Ryan: 0:20

Hey everybody, ryan Garland here, founder and chairman of Paradigm. Thank you very much for watching Paradigm Shift Podcast and in fact, ryan is building us a podcast table all custom and he's going to be our main sponsor for our podcast. So I'm really excited to have him here because I think this is going to be very enlightening on what it is we're doing for Paradigm as a firm, moving forward and developing our projects and how we want to lean into the manufacturing side. So before I can I even chalk it up, how do you pronounce your last name again? Basnardo, basnardo, basnardo. Yes, basnardo, so don't hold me to that. Sorry, I'm not the best at names, but his name is Ryan, so I better never forget that.

Ryan: 0:57

You got that part yeah.

Ryan: 0:58

I never forget that. So real quick, so it's kind of cool. I want to tell you maybe I don't think I told you a story. So there's a gentleman by the name of David Colley. David used to be my old videographer. His family knows you from Corona, okay. And so when I was posting you on my social media, his brother, aaron, and both David texted me and like hey, we know that guy, we've been looking up to that guy because they're now building barn stuff for like all the rails for the horses and cattle and so forth, and so he's building all that stuff and I guess apparently they've been following you forever because they're from Corona too.

Ryan: 1:29

Yeah.

Ryan: 1:30

And so they're like he's a godfather in the industry and I'm like that's good to know. So, right out the gate, great reputation just from a friend of mine, you know, and Collie used to work for me, so he was, I mean, nicest kid, very savvy, very smart. That was my first full-time videographer and you know, to hear him say that about you was really cool because I I'm watching his business grow and he's in that space at some level.

Ryan: 1:50

So but yeah, why don't we really? The idea is just to kind of highlight who you are, your background, your level of sophistication to my network and the objective is to highlight why paradigm is stepping into this realm and what we're seeing. That's going to be a trendy slash, good investment moving forward for our investors, but how we're going to create sustainability as a firm too. But manufacturing overall is a dying breed in some cases here in the country. You don't have to go political on it, but you're seeing a lot of manufacturers closing down, especially steel manufacturing. So, before I go far, a little bit about you, your background, how long you've been in the space, your level of sophistication as far as what you have going on now here in Lake Havasu.

Ryan: 2:35

Well, it's funny you mentioned the Cully brothers because what got me into manufacturing was off-road racing. My family I come from a long line of metal just my grandfather was a tool and die maker machinist. My father was a machinist and retire, both retired from that industry, you know. So it was always in my blood. But I started out in business. You know, in life and through business I started in off road racing. That's where I know a lot of the video people and whatnot. And through off-road racing and racing in general we developed advanced manufacturing facility and that led me here to Lake Havasu. I've been coming here for 35 years. It's been a place that's near and dear to my heart. And about five years ago now we moved our manufacturing facility from Southern California, corona, california, to here in Lake Havasu. We repurposed an old Kmart building here that's 122,000 square feet and my life's work is machinery.

Ryan: 3:31

So the manufacturing business in all has changed quite a bit over the years because technology has obsoleted. A lot of what's happened in manufacturing, especially in the last decade, happened in manufacturing, especially in the last decade. You know, advanced manufacturing machines have really redefined how we manufacture and are able to make things. So a lot of technology has put a lot of people out of business because they haven't kept up with the times. So we're really happy to be involved with, you know, all forms of the technology in terms of all the computer science and what they bring to the table.

Ryan: 4:07

And then all of our machines are all CNC machines and whatnot in our facility here in Lake Havasu. So we have a lot of capacity at our facility here which we're excited about. You know all kinds of new business in terms of that. But really manufacturing steel manufacturing today can happen much faster than it than it did in the past. Previously steel manufacturing, you know you had to to punch a panel out, you had to make, you know, a dot you know, and this, this, you know that has to be designed.

Ryan: 4:39

You know that piece, that tooling has to be designed and then made To create a whole tool just for that part. 100% for each part.

