The Ultimate Backyard Observatory: Stargazer Roll-Off Roof Sheds with Stoltzfus Structures

Stop lugging your telescope outside every night! In this episode of the Cosmos Safari Podcast, Dave Farina sits down with Mark Zook, CEO of Stoltzfus Structures, to discuss the Stargazer astronomical observatory. Whether you are a beginner looking for your first permanent setup or an advanced astrophotographer needing a dual-pier configuration, we cover everything you need to know about pre-fabricated roll-off roof sheds.

We dive deep into the technical side of backyard observatories, including concrete pier installation, and the new Wi-Fi-controlled roof automation that allows for remote imaging. Plus, get an exclusive preview of the Stargazer’s debut on the trade floor at NEAF 2026!

"A Special Thanks to Will Young at https://www.deepskydude.com/ for the right to use his awesome music.

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Transcript

Chapter 1: Introduction: Meet Mark Zook of Stoltzfus Structures
0:00Welcome to the Cosmos Safari podcast.
0:02
2 secondsI'm Dave Fina. In today's episode, we're going to be speaking with Mark Zuk, the CEO of Staltzfus Structures. Mark and I
0:11
11 secondshave a lot of history. We together were working on an observatory project back
0:17
17 secondsin 2018 or so. And through my time and experience with them, I can say
0:23
23 secondspersonally that not only is Soulsfu Structures Observatories some of the highest quality that I know of, they also have wonderful customer experience.
0:33
33 secondsI can tell you as a customer and this is great because I haven't had a chance to speak with Mark in many years and they
0:41
41 secondsare about to embark on something brand new this year. So, they're going to be attending the NE conference for the very first time and they're actually planning
0:50
50 secondson bringing one of their observatory sheds onto the actual trade floor and you'll have a chance if you're able to go to NE walk through it. And if you're
0:59
59 secondsnot able to actually attend NE, I do plan on going. I'll be making a video from their booth at NE 2026.
1:09
1 minute, 9 secondsAll right, welcome Mark to the Cosmos Safari podcast. It's uh great to have you on here um from Staltzsw Structures.
1:17
1 minute, 17 secondsUh we've been in communication lately which uh has been kind of an interesting thing cuz it's been many years since we had last talked.
1:26
1 minute, 26 secondsIt has been. It is great to be on with you Dave and really enjoyed chatting with you. So thanks for having me on.
1:33
1 minute, 33 secondsSo Mark I really uh want to make sure that people kind of have a good understanding of of who staltz
1:40
1 minute, 40 secondsstructures is. So this organization um is somewhat local to me and uh we together worked on an observatory
1:48
1 minute, 48 secondsproject in the past uh but you know we're we're coming up to a big event soon with Ne and we'll talk about that a
1:56
1 minute, 56 secondslittle later in the episode. Uh I really just wanted to introduce you guys to a wider audience because I I love what you
2:04
2 minutes, 4 secondsguys do and I really believe in in Saltz Fus's products. Um, so I just want to start off with saying that I I'm so excited for you guys uh that you
2:13
2 minutes, 13 secondshopefully get um a larger uh awareness about what you guys bring to the table. Well, thank you. I appreciate that.
2:21
2 minutes, 21 secondsAppreciate the kind words. So, I'll just go a little bit into depth of art history and who we are. So, actually
2:28
2 minutes, 28 secondsjust celebrated a a milestone about 3 weeks ago. It was our 50th anniversary.
Chapter 2: 50 Years of Craftsmanship: The History of Stoltzfus
2:34
2 minutes, 34 secondsSo, 1976. Um, so my dad, uh, Gideon Zuk bought the business, um, from a person
2:43
2 minutes, 43 secondsnamed Stallu, but his last name was Stallus 50 years ago. So our last name is Zuk. U, but that's where Stalsu structures comes from. The previous
2:51
2 minutes, 51 secondsowner, his last name was Stallu. So my dad bought it 50 years ago and since then has it has continued to grow and to
3:00
3 minutesand evolve into where we're at now. So kind of Lancaster County is kind of the shed and structure capital of the east
3:08
3 minutes, 8 secondscoast. So what developed um over the years is normally in the past we built kind of like your basic storage sheds
3:16
3 minutes, 16 secondsthat you see in the backyard. Most people's backyard they need a place to store things. You know we do a lot of sheds and basic structures but over the
3:25
3 minutes, 25 secondsyears it has developed a lot more into that. So basically what we love to do is
3:31
3 minutes, 31 secondsbuild portable structures. Um whether that is right now whether that's obser observatory buildings, whether it's saunas, uh home offices,
3:44
3 minutes, 44 secondsman caves, um double wide garages,
3:47
3 minutes, 47 secondsbasically anything that we can build here in our shop and ship to your place.
3:52
3 minutes, 52 secondsKind of how we did with the observatory building. That's kind of what we love to do and what we do a lot of today.
