Michael Baez, a former engineer, designed his own overhead garage storage product after having a negative experience with a product he purchased at a home improvement store in 2001. Baez says his design, called TUFFRAX, can support up to 1,500 pounds and is available in 11 different sizes. Kare, his wife, joined the company as a partner in 2004. Since he started selling TUFFRAX in 2003, the revenues of their Carlsbad-based company has doubled every year.

How do customers and distributors find out about TUFFRAX?  

Karen: A lot of times, people come to us, but this year we are making a really concerted effort to look for distributors and dealers throughout the country. A dealer would be a cabinet company or garage flooring companies that can sell this product alongside theirs.

Michael: Cabinet companies know people are starting to get smart about overhead storage. So when cabinet companies go to customers and they are asking for this, they start to realize they are going to need an overhead storage system. They like the TUFFRAX brand, and they start calling us. So we get customers both ways – we go after them and they come to us.

How much does TUFFRAX cost?

Michael: The manufacturer's suggested retail price of the TUFFRAX overhead storage for our largest size, 4 feet by 8 feet, is $339. A lot of our distributors are offering it as a sale to customers for $289, $269, $249.

Had either of you been an entrepreneur before this?

Michael: We've been married 18 years, and in that time, we've tried a lot of different things together, but, well, we've kept our day jobs, let's say that.

Karen: Prior to coming on board with Michael, I had a window covering company. It was called Above the Sill. In fact, we both started our companies at the same time, and we both got so incredibly busy. But with Michael's company and his product, we saw that it could go national. We could see the potential. So actually, Michael has been doing this on his own, but last year I could see he needed help and we were both trying to do everything at once, so I sold my business to a designer here in the Carlsbad area.

What are your goals for the company in the future?

Karen: Besides organizing people's lives and making their garages uncluttered, what we're also doing is helping other entrepreneurs put themselves in business. We've created a great living for all of our distributors and we hope to continue to do that. It's a business niche that's growing tremendously. Storage and organization in itself is a billion-dollar industry by all reports that we read. I think our goal is to be on the cutting edge on that part of the industry and to continue to develop new and innovative products.

Michael: We don't know what the future may bring, but we do have a five-year plan to strive to be the No. 1 high-quality heavy-duty garage overhead company. Currently, there are three top National builders that have selected TUFFRAX as their overhead storage of choice offering to new home owners. These builders are Shea Homes, Pardee and Lennar. I am sure the list will grow as more builders learn about us. What makes our patent pending product unique is the "sliding" front and rear center supports. These supports add additional strength and stability at the center of the system.
The competition do not have this center support and I can guarantee that those systems will show some form of bending when placing a lot of load on them.

What does your timeline for the future look like?

Karen: We're already talking with people on the East Coast that want to carry our product. If it's the right company and the right people, we could be on the East Coast next month. We have to have steady controlled growth though because we're self-financed completely. And so obviously, would we like to grow very, very fast, very quickly? But do we want to retain control of our company? Yes, we do. So we want to do it managed and controlled.

How many storage devices have you sold?

Michael: In the three years we have been in business, with all of our dealers, we have exceeded our sales goals. Our dealer get a lot of referral and repeat business from customers' family and neighbors. With that said, we look forward to break the 100,000 units sold by the end of next year.

– David Berlin

By Heather Chambers | heather@tlnews.net

Thursday, April 6, 2006

CARLSBAD — The culprits come in all sorts of shapes and sizes — bicycles, tools, fishing gear, surfboards and holiday decorations.
Years of accumulation has led to a widespread neighborhood phenomenon: clutter taking the place of cars in the garage.

For Michael and Karen Baez, owners of Carlsbad-based storage solutions company TUFFRAX, clutter had hit home. Their garage was so stuffed with boxes from their recent move that they had to park outside. But they noticed they weren’t the only ones on the block

People are living in these big houses but their garages are just loaded,” Karen said.

She asked her husband, a former senior systems engineer at Motorola, to devise a plan.

Michael drove to El Cajon, bought $1,400 worth of storage equipment and set out to organize their garage.

When I went to install it, it was cheesy, it shook and it was awful, so I returned it,” he said.

Michael discovered TUFFRAX after further research, purchased the overhead garage storage system and said he was impressed with its capability.

It was nice and sturdy and I was able to put a lot of weight on it, he said. “I called the company and asked, can I get more of the product for a deal? They said, we can do better — how about a dealership?”

Michael took the offer and in 2002 he began to sell this overhead storage in San Diego. But this product needed much improvment. In 2003 he began designing his own product from ground-up and TUFFRAX was born. TUFFRAX is owned by Spectrum Innovations and, as of today, three major builders have selected TUFFRAX Heavy-Duty Overhead Storage as an option int heir design centers to new homeowners.

TUFFRAX garage storage units come in eleven sizes and three depths and can withstand 600 pounds of storage. This patent pending system has "sliding" front and center supports that is only found in TUFFRAX. These supports provide additional stability thereby preventing the system from bending due to the weight.

The units have an adjustable height of 20 to 38 inches in 1 1/2-inch increments. A maximum of 105 cubic feet of storage area can be achieved with the 4-foot-by-8-foot unit at a full height of 38 inches. The 4-by-8 unit retails for about $269. Michael said its front and rear center supports set the company apart from other overhead storage systems.

It's designed for large bulky boxes — Christmas boxes, camping gear, stuff that can't normally fit,” Michael said.

TUFFRAX soon will have more resellers throughout the country and Canada. Never in my life did I think it would be this big,” he said.

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