Ryan: 4:45

Yeah, Now you can. You know we have digital press brakes and you know fiber lasers and robotic towers and things that can make parts and repeat those parts as if you did have the tooling one-off tooling to make them, and it's as simple as being able to have computer operators to draw that part to the tolerances and your machines can kick it out. Now there still is an absolute place for a machine shop, and that's different from what I'm talking about. The machine shops haven't changed very much at all, but when you can incorporate them with the sheet manufacturing and the other steel manufacturing and robotic welding and all these other things, now you can really bring a complete product together as a whole and you can do it rapid you can do it in the masses in the masses and rapidly, and the you know the ability to replicate that part over and over again, the exact part without you know these, these crazy tooling is is really the key and and what's changed in the last decade with, with steel manufacturing.

Ryan: 5:48

So I think that has a lot to lend you know to it. The fact that that you know government programs rapidly are changing, that has a lot to lend to it, you know so. And then there's, you know most of what you think is a steel manufacturer today is really a broker. There's so many brokers in the space it's unbelievable. So brokers go to brokers go to brokers.

Ryan: 6:07

I can see off on that. I keep going yeah.

Ryan: 6:09

We see a lot of that, you know. But you know it's something that we have a passion for and we love to build product and bring product to the to the end user, to the consumer, and we like like to do it fast. So you know we made a incredible investment here in Lake Havasu to be able to do that on a rapid level. And you know some of the brands. You know one of the major brands that is sponsoring your podcast today is our 10-day door brand. So we looked at steel doors and you know steel doors used to be all built, was made and designed in America. You know used to be all be built here out of tube steel and you know in the last 15 years that's changed a lot of the almost 99% of those that products imported you know.

Ryan: 6:50

So we, we kind of brought back a complete new design to the steel door and made it better than ever before.

Ryan: 6:57

I think I have a steel door in my building and I think my builder was using you for all his doors, so I was already opening your doors before I met you man, that's great.

Ryan: 7:06

I appreciate that Hope you're enjoying it.

Ryan: 7:08

I'm like the guy who built the door. I'm so excited, right.

Ryan: 7:11

Doors Sounds silly, but everybody needs a door.

Ryan: 7:14

Let's be honest, man, when I grabbed that door, even my wife did. She's like this is a cool door. I'm like right, this thing. It took my whole body weight to open but man, it felt masculine, masculine, right, it was great. So there's really true to it. Like the door is cool doors, man. Thank you, I appreciate it.

Ryan: 7:28

But anyhow, you know, I really like and our team. You know when I say I, it's we. We have a great team. You know, yeah, I have a master machinist that runs our machining crew and our machine shop and really does overlooks all of our machinery in the shop, eddie Farrington, which is just an absolute asset to our team. You know somebody that I actually found here in Lake Havasu, so or he found me, one or the other, I think it was he found me but absolute asset to our team and really our biggest asset is our people. You know the people that we have and the team that we have. It's by far, and I've heard you say the same thing about your team. So you know, I enjoy working with you.

Ryan: 8:03

That's where I think the alignment is, Even when you and I were talking about our controllers you know the people who do all our management, all our bank accounts and so forth.

Ryan: 8:10

you know, that kind of leads into another question that I think a lot of people are just bypassing on other podcasts, which is labor. You know that is a problem. People have concerns that here in Lake Havasu that's a big concern with certain construction trades and I, you and I discussed this. As soon as you expressed what your practices are, I automatically knew you got it handled. So if you don't mind, let's talk about that, because I want people to know the difference between you and what a lot of these other manufacturers are doing, and by just kind of your practice I think people will see it.

Ryan: 8:40

Well, my response in labor is we have to pay at the top of the labor scale. If you want the best, you have to pay for the best. If you expect the best, you have to pay for it. And you know you have to have the proper benefits and the facility for individuals to grow and flourish in. And you know I'm not afraid of hiring somebody without any skills and to give them those skills you know. But you know the benefits are key for labor. A future is key. Full-time work is key, you know caring about, you know your team and their family and even if you don't take a personal interest in it, having you know the systems and you know the policies and the procedures set up for them, I think is absolute key. I mean, people are. You know, without people nothing works. You know.

Ryan: 9:29

I, you know, I've learned just everybody has hardships in life. You know, when you, you know you're really trying to work to make enough money to go home and have some sort of a decent life. You know and give to the ones that you love. Yeah, I really appreciate that part of the conversation because when we first talked, there's your culture inside your company. When I walk into any company, any office, what have you? I could feel the energy.