3:58
3 minutes, 58 secondsI've been watching your Instagram feed and I've seen your saunas and I cannot lie. I am interested. I'm very
4:06
4 minutes, 6 secondsinterested cuz Yo Yeah. Yeah. I I've I I've always thought I had a friend in um college whose parents had built a sauna
4:15
4 minutes, 15 secondsin their basement and when you when I saw you in that sauna, I was like, I really did enjoy that. I think I could I could be interested in that. You're doing a great job uh selling things.
4:26
4 minutes, 26 secondsBeautiful.
4:27
4 minutes, 27 secondsI love it. I personally have one on our back porch. Um I mean it's great health benefits. Um I love it. I love to do it
4:35
4 minutes, 35 secondswith my wife. We go out there after the kids are in bed. So it's a great time,
4:39
4 minutes, 39 secondsgreat place to get away, relax, great health benefits. So definitely we're seeing a huge trend in the wellness
4:46
4 minutes, 46 secondsspace. So, we'll have to talk later in the episode about how we can maybe, you know, addons to the observatory sauna.
4:53
4 minutes, 53 secondsRight. There you go.
4:56
4 minutes, 56 secondsWhile we're at it, right? 50 years though, that's this year. Correct. Wow. That's that's a big milestone. So,
5:03
5 minutes, 3 secondsum, what what are some of the ways that you guys are kind of celebrating that?
5:07
5 minutes, 7 secondsWe haven't had some huge things that we're doing for it other than kind of incorporating it with our client appreciation day in April. So that's kind of the main better main thing that we're doing with it.
5:17
5 minutes, 17 secondsAs we kind of transition here into our,
5:20
5 minutes, 20 secondsyou know, main discussion with observatories,
5:23
5 minutes, 23 secondshow did you guys start to think about maybe making some other types of structures? Because I, you know, storage structures are pretty standard. What
5:31
5 minutes, 31 secondskind of was the beginnings of of that branching out?
5:35
5 minutes, 35 secondsIt was actually my brother that kind of headed up the observatory structure.
5:40
5 minutes, 40 secondsThat was probably maybe 12 15 years ago. Um, and often what often what happens is somebody
Chapter 3: Solving the "Kit" Problem: Pre-Fabricated vs. DIY
5:48
5 minutes, 48 secondsbrings a problem to us and we love to solve it. So I think what happened is somebody came with an observatory plan
5:56
5 minutes, 56 secondsand they're like, "Hey, the only thing that we can get is a kit." And often times what you see with a lot of buildings, whether it's observatory or
6:05
6 minutes, 5 secondssay for instance even saunas, is you basically get it in a kit. And most people don't want to put it together. Number one, right?
6:13
6 minutes, 13 secondsLack of time, knowledge, just yeah, it's not something that you want to mess with. So I think through that it was
6:20
6 minutes, 20 secondsthen realizing how difficult it was to get a structure that would function in this case. Um, so we spent a lot of time R&D, what works, what doesn't work. Um,
6:32
6 minutes, 32 secondsand over the years it has just kind of to develop into where we're at now. And some of those changes have come within the last, you know, three or four years.
6:41
6 minutes, 41 secondsLike I, you know, I know for instance the the warm room that we added onto the porch, that was three, four years ago. I had a client came and was like, "Hey,
6:51
6 minutes, 51 secondscan you do it this way?" And then we just kind of made it part of our standard package. So it's kind of seeing a problem and then seeing that when we
6:59
6 minutes, 59 secondswere doing some research, it's pretty hard to find anything else like it. So that's kind of what made us kind of pursue the space a little bit more.
7:08
7 minutes, 8 secondsSo I was thinking back, you know, as we started to plan for this discussion today and I'm thinking back, okay, well,
7:14
7 minutes, 14 secondshow long ago was that? And I think it was 2017 or 2018 that we had started the
7:23
7 minutes, 23 secondsconversation and and kind of met each other the first time. So we're we're going like eight years ago now. Um it seems like yesterday. Uh but you know,
7:34
7 minutes, 34 secondsthrough that process. So, just so everybody knows, um, at my previous teaching job, uh, Mark and I had worked together on building an observatory on
7:43
7 minutes, 43 secondsthe school's campus. Um, and and as a result of that project, we got to work together quite a bit. Uh, the kind of
7:51
7 minutes, 51 secondschallenge I would say with that one was that it needed to be uh, considered like a commercial structure, right?
8:01
8 minutes, 1 secondwhich was a lot different than just a normal shed. It had to have all of the requirements of a commercial building.
8:07
8 minutes, 7 secondsUm an ADA access, you know, and I I personally um you know, he had asked in my email when we were kind of
8:15
8 minutes, 15 secondscommunicating back and forth some things that I could recommend. And you know,
8:18
8 minutes, 18 secondsone of the things that was kind of made real to me in 2010 is I had a bad skiing accident. And
8:28
8 minutes, 28 secondsduring that skiing accident, I blew out my ACL and my MCL and my lateral meniscus. And as a result, I was in a wheelchair for a little bit. And man, I
8:37
8 minutes, 37 secondscan tell you, you don't notice how much ADA access is missing when you don't have when you have to have it, you know.
