TUFF SHED, Inc. is the leading supplier of installed storage buildings and garages in the United States. The company’s $154 Million in sales during 2005 easily makes it the largest of its kind in America. With 48 factories and more than 1,300 employees nationwide, TUFF SHED is poised for even more growth

Celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2006, TUFF SHED was founded in 1981 on a simple premise “To provide its customers with a superior product, built by employees who care about what they do, and backed by a credible warranty.” The visible difference in engineering design, materials and workmanship has always set TUFF SHED apart from its competitors.

While TUFF SHED has been expanding to new markets across the United States, the State of California has been “TUFF SHED Territory” for a long time, with the company’s first California facility opening in 1988. The San Diego factory opened in 2002, and is now one of eleven manufacturing facilities in California. Combined, the California TUFF SHED locations have accounted for the most sales by state each year since 1997.

A big reason behind the quality of our buildings is who builds them. Almost every single TUFF SHED building ever sold has been built by a full-time, well trained TUFF SHED employee – not subcontractors like many of our competitors use. We invest in the right equipment and tools, and train our personnel to use and understand the equipment and materials. Furthermore, our attention to detail goes beyond delivering a top quality finished product and includes things like keeping a clean and safe and professional worksite.

“It’s really the people that make TUFF SHED a great company,” says President and CEO Tom Saurey. “That’s why we’ve tried so hard to create an environment that rewards performance and encourages good employees to build a career with us.”

Upon taking a look around the company, it’s hard to argue with Saurey’s approach. It’s not unusual to find employees, at various different levels, that have been a part of the “TUFF SHED Team” for ten, 15, or even 20 years. TUFF SHED attracts and retains quality employees with a company philosophy that focuses on:

• Quality Work Environment
• Teamwork
• Opportunity to Advance

TUFF SHED strives to provide employees with a positive and healthy work environment. This environment is fostered through:

• All The Basics (i.e. 401k, health benefits, competitive pay, paid time off, drug-free workplace)
• Change Management
• Employee Access to All Levels of Management
• Safety

Examples of creating a quality work environment:

1. TUFF SHED understands the importance of communications. That’s why the company has established communications tools to facilitate the sharing of policies, company news and even best practices. A regularly published newsletter and company intranet provides employees up to date information, and staff of employees at the corporate office provide support and clarification to store employees with questions about policies, benefits, etc.

2. TUFF SHED has developed a store safety program designed to reduce job-related accidents. Product innovations have even resulted from efforts to reduce employee health and safety risks. The development of the steel floor joist is an example of one such innovation, as senior management did not like the idea of company builders handling treated lumber products.

The team approach starts with shared values. Hung on the wall in every store, and addressed in our employee informational booklet, it states, “TUFF SHED, Inc. values its reputation and its employees as individuals for their dedication to teamwork and customer satisfaction.” But because teamwork can’t be fostered only by a plaque on the wall, here are examples of some other initiatives that have helped make teamwork part of the everyday fabric of a TUFF SHED facility:

• Team Approach to Customer Service
• Teamwork and Customer Service awards given annually to top stores
• Various Performance and Annual Profit Sharing Plans

Examples of the team approach at work:

1. While the individual factories are competitive with each other, they also understand that they are on the same team. This has led to stores and corporate departments sharing employees, inventories, best practices and budgets.

2. TUFF SHED takes customer service very seriously, and has developed a customer service approach that mandates the coordinated efforts between sales, management and construction teams. By working together to anticipate and eliminate potential problems, these teams make sure the customer gets the right building for their needs, built in a timely manner, and by a crew that completes the job professionally.

3. Factory stores are judged by customer responses to questions regarding helpfulness of sales staff, timeliness of completion, quality of building and even things like keeping a clean and safe and professional worksite. Additionally, one store in each region is recognized each year for exhibiting the highest level of teamwork.

Many TUFF SHED employees began their career with the Company in a different capacity. It is a point of pride that TUFF SHED is a great place to launch a career, not just hold down a job.

Examples of how TUFF SHED has created career opportunities include:

1. Using his own entrepreneurial spirit, Tom Saurey has given individuals the chance to run stores and regions, and be responsible for their own business decisions and profit and loss ledgers, helping to create additional entrepreneurs within the TUFF SHED family. Three of TUFF SHED’s four Regional Managers began with the company in sales or construction, and more than 80% of TUFF SHED factory managers served as TUFF SHED builders and/or sales consultants prior to managing a factory store. This experience has not only given those individuals the chance to run a business, it has also allowed TUFF SHED to home grow its talent, and ensure that the factory managers understand exactly what it takes to provide quality customer service, motivate staff and produce high quality buildings.

2. At the corporate office, a former store manager is the Chief Operations Officer, former builders direct our Field Operations and run the Engineering Department, and former administrative staff members are now working in Accounting, Human Resources, Marketing and Purchasing Departments

3. Our manager trainee program has allowed TUFF SHED to keep up with its rapid expansion, with new managers now getting hands on experience with managerial decisions prior to running their own factory store.