one from you to actually put on my shed because I haven't done that yet. Like I've got it here, and I can't wait to carry it with me whenever I go around the country to all these different states and visit these manufacturers and show them a little bit more about it and so that they can understand how it works. Um but yeah, I mean I've got uh Jamie, you you're exactly right. Got pool chemicals in there, I've got gas cans in there. I mean, I walk in there and I it's just a plume of like smells immediately because of exactly what you're talking about.
Dan Rheaume:Uh no, you're Shannon, you're right. Air is God's natural cleanser. Anything with a smell or an odor that you want to clean, just hang it outside um a few days and it'll be clean. But Jamie uh has a database of customers that have purchased from him. And he can go back through that database now and send out a mailer, a flyer, and say, hey, we're offering this product. And who is your best customer, really? Uh, generally speaking, it's a previous customer that can tell how good um you've treated them. And so that's a real opportunity for shed uh uh companies to go dig into their database, send out a flyer and say, hey, we'll come install this for you, or we'll sell it and show you how to install it yourself.
Shannon:Man, I can't I just can't say enough good things, Dan. I've known you for four years, it's been an absolute pleasure. I get a chance to talk to you pretty regularly. I mean, half the time me and you get on the phone, we'll just talk about our faith, we'll just talk about Jesus, and then sometimes we talk about business or fans or sheds or things like that. But what I've enjoyed probably more than anything is just the nature of who you are. Um, can't wait for you to travel out this way, me to travel your way. We've talked about crossing uh each other's paths. Uh, Jamie, I really love what you're doing there, man. I want to know more about what you do. 30 years in this industry. What an amazing feat, man. Tell me, uh, give the audience uh, you know, we still got a few minutes here. We're maybe 45 minutes in, but you know, give me give me a little bit of thoughts on just overall what your experience has been with sheds, containers, and uh uh and things like that in your in your experience.
Jamie Krolczyk:Right. Like I said, we've trialed and erred. We used to build our sheds after a the probably number one most famous shed company. I won't mention their name, but my dad used to like kind of mold and model our sheds after theirs because they're from a Vegas company, like that's where we started. So uh why not try to emulate the best shed company in the world? But we've modified ours since then, you know, pressure-treated floor, four by four, like I spoke about earlier, the radiant barrier OSB. A lot of people don't have to use that other places, but it does to keep the temperature out. The winds are crazy out here. We use three-dimensional shingles on everything. I don't three tab shingle anything. So everything I do is either tile rows or three-dimensional shingles. So we've kind of I I uh I have a warranty with my sheds for up to five years. So I don't want anything to go wrong with my sheds, or I gotta come pay to fix them. So I build them the best I can. So when I say I've trial near at everything, it we have, you know, we have the six-inch heavy-duty hinges on the door, the barn doors, three of them. You know, we've reinforced and backed the doors with OSB. So, you know, I do I used to do pull-ups when I was a little younger in skin here. I used to do pull-ups on the doors in front of customers. Like, oh, like the they'd be like, is your door gonna stagger? How's this door gonna last? I'm like, let me show you. And I'd do a pull-up or two, you know, on the door. They're like, holy cow. So, you know, and speaking to that is as we get a little older, we like to do things a little easier. So, you know, we don't have the jigs anymore like we used to. We have it all figured out, we have the dimensions, the sizes we need. I like Dan said, I had the same crew I've had for years, you know, and people love them. So that's why I still have them because I tell people we're not just practicing, we got it down. Okay. Not like one of these other companies, oh, you know, I got a new crew, I'm gonna send them out and have them build your shed or whatever. So I tell people we're not just practicing. And then saying that is, you know, we've been moving towards containers. And like I was speaking to earlier, the keys crazy out here. So, I have a container, I put a solar vent and fan on my container. So, like I said, I can attest to that. So, we've kind of moved in other directions in the time. People used to ask me, Do you do containers? And I never did. I'd always say, No, I don't do containers. I was a I was a metal hater, you know, I was a wood guy. So finally, you know, I had a company call and say, Hey, you guys want to buy some chip containers? Well, how much are they? So, I got in the container business. I was sick of people asking me, Do I sell containers? Yes, I do. I sell both. What do you want? So, it's kind of um that's why I'm in business, I think, still, because we kind of traverse through the hard times, you know. We've made it through the hard. If I made it through those, I can make it through anything now, Lord willing. So we're here that long for a reason, because we build a good product and we're good for the you know what I mean. So that speaks for itself. Shed companies gone out of business in my town. I'm still here. There you go. Good for you, man.