8:44
8 minutes, 44 secondsAnd so when I was helping when you were helping me to go through the process of designing the observatory, uh ADA access
8:52
8 minutes, 52 secondswas relatively high up on my priority list already. And then of course because we're at a commercial building and a school it's required. So, you know,
9:01
9 minutes, 1 secondhaving that in mind, you know, we're not none of us get any younger. And it's something that I find was valuable to
9:10
9 minutes, 10 secondsme, uh, even if it was a personal observatory to just try to kind of sit sit there and think to yourself, you know, what would you need long term if
9:19
9 minutes, 19 secondsyou plan on spending, you know, the time and money uh to kind of make sure that you have an observatory. that's not
9:28
9 minutes, 28 secondsgoing to at some point be something you can't use. And to have that, you know,
9:33
9 minutes, 33 secondsramps and ADA access and that kind of stuff was kind of the requirement for me, but it's something I think I would want to do even in my own personal
9:40
9 minutes, 40 secondsobservatory if you can do that because um you know, the last thing you'd want is that you you spend all this money and time and uh you love it and then for
9:48
9 minutes, 48 secondssome reason later on in life you you want that access. Um so you know wider doors if in the design phase right that's when things are you know less
9:57
9 minutes, 57 secondsexpensive for sure and I I agree with going with the with your project being that it was
10:05
10 minutes, 5 secondscommercial being that it was a school the requirements were a lot tougher. Um I know we had to do engineer drawings
10:12
10 minutes, 12 secondsfor that township and commercial. So, we had to kind of work um kind of tweak some things here and there to not only
10:19
10 minutes, 19 secondswork with the engineer but work with the township, but um thankfully we were able to get it through and uh we're very happy with the outcome. So, let's take a
10:28
10 minutes, 28 secondsmoment here and we're going to have to be, you know, extra careful here to explain what this looks like to folks that are on audio only. Um but let's take a look at just what you guys have.
10:38
10 minutes, 38 secondsUm so, let's You have a few images to show us. So we have our shop here in Aklland,
Chapter 4: The "Mule" Delivery: How Your Observatory Arrives
10:46
10 minutes, 46 secondsPennsylvania. So we do pretty much all our structures indoors in the shop. So this is just a picture of the progress on one of them. So typically for those that are listening by audio only,
10:57
10 minutes, 57 secondspicture basically a shed. Um I'm assuming most people have seen a storage shed being transported down the road on
11:05
11 minutes, 5 secondslike a flatbed. So just imagine that and basically a modified structure. So, it
11:12
11 minutes, 12 secondsgets built um specifically for the roof to roll off. So, basically the way it's designed, it's the roof isn't put on
11:20
11 minutes, 20 secondstracks and then there's a garage door opener that controls the roof. So, all you have to do is click a button and the
11:29
11 minutes, 29 secondsroof rolls off. One of the really nice things about not only the observatory structures but also most of our other
11:37
11 minutes, 37 secondsstructures, the beauty of it is instead of having construction on your site for let's say a month or two months depending how involved the project is,
11:48
11 minutes, 48 secondsnormally the building can get done here at our shop and then it shows up on a truck something looking something like
11:56
11 minutes, 56 secondsthis. So if you see the small machine on the back of the truck, we call it the mule. It's basically a small forklift.
12:06
12 minutes, 6 secondsSo two sets of wheels go on one side of the building and the forklift goes on the other side of the building. driver
12:13
12 minutes, 13 secondspulls up to your driveway, unloads the building, and then uses the small forklift to pull it back to your site,
12:22
12 minutes, 22 secondssets it down on your site, and literally in a matter of like one to two hours,
12:28
12 minutes, 28 secondsyou can have the observatory building on your struct on your property. All you need to do is hook it up to electric and
12:35
12 minutes, 35 secondsit's ready to go. So let's say if you have the electrician there upon arrival normally it can be totally in place done
12:44
12 minutes, 44 secondshooked up with the electric and ready to use that evening. So oftent times you know people have their electrician come out later but here's just a picture of
12:53
12 minutes, 53 secondsit sitting on the foundation ready to use. So one of that's one of the things
12:59
12 minutes, 59 secondsthat makes it very advantageous uh not only for you as the client but also for
13:05
13 minutes, 5 secondsus it allows us to do uh a lot of the work inside a control facility and then bring it out to your place and in a
13:14
13 minutes, 14 secondsmatter of a day or two you can be using it.