Ryan: 9:53

Sure.

Ryan: 9:53

And that's just kind of over time, me being in so many different rooms around the world and because I naturally talk to people about money, that's usually the most sensitive subject, sure. So I feel like I have an ability to read people and their energy and body language, and that's one of the great things that I felt about your environment is, obviously you're scaling up to have north of 300 employees, but to see how they are all operating and how they all, how cool they are, I mean, all the guys were there on a saturday afternoon. The guys are coming back and like we'll be here Sunday morning. Like man, they were like excited to come on Sunday morning. When do you find guys like that anymore? You know, like can I bring them over here here and there?

Ryan: 10:36

But it's true, to be able to have that environment and people want to work, I think is really key. But that does tell what kind of product you're going to create and perform. But are you going to be able to hit your timelines? That we're all leaning into? You know, and that's where I think a lot of operators like me need to touch on more podcasts if they're even going to go down this road, meaning you know everybody that you're going to align with right, like when I looked at this, there's about 300 people that were employing in this one project. When you look at everybody that's involved at some level from our subs to architects, engineers, everybody then you try to understand every company underneath that. And right now I think in today's market, you need to pay attention to that more Because, for example, my architect or my engineer or my electrician, you know, one of the concerns are like are you grandfathered in at a supply house? You know how, what size of business do you have? Are you going to get certain treatment to get certain materials? Like? Those are conversations that people need to have probably more often. I'm watching a lot of operators not know how to how to really vet that.

Ryan: 11:39

So you know, syncing up with a group like yours not only your track record 30 years right Plus, like you said, your family but the way that you operate, and I want you to talk about the level of cuts and calculations and a little bit more about your operation. Manufacture all of our buildings, especially the barn caves, when we're thinking, look, we want to do 35 locations, we want millions of square feet. You know that is a. You need to look all the way down to that level. That's the detail that needs to be implemented right Is down to even the manufacturing side, and that alone is a problem, you know. So let's go into. You know the level of cuts and you have aerospace contracts and then let's talk about just overall, the industry itself and the problems that are being had.

Ryan: 12:32

Sure Well, timeline-wise.

Ryan: 12:34

The way I look at timelines, ryan, is they're objections that just need to be overcome.

Ryan: 12:39

So if we care and we put our thought process into it, we can always overcome them, as long as we have the proper facility and the assets to do so. Now, one of the things about me is I do everything in-house, and I mean everything 3DCAD, you know I have a whole team that does that. We operate an up-to-date solid with 12 seats of solid works that we operate to exporting the numerous of those designs to the numerous different programs that run different machines, whether it be in the G code in the machine shop, you know, at the cutting levels, to the machinist that Eddie runs and whatnot that we spoke of earlier, whether it be to the advanced manufacturing steel equipment or to the coating, you know we have the ability to scale up or down at any, you know, at any level. So if I have a project that needs a coating and I'm going to wait on a coater or a third level, you know, vendor on something, I typically will build an oven in a spray booth to get it done.

Ryan: 13:41

Right.

Ryan: 13:47

So you know they're just objections to. You know that need to be overcome. That's why I've made such an incredible investment in our team and our facility here that I'm not at capacity at, because I've made such an investment in this. So that's where I really enjoy our conversation and watching you with your projects and, you know, because I think that if I can align myself with somebody like you and bring those projects to fruition much faster, I think the whole world wins.

Ryan: 14:07

We're having problems. For example, let's talk about the equipment we're talking about. Think about buying. You said on average and I agree with you that we have roughly, let's say, 54,000 pieces here at Paradigm Storage, 225,000 square feet. The equipment that we're working on getting is going to produce 68,000 cuts a month.

Ryan: 14:31

Well, that's one piece of the five equipment. So, in essence, really what we'd be able to do you have about 26,000 pieces in this whole facility of one of the machines that could produce 64,000 pieces?

Ryan: 14:44

Got it, got it.