Shannon:Good for you. I'll tell you what, I can't wait to get out that way. When I do it, we're gonna come see both of you. I think it's just awesome. We'd love to do a flyover with the drone or something and just show some of the different things that you guys do. Look, we always tell people here's one of the benefits of coming on the podcast is like, you know, we put this out in a lot of different places, so we create some really good backlinks and SEO value for you guys on your websites. We'll make sure to link that. You guys can take any of the content from the show today and promote it yourself. Put any of the clips into social media, into reels, into uh uh, you know, shorts, you know, use it on your website if you feel so compelled to. I love the conversation. We're sitting here creating content today, talking about cool and fun things, especially cool and fun partners like my buddy Dan over here at SolarBlasterfans.com. Uh, you guys be sure to check it out. Do me a big favor. If you guys listen to the podcast, you guys give Dan a call. Tell them the Shed Geek sent you. A lot of times, you know, there's just no way to know. You guys listen to the show, you listen to and you give somebody a call or you go fill the lead form out on our on our newsletter, you know, let Dan know. Hey, heard about you on Shed Geek, you know, uh give me some of that wink wink special pricing that Shannon's talking about over there, Dan. Um putting I'm putting you on the I'm putting you on a uh shopping block here. Well, I'm I rolled over you with the bus and I backed up again. Um, but I just know your heart, man. I've known you for four years and we talk and you're like you're such a take care of the customer guy that I really appreciate that. And it's pretty evident here with having Jamie, uh, your shed guy here today, your shedguy.com uh here uh uh speaking highly on your product after 10 years of service. So kudos to you, Dan. Uh Jamie, I'm so happy to have you on the show here today because you are a manufacturer who uses the product. You can people can call you, they can ask your opinion. You don't have to worry about Dan being this super slick snake oil sales guy. You know what I mean? They can call Jamie and say, what's your experience been like with this product? And I just can't, uh you know, I judge uh a lot about the person's, you know, uh company by the by the person running it. And if I know anything about Dan, it's been superb. I have really thoroughly enjoyed uh being a partner with him. And you know what, Dan, we're talking about a whole lot more for the future, possibly.
Jamie Krolczyk:Dan is the most sincere, genuine guy I know. He's really he's got a good heart. Um, he does put customer first, you're not BS in when you do say that. There's no doubt about it. Um I can attest to that myself. You know, like I said, I had one or two maybe little things go wrong right away, gone, sent it out. Maybe we took care of it. So he does he is a customer first guy. That's why I kind of appreciate his friendship too. That's awesome.
Shannon:Dan, anything else you want to share before we get out of here today?
Dan Rheaume:No, thank you guys, and thanks for uh all the shed companies doing business with us. We appreciate each and every one of you. Uh we live to serve you and your needs as they are, uh, with whatever they might be, and uh very thankful for friendships built in this industry, Jamie and Shannon and many others. Um, and uh we're uh very excited about the future. Uh it is bright, and um thank you.
Shannon:I'll tell you what, uh, one thing I know about Dan and what I feel like I picked up on just uh talking with you, Jamie, is that you're men of faith. We are too here at the podcast, and we really love you know that uh uh this industry is a very faith-filled, faith forward uh industry that we're not ashamed to talk about the love uh of Jesus Christ and all that he did for us. So you know what? It's probably been a little bit before we uh had a chance to say a prayer. If you guys don't care, I'll say a prayer. We'll end the podcast after that, and then if you guys will stay on for about a minute or two after that, I'll let you off the hook and then uh we'll get out of here so we can all get back to work.
Shannon:Uh Lord, thank you for this day. Thank you for the opportunity to not just be doing business, but to be doing business with those who are like-minded, those who share uh our values, those who share a vision uh for this world that is to uh um proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, uh, because he came to save us even whenever we were still sinners, Lord. And we thank you that you would send your son uh uh to take our place when we deserve um um we deserve probably not all the good things that happen to us uh every day. And because uh he took those stripes, uh we just say thank you for that because we are imperfect, but we're trying to uh uh just proclaim your name in an imperfect world and lead people to you and let our business be about that as we go about our days. Just help us to decrease so that you can increase in our conversations, so that you can increase in our business, in our giving, in our tithing, in our taking care of one another. Help us where we fall short, be a light to our path where we fail. Uh thank you for always giving us the opportunity. May you continue to open doors for Dan, for Jamie. Uh may you continue to open doors for this industry to grow uh and to do that uh with you in mind in everyday interactions and business. Um just thank you so much. We're humbled uh by your presence, we're humbled by the opportunities that you continue to give us. Uh Lord, we thank you more than anything today. We thank you uh for your son, and in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen.
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