13:18
13 minutes, 18 secondsSo as far as site prep goes, I know that you guys work with others as you know site preparation, but what does a what does a site preparation look like or
13:27
13 minutes, 27 secondswhat what are the requirements necessary? Uh I know what we had with my particular uh design, but I I also know
Chapter 5: Site Prep 101: Concrete Pads and Isolated Piers
13:35
13 minutes, 35 secondsthat was a commercial setting. So uh what do you recommend?
13:40
13 minutes, 40 secondsTypically for this structure, we do a flat concrete pad maybe 4 in thick the full length of the building. Um, and
13:48
13 minutes, 48 secondsthen where your telescope is, typically there, you want to do a 16inch round
13:55
13 minutes, 55 secondsfrost depth footing that goes down to the ground. Um, so normally that's wherever you want your telescope to be 16 in wide by like 3 feet, three and a
14:04
14 minutes, 4 secondshalf feet down into the ground. And the reason for that is, um, if you do a concrete pad that's only four inches thick, the concrete pad can move a
14:13
14 minutes, 13 secondslittle bit as there's frost in the ground. And normally your telescope you don't want to move. So that's why you have the pier going 36 inches down into
14:22
14 minutes, 22 secondsthe ground. That way there's no movement at all. So concrete pad basically that's all you need.
14:29
14 minutes, 29 secondsSo here's just a picture to show the meal in action. This is obviously a different structure, but you can see how the wheels go on one end of the building
14:37
14 minutes, 37 secondsand the meal goes on the other end of the building. So makes for a great delivery. You don't have to worry about the truck getting back into the backyard. You can just have the truck on
14:46
14 minutes, 46 secondsthe driveway or out in the road and then use the meal to bring it back to your to your concrete pad. Here is a picture of
14:54
14 minutes, 54 secondsthe concrete pad still in prep. So for this client, he had two telescopes. So you see the two pier sticking up in the
15:02
15 minutes, 2 secondsconcrete. Uh basically had custom brackets made with the anchor bolts sitting up. Basically just mount the telescope right on that. So made for a
15:10
15 minutes, 10 secondssuper easy install. I had used J hooks I think in the structure that I had built.
15:16
15 minutes, 16 secondsUh just to kind of you had those custom made by a friend, right?
15:21
15 minutes, 21 secondsUm the there was some components were custom made, but basically I had a I had a mounting plate
15:29
15 minutes, 29 secondsum that the J hooks went into and then those were sunk into the concrete. And then we left a a air gap with um the
15:38
15 minutes, 38 secondsmounting plate between two bolts that we could make adjustments in the future if it ever did shift at all that we would
15:45
15 minutes, 45 secondshave the ability to slightly adjust um the way that the pier was sitting so that if it started to move um we would
15:53
15 minutes, 53 secondshave some tolerance that we could work within in the future. Uh it's not super necessary but I you know tried to think of everything because you can't undo it unless it's in concrete.
16:02
16 minutes, 2 secondsSure. That That's exactly right. Without a ham, without a jackhammer, which I was not interested in.
16:09
16 minutes, 9 secondsOh, that's exactly right. Uh, one other picture just to show a little bit just to give the listeners a little bit of a view of the interior. U, this is
Chapter 6: Roll-Off Roof Mechanics & Weatherproofing
16:18
16 minutes, 18 secondsbasically a side picture of the sidewall roof. So, you see the track with all the mounting brackets with wheels. That is
16:27
16 minutes, 27 secondsbasically the roof and the track. When the opener opens it, the roof just slides across, allows you to view it.
16:35
16 minutes, 35 secondsOnce you're done viewing the sky, you just push a button, roof slides back on.
16:39
16 minutes, 39 secondsThe one thing that's nice about it is because it is a garage door style track that it fully encases that wheel um that
16:47
16 minutes, 47 secondsthey roll on, meaning that, you know, as far as the roof when it rolls out, it's still kind of connected. There's not way
16:54
16 minutes, 54 secondsno way it can like blow away. Um, and I know that's one of the things that people when they're designing their own observatories, uh, some of the concerns is how do you kind of keep the roof, um,
17:05
17 minutes, 5 secondswhen it's rolled on or off from having that problem? And the way you guys have designed it, it just makes sense. Uh,
17:13
17 minutes, 13 secondsit's it's using standard hardware. um which you know as far as not that we would expect too many problems but you
17:21
17 minutes, 21 secondsknow it's it's things that you can get easily I would imagine because it's all garage door hardware.
17:27
17 minutes, 27 secondsExactly. One of the things that I thought was kind of interesting when when we were designing the observatory at the school was that up until that
17:36
17 minutes, 36 secondspoint, I don't know that anybody had done like a proper pier and you and I had had a discussion about how do we incorporate the pier into the structure.
17:46
17 minutes, 46 secondsUm because what we ended up doing is we poured the slab and then we brought the building in and then we poured the
17:54
17 minutes, 54 secondspeers. It looks like you're doing that a little bit differently now. Uh, but I did see in one of the images that it does have like a hole in the bottom of
18:02
18 minutes, 2 secondsthe shed structure that's kind of like a window almost where you can allow the pier to come up through.