Ryan: 14:45

So in essence, with the machinery, we'd be able to build two of these facilities a month in a in a month is a 22 day 500,000 square feet of yeah In a month, and it's just with these beginning machine, you know machines that we're talking, that we have conversation about.

Ryan: 15:02

There's more out there but this, there's so much more to our product because, you know, I mean, look at all of our, all of our walls. I mean we're, you know, fully insulated. You have panels on both sides of the studs. I mean there is a lot more here than most storage there really is.

Ryan: 15:18

So that'll give you an idea. One of the things that I build, I mean it's really. I mean, if you look around and this facility in particular, the spacing, you know really the ease of use of everything and the quality. Like you said, everything's double insulated and this is a harsh environment where we are here.

Ryan: 15:35

Well, right now it's 108 outside.

Ryan: 15:38

Right.

Ryan: 15:38

It's 74 degrees and we're doing pretty good.

Ryan: 15:40

Yeah, we're doing pretty good inside here in one of these facilities. So you know when, when somebody has a two and a half million dollar boat or you know they have these big, they like to have it in this type of facility.

Ryan: 15:50

So and they need to. They have to, yeah, or it's ruined. They're ruining your stuff. Yeah, it's literally a true investment to keep your toys, or even your toys, are investments you know, indeed, so you gotta you know, indeed, indeed, so you got to take care of it.

Ryan: 16:03

But anyways, keep going. Sorry, no-transcript that, but you know, I think really what for us, we see a lot of bottlenecks and and the materials and so forth with, uh, with all these buildings, and the delays we've had have been, I mean, you know, if we want to do millions and millions of square feet, that we can't have those issues, yeah, and and you know, at the same time, we want to be able to deliver results when we say we're going to deliver something.

Ryan: 16:54

I don't?

Ryan: 16:54

I hate feeling like I got to rely on somebody else and then that person's not being honest or truthful, because us, as an operator, it's hard to really be honest with everybody else when we're just relaying the message. So I'm kind of getting to the point where I'm like, okay, we're already seeing bottlenecks and this is kind of becoming more problematic for every developer and operator that I'm talking to, that is, in self-storage metal buildings in any shape or form. So I'm looking at it going well. Not only can we stop the bleeding and us not have so many issues and bottlenecks on materials if we are manufacturing our own buildings and obviously saving money and making better investments and so forth, bringing down risk.

Ryan: 17:34

Meeting timelines. Timelines and everything else.

Ryan: 17:36

And in fact I mean we can get to a point where we are taking our pro forma and cutting it in half because I'm designing everything around the issues that we're already seeing in the industry. Sure, in half because I'm designing everything around the issues that we're already seeing in the industry, If I can say okay, well, those issues don't exist because we're manufacturing our own buildings. Now our profit goes through the roof because I'm cutting my timeline a lot. That's a different level.

Ryan: 17:53

And getting the product that you initially intended to get.

Ryan: 17:56

Yeah, this is more institutional grade. Go get $100 million line of credit, $200 million line of credits. These are the practices and strategies that you have to implement when you're looking at going big. So, on top of revenue, additional revenue stream. So now I can go to all these other operators and builders and developers that I have great relationships with and go hey, I know you're having issues, but we're manufacturing buildings. I don't have enough. You and I have equipment that can handle way more than what I'm needing, so let's produce that on top of you know, now they can go back to having a standard, regular business model too.

Ryan: 18:31

Because, again, the biggest problem right now in this industry as an operator, from my standpoint, is getting this material on time at a good, at a good price. A lot of prices continue to adjust and that's okay and we get all those. But if we'd like to know kind of what you're getting yourself into early on, so here's your deposit, here's what it's going to be, guys like us, go buy all the material. That price is fixed until we deliver, you know. But that's a, that's a. That's a big help, you know for guys like me.

Ryan: 18:58

It's funny to hear you say that too, because really what lies in the middle of that is multiple brokers. So that cuts into your profitability, that cuts into your timeline. I mean both.

Ryan: 19:08

It's wild how much these brokers are making.

Ryan: 19:10

Like.

Ryan: 19:10

I'm not trying to do.

Ryan: 19:12

Yeah, everybody's got to make a buck. This is business.

