design consultant

regional sales manager

facilities maintenance technician

communication specialist

sales executive

Tuff Shed

What is the best part of working at the company?
Industry leading product. I enjoyed working as a manufacturer rep with the fine people at Home Depot!  Was an enjoyable, but taxing, job when they had competent and ethical upper management.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Trust. Manipulation of leads and migration of sales was unacceptable. Factory couldn't retain people and too much of "the process" ended up back with sales.  Distractions from selling due to those vacancies and dealing with sub-par builds and displays turns one into an apologist to the Home Depot and their clients. They view their rep differently if the factory doesn't address their concerns. It's not that the factory didn't want to...they just couldn't handle their business. 

One keeps good records, expecting to get paid in a timely manner only to find that the factory & regional management was disinterested with salesmen getting paid. They owed me a large number that kept growing, bottom line is they don't want to pay, and with the pre-employment paperwork one must sign...they frequently get away with it!  If you go to HR you won't get help or answers; termination is more probable.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Was very enjoyable when they had proper leadership in place! Key element pivots on if the factory manager (which is a very difficult position) can build a team. I sensed they didn't get what was necessary from above to do so and thus took shortcuts which affected everyone.

Was a bit rah-rah and competively fun for a time.  I was a top performer in sales and KPIs in the NE region. Goal post kept getting moved. Two million in sales doesn't get one into the President's Club.  No one in the NE has gotten in for the past two years. Why, for cost cutting reasons? When you're not recognized for performance and can't trust that you'll get paid for the same...affects culture. 



What is a typical day like for you at the company?
I was able to make my own schedule which was great! A number of weekend events were mandatory. Keeping the phone on meant many unexpected late, early, weekend calls.

I've been with this company for 7+ years in a sales position at the factory.   Just like any other sales position, you get what you put in.     If you pay attention to the training, effectively use the resources available to you, and continue to learn from the veteran sales team that is willing to help you, this can be a great opportunity to make $100k+ great benefits after your first year but you will work to get there.  There is not much down time and you will spend the majority of your time meeting with customers face to face, on the phone, or via email/text doing follow up.  The primary role of this position is helping customers understand the different options that we offer, understanding customer needs and helping them design a building that fits their needs. Tuff Shed buildings are higher quality than the competition and therefore come with a higher price tag - you'll be justifying the price/building value with most clients in order to close the sale.  In many areas, you will also need knowledge of local permit/zoning/setback requirements to design the building within the code for that jurisdiction.  As the primary point of contact for customers, it can get hectic when permit or installation issues arise but I am fortunate to have a management team that is quick to help me resolve these issues with unhappy customers.  The Sales Design Consultant position is an important role in the company with potential for advancement if desired - there are several employees who have stayed in this role for 20+ years by choice and several  who have advanced to general manager, sales managers, etc. 


Pros

Great product if built correctly. You get to interact with lots of interesting people. Have a product to fit most budgets. You can honestly tell customers the only limitations are their imagination and their budget.

Cons

You will see lots of negative reviews regarding pay. This is why. As a sales design consultant you are classified as an I 7 employee. This means you are not entitled to overtime pay it does not matter how many hours you work. Your floor rate is $12.50 per hour or 150% of minimum wage. The commission rate is 5.5% up to 8.5% depending on how much money you collect (don't confuse this with your sales objective) in the YEAR. You have to put in an insane amount of hours to meet objective or make any real money as a result you can toss out any semblance of work life balance. You will be regularly encouraged to pick up the company provided phone on your day off. You are working for a licensed general contractor that has a vary casual understanding of the Florida building code. While I was there Tuff Shed's license in Duval county was suspended at least once. In Clay county it was suspended multiple times. Tuff Shed had expanded into Florida previously and pulled out because of the recession but also because the permitting process is one of the most difficult in the nation. You will spend at least half your time dealing with issues that have nothing to do with sales. See above. Management will spend a lot of time talking about sales and objectives and extremely little talking about money. While I worked there I would regularly pull up commission reports that were wrong or incorrect and management was not exactly eager to fix the problem. Also don't expect that you will get a copy of your commission report with your paycheck (you won't). This is the only sales job I've ever held where you weren't clearly told exactly what you being paid for.

Advice

Get it fixed

I worked in two different job positions and locations for Tuff Shed, as an Admin for their location in Denver, CO and in their corporate office as a call center rep for chats and calls. As an admin, you spend your day being overworked and over stressed, you have to get paperwork together for builders for the next day, most of which aren't taken or are lost or never filled out. You have to submit signed paperwork to Home Depot so the company can get paid. You check AR logs and have to call people for payments. When I worked there the management was terrible and there was always chaos. When I switched to their corporate location, I voiced my concerns for the location and how sneaky stuff seemed to be going on. They allowed contractors to bring underage kids on site, they gave big builds to crews that were doing terrible and losing us customers, and more. In the BDC, their corporate office, there were 3 workers and then our manager. My manager was gone pretty much all day and one of my coworkers was on vacation a lot or didn't talk at all, so it was one guy teaching me. In my opinion, he should've been the BDC manager, but it wasn't my choice. Anyways, I ended up switching to the BDC after my manager never replied about me coming back from maternity leave. The BDC was really cool, I got to work from home every once in a while until my manager go sick of it and told me no more. It was about an hour commute from my house so I tried working from home when the weather was bad. After I left I found out they cleaned house in both the places I worked at because shady stuff was going on. They left a lot on the BDC reps, making us cold call customers that sales rep didn't want to make and more. Thankful I left both places before stuff hit the fan, for lack of a better term. Miss the company though.