18:10
18 minutes, 10 secondsCorrect.
18:11
18 minutes, 11 secondsThat just goes that just goes along with R&D and, you know, figuring out better ways. Um, so basically the way we do it
18:19
18 minutes, 19 secondsnow is we recommend typically what you want to do is you want to pour your pad and then where your concrete pillars
18:26
18 minutes, 26 secondsare, you want to allow just, you know, a eighth to quarter inch buffer around the pillar. So you don't want the pillar and the concrete pad to be attached.
18:37
18 minutes, 37 secondsThat way if there is movement movement in the concrete pad, it doesn't affect the telescope. Um, so now the way we do it is typically,
18:46
18 minutes, 46 secondsum, the picture that I had shown, that one was a little bit harder because he wanted to have his peers sticking up out of the concrete a couple inches.
18:54
18 minutes, 54 secondsRight?
18:55
18 minutes, 55 secondsNormally, it's best to have the concrete pier be the same level as the pad. That
19:02
19 minutes, 2 secondsway, we can bring our structure in, set it down, and that's it. This was a little bit harder. Um, so now what we do is we basically get the location of the
19:10
19 minutes, 10 secondspier, cut out a hole in the floor where the pier is going to be, bring it in,
19:15
19 minutes, 15 secondsset the building, and all you have to do now is bring your mounting bracket in and fasten it to that pillar. I believe
19:22
19 minutes, 22 secondsin that client's case, he had some type of custom bracket that he needed the Jbolts to be out of the concrete first.
19:31
19 minutes, 31 secondsYes.
19:31
19 minutes, 31 secondsAnd then once the building was brought in, he just put his telescope right on top of that.
19:37
19 minutes, 37 secondsRight. So, um they come in various different sizes, right? So, what's what's the typical process when a
Chapter 7: Custom Sizing: From 8x8 to 12x14 Dual-Pier Setups
19:46
19 minutes, 46 secondscustomer says, "I'm interested." Uh where does it start and what does the process look like for you uh and for the
19:55
19 minutes, 55 secondscustomer in terms of planning? Um because I'm sure a lot of people who are listening to this podcast might have an interest. Um, so what what type of questions do you oftentimes get?
20:07
20 minutes, 7 secondsSure. So, we we do have a limited range of sizes. Because of the roof needing to roll off, we're a little bit limited on
20:15
20 minutes, 15 secondshow large we can go. So, the largest size that we offer is a 12 by 14. Now,
20:21
20 minutes, 21 secondsthat is the actual room size. So the actual length of the structure is more like 28 feet because you have
20:30
20 minutes, 30 seconds14 foot for the roof and now the roof rolls off which you need another another time that length. Um so our smallest
20:38
20 minutes, 38 secondssize is typically 8 by eight which is fine for one telescope. Uh normally the larger ones allow you two two telescopes
20:46
20 minutes, 46 secondsif you want or you can just you know have plenty of space around the telescope. So kind of the initial phases normally the sales team connects with
20:54
20 minutes, 54 secondsthe clients and just hears kind of what their vision is. Um different questions like hey is a permit needed? Um some
21:03
21 minutes, 3 secondsplaces townships don't care. Other places townships want permits um building permit, zoning permit, etc.
21:13
21 minutes, 13 secondsThat's probably the biggest hold back is just permits. Um, other than that, we try to keep it simple on our end.
21:19
21 minutes, 19 secondsAnd oftentimes when clients come to us with a dream, they've already put a lot of thought into the observatory.
21:26
21 minutes, 26 secondsSo, they know, hey, I got one telescope.
21:28
21 minutes, 28 secondsI want this much, you know, space around it. So, I feel like most of the clients that come to us are pretty well prepared, have kind of done their research, have seen some of the kits,
21:39
21 minutes, 39 secondsand it's like something they just like they don't want to mess with. um they want more quality structure. Um so it
21:48
21 minutes, 48 secondsfeels like by the time they reach out to us they already have kind of a lot of their research done.
21:54
21 minutes, 54 secondsOkay. Uh so one of the things I know we had discussed when I had gotten it originally in 2020 I think was our final
22:02
22 minutes, 2 secondsdelivery date. We have a garage door opener but I believe you said you're now going to ones that you can actually remotely access. Is that accurate?
Chapter 8: New Wi-Fi Automation for Remote Imaging
22:14
22 minutes, 14 secondsCorrect. We just switched probably within the last 6 months where it's Wi-Fi controlled. Um, so now you can be wherever you want to be, open the door.
22:25
22 minutes, 25 secondsUm, so some people, you know, they can live in New York, they can have it out in Arizona and just control it from there. So that's made it really nice.
22:32
22 minutes, 32 secondsUm, so that's been a big upgrade.