Ryan: 19:14

But these brokers, I mean, I'm thinking we're probably paying 35%, 40% more than what that building could cost us.

Ryan: 19:22

Yeah.

Ryan: 19:22

Just with broker fees than what that building could cost us?

Ryan: 19:24

Yeah, just with broker fees. Yeah, if we continue down the road that we're going down, you'll really have a 122,000 square foot manufacturing facility. That will be able to cut a lot of the brokers out of all the product. Because, like I said, we don't just build steel buildings like most steel building manufacturers build, we build everything. Yeah, so we have you alluded to it. We have a full 9001 ISO machine shop, you know with. We have six vertical mills, we have two, eight access lays. We have, you know, a multiple multitude of machines that can build any and every product. So, and then you know, all of the measuring machinery to make sure that that product's being duplicated. Then we have an enormous advanced manufacturing facility in that we have a big fiber laser tower, robotic machines that can run day and night to provide, you know, let's say, we're doing roll-ups we were talking about earlier A lot of what hold that up isn't the paneling, it's the hardware.

Ryan: 20:17

Yeah, so the garage doors yes we're able to create that hardware right in-house ourself, and you know our machines can run overnight, yeah, you know. So we can literally make hundreds of thousands of parts monthly in the facility. But I think what the biggest part is is what's lost in translation between the middlemen, you know, and that's, I think, talking to so many investors, and especially you, and really getting in tune to your operation. That's really, I think, where I can really shine when we're working together, and I think how you can really shine for other investors is there is no middleman. They're dealing with one person you, me and you. Yeah, well, you're dealing with me and we're us, you know. So it's real Order some more spools.

Ryan: 21:00

dude, we got another order.

Ryan: 21:01

Let's go.

Ryan: 21:09

I mean, it's not that difficult. No, it really isn't, but that you know all the way down to just to be a little more, just full disclosure here. You know, we just had some issues with one of our buildings and the load calcs weren't right. Yeah, and you know, we're adding some more material and come to find out, the broker that we're working with was even outsourcing the engineering yeah so the original engineer that stamped and stamped the building originally for the approvals.

Ryan: 21:25

they didn't go back to that same engineer to do the additional load that we were putting up on the work route and it's like and now so, of course, that new engineer creates a lot of liability for them.

Ryan: 21:35

So of course they're not going to put their name on that and it just became more and more problematic. So, even from an engineering side, which is also a dying breed, bad fast, big time. I think the idea is for us to go in and acquire that, which also helps. Again, you know other operators and developers saying, listen, not only we manufacture, we got engineering for you here in-house and they work for us exclusively so you can have open dialogue with them. You know that type of stuff to kind of help these guys get through it.

Ryan: 21:59

You know, and obviously having rob on the architectural side, a lot of these things, we I think ultimately we can start helping other developers and builders build their dreams and actually get the buildings and then again the store or the garage doors. That's another huge piece of you and I were just talking before the podcast. I know builders right now that are building single family homes but can't get their garage doors and can't get their COO and sign off on the house to be able to sell it because they can't get a garage door.

Ryan: 22:26

I mean that's a simple piece, but you know again you and I talk about it offline the amount of problems that we're seeing on the manufacturing side and they're relying on so much material coming overseas. That is a problem. So we can fill a niche and create additional revenue streams which protects the corporation and the brand, and then bring in all kinds of wonderful things here. You're one of the top 10 employers here now.

Ryan: 22:50

Indeed yeah.

Ryan: 22:52

So just the support and the community support and help. It's just like I say all the time, if it's a win-win, I think that's the way that makes any investment in any relationship flourish.

Ryan: 23:03

Yeah, I couldn't agree more.

Ryan: 23:04

I think that was really kind of it that I wanted to touch on. I think there was, and I don't want to. We don't want to spill the beans too soon. We'll do a second podcast for sure, but other than that man, is there anything else you want to add?

Ryan: 23:14

not unless you can think of something. I think I'm good man, so perfect, right on well, thank you, guys, all very much.

Ryan: 23:18

We'll do a second one and a third one, I'm sure, especially when he brings the new podcast table over, as they are our sponsors.