Toy Storage Nation is pleased to welcome MakoRabco Executive VP Angie Guerin to the TSN Advisory Board. Angie has over 25 years of experience providing self-storage developers with optimal construction solutions, with an emphasis on strong negotiating skills, a focused customer-service approach and a depth of industry-specific knowledge and relationships. She manages and leads the company’s business development initiatives along with mentoring a team of regional sales managers and representatives.
Find out what drew her to the industry, what she finds most gratifying about her career, along with industry insights, in this TSN exclusive interview.
MakoRabco has been a highly regarded player in the self-storage industry for decades. Can you give us a brief history on how it was founded and evolved over the years?
Mako was founded in the early 90’s as a pre-engineered building solutions company and quickly stumbled into a growing self-storage market. Unlike a lot of metal building companies in our space, we actually cut our teeth in storage first with the boat and RV market. In the early days of our business, we built about a million square feet of boat and RV storage in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., a prime boating destination that draws tourism from California, Nevada and Arizona. In those early years, it wasn’t hard to envision building a company and a legacy in this industry.
Storage, in all of its forms, has remained a passion for our company and represents 95% of our annual volume. After 30+ years in this space, we offer building solutions in all 50 states and staff two offices, one on each coast, and remain focused on evolving our products to meet the needs of our storage client and maintaining an edge with a customer-focused experience.
What initially drew you to the storage industry and what keeps you here?
In the late 90’s when I began my career in storage, I didn’t know that there were many people that dreamed of a career in this space, so my journey to storage was a bit of a happy accident, and one that I will always be thankful for. Storage, by and large, is one of the greatest groups of people I have encountered. I’ve been lucky to have developed relationships in this space that over time have become a family of friends, colleagues and mentors. I stay because, as they say, “ If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Can you tell us the full-range of products and services MakoRabco provides?
MakoRabco is a metal building company that specializes in the construction of storage. We offer a flexible, client-based solution on every project and have design and construction capabilities to meet any need of a developer relative to building systems.
We build single-level and multi-level storage, enclosed boat and RV buildings, canopy systems, conversions and clear span buildings.
We typically design, supply and install our own products and have a nationwide capability to serve clients no matter what geography they are building in.
What separates MakoRabco from other manufacturers in the industry? Why should developers consider working with you as opposed to other building manufacturers?
There are few core philosophies that separate our business from the pack. We are unique in that we have nationwide expertise, but that isn’t usually why a developer or GC will choose to work with us. We have a high benchmark expectation for quality in every interaction. Trustworthiness and capability are an emphasis in our operations. We first aim to be problem solvers, to be nimble enough to help our clients and produce solutions in all aspects of their metal building construction, and then to couple that with the efficiency of a talented, well-oiled machine with the bandwidth and buying power to offer competitive pricing with an elevated service package.
We grew into a big business, but remained entrenched in a small business personal experience for our clients. Doing the right thing is easy–and we’ve empowered our team to keep that as a core tenet in their interactions. As a byproduct of that, we find that the most important differentiator is our people. We run a very people centric company, and know that if we take good care of our employees they spread that goodness to our client base.
Do you find many developers are interested in building exclusive RV and boat storage, or are they looking to expand their traditional self-storage sites into a hybrid facility?
Roughly 50% of the storage projects we build today have some component of boat and RV storage in the overall design. It’s a stable, low turnover product that still has high demand in areas where storage may have been overbuilt.
We have many clients, though, who are focused on the boat and RV space – and love to hear the excitement around this segment of the business and the innovation in construction that is tailormade to the boat and RV tenant.
How does self-storage design differ from RV and boat storage? What are the advantages of developing enclosed units as opposed to canopied storage?
Aside from being a storage building on steroids (Taller! Wider!) boat and RV storage tends to have a more stable, sticky client base–so the client experience on site seems to be a more driving force in developing concepts. From an engineering standpoint, there are nuances with bay spacing and height that can impact how we construct a building that can impact a budget, so we like to spend time on the front end with our clients talking through the cost/benefit of decisions they make at that concept level.
While we see a lot of the “bells and whistles” with enclosed RV storage, most RV developments include some element of canopy construction as well. Canopies are, by nature, a lower cost construction than traditional enclosed and provide the shade coverage with a higher rental basis than open-air parking.
What is the best advice you can provide to RV and boat storage developers?
With any developer, on any project, the best advice I can give is to hire a talented and experienced team of consultants during engineering and design. A great, experienced stable of consultants early on may seem like a big expense but they will pay for themselves when the shovel hits the dirt.
My recommendation is always to kick the tires of your own project until your toes bleed, and once you’ve crossed that threshold, bring in experts that can reinforce your excitement and keep you moving towards your goals. That ammunition will supercharge every decision you make after that.
Lastly, how do you enjoy spending time away from the job?
Outside of work, I am a bit of an adrenaline junkie and my family will tell you, I’m a little bit type A as well. My hobbies include off-roading in the desert and boating in Havasu in the summer. On the day-to-day, I work closely with KureIt, a charity founded in the self-storage Industry and one that hits close to my heart. I also try to spend as much time as I can with my teenager, knowing profoundly how quickly time flies.
For more information about MakoRabco’s products and services, visit the company website.