22:34
22 minutes, 34 secondsThat's huge. Absolutely huge. Even if it's just outside and you don't feel like walking out, right?
22:41
22 minutes, 41 secondsSo when when you're talking about having one in Arizona, my my first question thought
22:49
22 minutes, 49 secondsfirst thought is where are you able to deliver to?
22:53
22 minutes, 53 secondsWe deliver nationwide. So our our main our main area is like east coast,
22:58
22 minutes, 58 secondsnortheast, anywhere from Maine to South Carolina is kind of our main line of work. Um but we ship nationwide. We have
23:06
23 minutes, 6 secondsgreat drivers. So we we typically use the same drivers like 8 to 12 drivers that are hauling out of here all the
23:14
23 minutes, 14 secondstime and we go nationwide. So pretty much wherever you want to want to want to set it. One of the things I I have a
23:22
23 minutes, 22 secondskind of interesting question. I know when we had gone through the process you were doing most of the designing. Are you still doing that? I know that your
23:29
23 minutes, 29 secondsrole may have changed since uh we had worked together. or are you what is your main role at at Stfouse?
23:38
23 minutes, 38 secondsSo my main role is right now as CEO so I am uh out of sales kind of out of design. So I guess my main thing is
23:46
23 minutes, 46 secondsworking with the different teams to try to keep everything running smoothly. Um so I am not personally involved typically in sales. I work closely with
23:55
23 minutes, 55 secondsthe sales team with marketing with production. Um, so I hear a lot of like um a lot of things that hey, here are
24:03
24 minutes, 3 secondsways we can improve. Here are some things we should do different, etc. Um,
24:07
24 minutes, 7 secondsso that's my current role. I love what I do. I love being involved in kind of all aspects. And I think one thing that's been helpful for me is I worked um out
24:17
24 minutes, 17 secondsin the shop. I worked out on site. Um, I worked in drafting, worked in sales. So
24:24
24 minutes, 24 secondsthat's a big benefit, big advantage for me is now being able to see kind of the different functions. Um, so I love what I do. I love being involved in the different uh different departments.
24:35
24 minutes, 35 secondsRight. You've worked your way through every one of those issues, you know,
24:39
24 minutes, 39 secondsthat firsthand you've experienced. And I'm sure respectfully, you know, like you can walk into any of these places
24:46
24 minutes, 46 secondsand be like, "Hey, you know, I I was doing this one at one point and I did it in this little bit different way, you know, and that's helpful as a CEO, you
24:55
24 minutes, 55 secondsknow, to have that uh personal experience. So, that's that's pretty cool.
25:00
25 minutesI'm pretty I'm pretty involved in the shop. Like, I walk through the shop, you know, multiple times a day typically.
25:06
25 minutes, 6 secondsAnd you know, some of the new guys that start like within the last two to five years, they just see me as an office guy
25:13
25 minutes, 13 secondsand in their mind they think like, "What does he know?"
25:16
25 minutes, 16 secondsI usually have to joke around with them and say, "Hey, don't make me put a tool bag on."
25:22
25 minutes, 22 secondsBut no, it's we joke around, have a good time.
25:27
25 minutes, 27 secondsSo, NE um the Norththeast Astronomy Forum uh the
Chapter 9: Stoltzfus Structures at NEAF 2026: See it in Person!
25:35
25 minutes, 35 secondsbiggest of all of the different telescope and observing events in the world uh this year. You're going to be
25:43
25 minutes, 43 secondsattending um as as a as your your organization is going to be attending. So, what do you guys have planned?
25:50
25 minutes, 50 secondsWe are and super excited about it. And I don't know, were you the first person that told me about Ne? I think I was.
25:59
25 minutes, 59 secondsIt was I think you and Jay both.
26:01
26 minutes, 1 secondYeah, Jay, I believe. I think you you had said Yeah, I think Jay may have talked to you first about it, but I was like trying to encourage you to go.
26:10
26 minutes, 10 secondsUm, so I'm excited for you guys.
26:13
26 minutes, 13 secondsDid you ever meet Jay? Didn't he come up? Didn't he meet up with you when he was looking around? He had wanted to talk to client.
26:21
26 minutes, 21 secondsI think you're right. I think he did.
26:23
26 minutes, 23 secondsAnd if he didn't actually meet him in person, I know we definitely had a phone conversation that was pretty extensive,
26:28
26 minutes, 28 secondsbut I I believe he may have actually come out and visited my the observatory that at the school.
26:33
26 minutes, 33 secondsYeah. So, we're excited. So, thanks to you and Jay for uh introducing us and telling us about NE because that is much
26:41
26 minutes, 41 secondsmore your world than our world. So after hearing it from both you and Jay where was like hey you guys need to go to NE
26:49
26 minutes, 49 secondswe started looking into it and super excited to be there this year and just seeing um what we have. So our plan is to bring an actual unit to the show.