I moved to Texas from the UK, had an initial online interview from the UK and then had a physical interview 4 days after I arrived in Texas. The interview was relaxed and very informal.   Having now worked here for 5 months, I certainly feel at home. The managers that I have had dealings with are friendly, helpful and there when you need them. Being based at an office all alone, can have it's down side, but you certainly get out what you put in. Management encourage you to treat the business like your own and do not bombard you with the hard sell mentality of days gone by. They will help guide you and support you and recognize the effort that you put in. It is certainly not a difficult job, yes there are elements of stress as there are with all jobs. But there is less stress with Tuff Shed, than any other job I have done in the past. The fact we have a basic wage that increases with your sales performance as well as commission, is a big bonus too. I always know, that even during the quiet sales times, I will still have a wage. During the busy times, the commission is very welcome. Would I recommend working for Tuff Shed. YES 100%, especially if you want to help build a business that you yourself will profit from.  So if you want the small business family feeling, with the large business success and support. Tuff Shed meets those wants perfectly. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Great product to sell that beats the competitors hands down. If a potential customer appreciates quality and professionalism, they will buy. If they are only buying based upon price, they will not. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Meeting the sales quota is not realistic in smaller market locations. There is poor marketing support and success greatly depends upon your location. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The culture and management is very positive but getting a high number of qualified sales leads is next to impossible. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Quite a bit of follow up is necessary to be successful in any sales job. Doing so takes up most of the day - mostly phone calls and texts to pending quotes. The office phone number comes up as SPAM and management turns a blind eye to this. It’s necessary to text new customers before calling - otherwise they will not pick up your call. If you are lucky enough to have a customer walk in for a quote, you have a 35% chance they’ll buy on the spot. Otherwise you’ll be calling and texting them for months without much success. You need a hard skin for this business and don’t expect an increase in hourly pay unless you consistently hit their monthly targets. Locations in large cities do well. Showrooms/lots in small cities do not.

I have been with Tuff Shed now for 10 years and it has been the best move I have made in my career.  I had previously worked for two separate fortune 500's and they really do treat you more like a number.  Both of those where great places but Tuff Shed has never treated me like a number and has always valued what I can bring to the table.  The opinions and suggestions of all employees at Tuff Shed are valued.  The people have been the basis behind the Tuff Shed culture and are the reason for the innovation and growth.  It is not always the easiest job in the world and varies based on your position but every position has an opportunity for future growth.
I have held numerous positions with Tuff Shed all have been both challenging and rewarding and I have met so many good people along the way.  Our CEO is the most genuine person you will ever meet.  He truly cares about the employees and customers alike and base a lot of decisions around what would benefit them better, not the bottom line.

I would strongly recommend Tuff Shed to anyone looking for a growing company with opportunities.  You will never regret joining the team!

Typical day is spending 6-8 hours at Home Depot sitting at a table 5 of 7 days a week.
Work culture is your supervisor visiting you at the store without notice, HR supports no notice, no counseling firings, management asks hourly employees to work off the clock to avoid OT pay, and overall they want you to work harder not smarter.
High turnover of all local positions, Most people have been in position less than a year, 7 managers in 7 years Haven't received an annual performance review in years
Mass title demotion from managers (ASM) to specialists (ASDS), 

If you are interviewing for any manager position, stay away! 

Training is 100% a sink or swim environment where you are given keys to your factory and a wave “good luck” from your “manager”. 
When attempting to develop or promote jr leadership you will be met with every roadblock known to man to prevent you from building your team. 
If you make the wrong decision, your gone. 
If you ask for help to not make the wrong decision next time, your gone.
If you uncover issues with financial mismanagement, favoritism and abusing Home Depot’s relationship going back multiple years to pervious managers (who have been promoted), your gone with the quickness. 

There are people STILL there who should have been fired years ago but they have mastered the art of “failing up” to the point most of the top tier of leadership is filled with these people. Meanwhile the less favorite managers have no opportunity to make any sort of mistake without yanking their career out from under them. Do yourself a favor and pass on tuff shed unless you love horrible company politics, unknown culture and no backing from your management team. 

As a permit tech, they expect you to get permits approved quick and cost-effective but their engineering team does poor quality work. They take a very long turn around time to provide engineering plans and most times they are missing important information or are left oversimplified and with expired or incorrect ICC and LARR numbers. Durin peak season there is much work and little time to rest. I constantly had to work through lunchtimes because of the driving distances and once you are meeting with city planners and engineers you can't simply say it's my lunch time, let me come back in 30 minutes. You simply have to clock out from your mobile phone and continue working. I had many bad experiences but that was the most unfair of all. If you push too hard for getting what you deserve or point out real problems they take it as criticism and get defensive and take it personally. Its a culture of pointing fingers and sucking up to management. No on the job training. And GM's can miss lead you into doing things that are unethical in order to boost up production. I brought up a medical condition to my GM and got terminated the next day.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Design consultant 2 salaries reported	$87,500 per year
Regional sales manager 7 salaries reported	$47,171 per year
Facilities maintenance technician 4 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour
Communication specialist 3 salaries reported	$28.67 per hour
Sales executive 2 salaries reported	$67,500 per year

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