Cook Beginnings: Excess Lumber, An Old Fishing Trailer and Ingenuity

Excess lumber, a handy carpenter and an innovative father/son team clumsily brought Cook Portable Warehouses to fruition. Before the first building was even completed, they’d already sold it to a local man who decided the color, the roof style and more. They hadn’t even said it was for sale yet!

“We really didn’t know what we were doing. We just knew we were going to build a building and hopefully get rid of it,” Greg Cook, president and co-founder said. So when the man asked how much, they talked through a price and he paid a deposit and left.

“That’s when my father and I looked at each other. We didn’t really think about this, how are we going to get this to this guy’s house?”

That’s when a little bit of ingenuity and drive came in.

“I can remember our first delivery trailer was actually an old fishing trailer that my father pulled up out of the junkyard basically. We had a guy weld a little board on to the top of it. On that fishing trailer we had a boat crank on the front and it had a tilt deck deal. We’d hook the rope up, my dad would get in the front and crank the crank and I’d get a pry bar and pry the shed up onto the trailer. Then we’d switch when one of us got too tired. That’s how we delivered our first portable buildings, on an old boat trailer.”

That first trailer that the Cooks designed became the inspiration for the trailers we use today at Cook Portable Warehouses. But, we’ve added a few upgrades since then.

“We designed the first one and now many people in the industry use this exact same kind of trailer,” Greg said.

Our delivery trailers now have a hydraulic tilt deck on them. There’s a wench on the front and roller deck. So the shed rolls up the deck and then you set the tray of the trailer down so you can tie the building down.

Then, once we deliver it to your location, we also install it using something called a Mule. After adding rollers underneath the shed, this little three wheeler machine allows you to guide a shed into really tight places so customers get the shed exactly where they want it. You can see it in action in the video below (in a hurry? Skip to 29 seconds).

“So the very first building we sold wasn’t even fully built yet and the customer already was asking if he could have it this way and that way and have it delivered to his location,” Greg explained. That level of service is still available at Cook today. You can build your shed online or talk with your local dealer about the custom options you like best.

We don’t just make a shed. We create a blank canvas for whatever your storage needs are. Since 1984, we’re proud to help our customers find more space for when you need room for your stuff!