26:59
26 minutes, 59 secondsUm so we rented some booth space. So I think we're bringing a 10 by14 to the
27:06
27 minutes, 6 secondsshow. Um, and I think the big thing with that is, you know, we could have came, could have, you know, put banners up,
27:15
27 minutes, 15 secondspictures, whatever. But just being able to walk into something and walk around into it, see the roof come off, all that
27:23
27 minutes, 23 secondsthing. I think it's going to be very valuable and and yeah, great for people to just walk through and look at.
27:29
27 minutes, 29 secondsThere's no comparison. None. Like there's what you're doing is the is the best way. Absolutely. to be able to look
27:37
27 minutes, 37 secondsthrough it and feel the space and understand, you know, people get to understand it because not everybody's a
27:45
27 minutes, 45 secondsvisual person or able to think three-dimensionally and you can explain it all you want. You can show as many pictures as you want and it just won't
27:52
27 minutes, 52 secondsclick. Um, but once you're in it, it's it's there. It's very very clear. So,
27:58
27 minutes, 58 secondsand you get to feel the quality, I think, which is something that I I stress because it's true. You know, you guys are experts at your craft and this
28:07
28 minutes, 7 secondsis what you guys do, not just with the observatories, but like in volume, man.
28:12
28 minutes, 12 secondsLike you guys have a this is not a it's a mom and pop, but it is a extremely
28:19
28 minutes, 19 secondsefficient machine of a mom and pop organization. Like you guys are just awesome at How many sheds do you guys make a a year?
28:28
28 minutes, 28 secondsUh usually between 2,000 to 2500,
28:32
28 minutes, 32 secondsright? So to you know that that's I think a major differentiator there is just that the volume that you're used to
28:39
28 minutes, 39 secondsproducing is uh you've worked out all the bugs you know and that's not observatories that's not observatories
28:46
28 minutes, 46 secondsall of them but it's but it's certainly uh a a craft that's very similar in every almost every way.
28:53
28 minutes, 53 secondsCorrect. One thing I'm disappointed about NE is I won't get to see you there because unfortunately I have a wedding
29:00
29 minutesin North Carolina that weekend. So I wanted to be there and then the wedding came up. So disappointed that I won't get to see you there, get to see Jay,
29:10
29 minutes, 10 secondsbut uh it's going to be in good hands and we're excited to see what the outcome is.
29:15
29 minutes, 15 secondsSo So who are you uh sending? Who's going to be attending? So we have Brad who is often attends the shows and then
29:24
29 minutes, 24 secondshe's planning on being there and then Jay is also planning on being at the booth just helping out. So it's going to be great to have him there just being
29:32
29 minutes, 32 secondsable to walk through people like hey this is what I did with my observatory.
29:37
29 minutes, 37 secondsLove it. Here's what I would do different etc. And um you know one of the things that has changed since I think I mentioned earlier is you know
29:45
29 minutes, 45 secondsthe observatory or the warm room that we added onto the observatory. So in your case it wouldn't have worked out because
29:54
29 minutes, 54 secondsyou needed a bigger warm room. Um we're limited to what we can do on the warm room because of some building
30:02
30 minutes, 2 secondsconstraints. We're limited to what we can do on the warm room. But we've made a worm room come off of typically the
30:09
30 minutes, 9 secondsthe deck side of the observatory which in years past was just dead space. It was part of it had to be there for the
30:17
30 minutes, 17 secondsstructure but otherwise there was really no use for it. So we added a worm room.
30:22
30 minutes, 22 secondsWe're limited to height, but basically you got enough enough of space to be able to go in there, set up a desk, you
30:30
30 minutes, 30 secondsknow, set up your computers, uh enough space for one, maybe two people. In your case, you needed a a larger obser or a
30:38
30 minutes, 38 secondslarger room for students, things like that. So, it wouldn't have worked out in your case, but um that's been a big thing and looking forward to showing
30:47
30 minutes, 47 secondsthat off at NE as well. So, one of the things I I would like to do is just to offer if you guys are interested. I
30:55
30 minutes, 55 secondsgenerally come around um when we're at NE with my camera and just have a chance to talk um with the vendors and I really
31:04
31 minutes, 4 secondsdo like to talk to the new vendors that have been there for the first time. So,
31:10
31 minutes, 10 secondsum kind of give the heads up I guess if you guys are interested to Jay or or um the other gentleman's name
31:17
31 minutes, 17 secondswas what again? He is Brad is he has his one arm is like stubby
31:25
31 minutes, 25 secondsand he is on fire. I mean, you talk about wound up and his stubbies waving around and he's like full.
31:35
31 minutes, 35 secondsHe's a good guy. Lots of energy.
31:39
31 minutes, 39 secondsSo, yeah, I generally just come around and, you know, we we can walk through the observatory, which is going to be an awesome thing. So, if you guys are
31:47
31 minutes, 47 secondslistening um after NE, that's going to be one of my first uh videos that I publish for sure. Uh the the walkthrough
31:54
31 minutes, 54 secondsif you're unable to get there, and I realize I'm fortunate to be about two or so hours away from NE, so I'm there every year, but I know some of you
32:02
32 minutes, 2 secondslistening, you know, have that distance factor to consider. Um so, I'll do my best to really provide you guys an
32:10
32 minutes, 10 secondsexperience that you, you know, feel like you're there.
32:14
32 minutes, 14 secondsI'd be great. It' be very helpful and then I can go back and watch it.
32:20
32 minutes, 20 secondsRight. Right. Because you're not able to be there. You're not able to attend. So, we'll we'll always have next year,
32:26
32 minutes, 26 secondsright? You guys are going to be back every single year. This is this is the first of many. So, I'm excited for you.
32:32
32 minutes, 32 secondsHopefully. So, in the past, um the way we've done it, we have not done a lot of marketing behind it. It was just kind of one of those products that, you know,
32:42
32 minutes, 42 secondsit's been there, we carry it, but it's not something that we put a lot of marketing behind. And that changed about a year ago. We started uh advertising in
32:51
32 minutes, 51 secondsone of the astronomer magazines. And then, you know, obviously this year going to NE. So, currently right now,
32:59
32 minutes, 59 secondsanywhere from maybe 8 to 12 a year. Uh,
33:02
33 minutes, 2 secondsbut we definitely have, you know, the potential to scale that. So, as far as what we want to do in the future, we
33:08
33 minutes, 8 secondswant to continue to build custom quality structures. Um, so we are we love, like
33:16
33 minutes, 16 secondsI said earlier, taking problems and solving it for people. Um, so we want to scale it. We want to continue to add
33:23
33 minutes, 23 secondsvalue. And the the feedback that we're hearing from clients that have gotten this is just mindblowing. Um, so we just
33:31
33 minutes, 31 secondswant to continue helping people and and providing value to them.
33:36
33 minutes, 36 secondsWell, I really appreciate you coming here uh to talk with us today. I think we definitely are going to have a really
Chapter 10: How to Order Your Stargazer (mysheds.com)
33:45
33 minutes, 45 secondsgood time at NE and I I can't wait to have a conversation with Jay uh about
33:52
33 minutes, 52 secondsyou know his experience because as as I said I've had my own personal experience working with you guys. I was part of the
33:59
33 minutes, 59 secondsprocess of uh helping Jay to to get his observatory started, but I haven't spoken to him since. So, it's going to
34:06
34 minutes, 6 secondsbe exciting for me um to get that facetime with him that uh is kind of after his experience, you know,
34:15
34 minutes, 15 seconds100% look forward to having you guys connect. Jay has been great and uh we've had a continued relationship, so looking forward to having you both connect.
34:25
34 minutes, 25 secondsAll right. Uh well, if you are interested in learning more about Stoultzu structures, what where can we find you guys?
34:35
34 minutes, 35 secondsSure. So, our website, we decided to keep it simple and not do stalls structures since everyone would have to ask how to uh spell that. So, our website is mysheds.com.
34:48
34 minutes, 48 secondsSo, find us there. We have a wide range of products. Anything from sheds,
34:53
34 minutes, 53 secondsgarages, observatories, saunas. So website, it's going to be a huge u information for you. Um reach out to our
35:02
35 minutes, 2 secondssales team. We'd be happy to help you and kind of help you along in whatever structure you need. And if you want to follow him on Instagram, you'll get
35:10
35 minutes, 10 secondsMark's face uh popping up on your feed and jumping into saunas and all sorts of
35:16
35 minutes, 16 secondscrazy stuff, right? So, uh I know that I follow you guys there and that's that's my main contact uh in the social world.
35:25
35 minutes, 25 secondsSo, Instagram, what's uh I'll put everything in the contact for the Instagram as well as website. Instagram, Instagram and Meadow. So,
35:33
35 minutes, 33 secondswe're constantly posting pictures,
35:35
35 minutes, 35 secondsvideos, um kind of what we've been up to. So, yeah, follow us on social. Um visit our website if you're looking at some of our products and we'd love to
35:44
35 minutes, 44 secondshelp you out. Maybe I can get on your feed. That'd be kind of cool at at NE, right?
35:50
35 minutes, 50 secondsWe'll get we'll get some time. Uh we'll we'll do some crosspollination, right? That would be fantastic. Awesome. Thank you so much, Mark.
35:58
35 minutes, 58 secondsAppreciate you coming on. Absolutely. It's been a pleasure, Dave.
36:02
36 minutes, 2 secondsIf you're still listening and like this podcast, please consider becoming one of our Patreon patrons. Memberships start as low as $3 per month with benefits
36:11
36 minutes, 11 secondsincluding opportunities to ask questions of our guests. Also, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing this podcast to help us bring the universe even closer than you think.