Hello Indiegogo Contributors
This is Hugh Alexander Dantzer (please just call me Alex) calling upon you to help me and my team to bring the EasiDeck component deck to the masses. Ever since I was young I always liked to do things, build and renovate. I grew up in the Kitchener/Waterloo area, attended St Louis grade school, St David's Jr High, and KCI high school. In 1978 moved to Weissenburg Germany. Lived there for year and learned to speak German. From 1979 to 1981 went to Sheridan College in Oakville. Was President student union 1980 to 1981. Graduated with Honors in Business. Same year moved west to Alberta, I started a residential contracting company and, after several years, it transformed into commercial contracting. In the 90's I was also involved in shipping building products to Japan. For close to 30 years I've worked with clients like Public Works Canada, RCMP, National Defense, and Transport Canada, to name a few. Also a number of private companies including Board Walk Equities. During this time did projects that included constructing a jail to renovating a weather station in the high arctic. Since 2006, I have been building and renovating modular structures, including blast protection buildings. Please see my website stonesps.com for more information.
EasiDeck (the Product)
This product started out as an idea back in the 80's when I was building a deck at my first house. At that time, I wondered what ordinary people do that don't have carpentry skills. It wasn't until the 90's that I really started to get a design together for a deck package. I was involved in an export company selling building products to Japan. A need for deck packages developed, and Instadeck component deck kits was born. These decks were all elevated, which lead to a complicated connector system I created and even received patents on. Things were going well until 1998 when the Japanese market collapsed and virtually all the exports to Japan dried up. So here I was with a design, and patents for a deck kit. Why not introduce them to Canada? Great in theory, not so much in practice. That's because these were elevated decks, and our building codes are based on joist and beams principals. We did have success with these kits, even selling them them at Costco for three years, but were challenged with too many parts and constant hassles with building inspectors. However something amazing happened at this time: we noticed that 3/4 of our sales were ground level decks. We realized that the real opportunity was in much simpler ground-level decks. The problem was, we didn't have a proper connector for decks that just lay on the ground. So, by 2015, I had developed and received a patent for the clip I designed to hold the ground level decks together. In 2016 came up with the idea for the mesh/ foundation assembly, as well the Velcro fastening system which gave birth to the deck kit that assemblies with NO TOOLS. In the spring of 2017, we test marketed the easi-RV Deck, and the easi-Patio Decks at a small recreation trade show in Edmonton. The response was phenomenal! We sold many decks at the show and received overwhelming approval for the design, size, light weight, and ease of assembly. As Paul Harvey use to say, and now you know the rest of the story!
The Perks!
Currently, we are in our off-season. We have 4 deck kit offerings that have substantial savings for you to take advantage of. We have about 25 deck kits in stock. We need to make the rest to fill these orders, and there are limits to what we can manufacture this winter. So hurry and don't miss out! We have 4 other value-priced offerings for you to take advantage of, check them out the before they expire at the end of this campaign!
Environmental Friendly Approach
During the development of this product we discovered something really environmentally valuable. Our process is to pre-cut and pre-drill all the parts before we send the product in for Pressure treating. That means no pressure treated cuttings are going to landfills. Added to this our decks last much longer than conventional decks that because all the lumber in EasiDeck kits are 100% treated, which means they will last much longer than decks that have exposed cut ends and will last a lot longer.
In the future, once EasiDeck is rolling across North America, I want to put some funds into research and development for an alternative to the pressure treating materials being used today. I believe there is a natural alternative to what is being used, and it's my personal goal to find it!
The Campaign
After all these years of work and design, we have a product we believe people will buy and enjoy. This campaign is two fold: firstly, I believe we will learn whether or not this product has broad market viability. Essentially we are test-marketing in the off season to get real market reaction. The second part is raising funds to move this venture forward. Even at a $50,000 threshold, it gives us enough base to move forward into 2018 due to our low operation costs. Currently, we have the capacity to manufacture 2500 deck kits. That translates into over $500,000. If we achieve this it would keep us busy all winter long, and that's what we are really hoping for! This campaign will give us the market insight needed going forward. We will take the results and adjust accordingly.
We are extremely happy for this opportunity to raise awareness, sales, and funds at this quiet time of the year. Thank you Contributors, and Indiegogo, for making this possible!
The Passion
Over the years, as I attempted varies designs, and concepts the passion for what I was doing grew. The most gratifying part was meeting people at trade shows, and Costco and getting their reaction to my varies deck package designs. Each step of the way the crowds reaction was always better. At the last show is when we knew we got it. The products you see today covers all of what we have learned over the past 20 years!
Risks & Challenges
With every new venture, risks and challenges are very much front and centre. Personally, I believe these have been dramatically reduced by our 20 year process, and the development of these products we are introducing today. Added to this we have patents, and patents pending to protect the new products we have created and are creating. The wood deck industry in North America is $5 billion annually — that's huge! Just one percent is worth 50 million dollars. With our products and designs, to get even just one percent of this market would be amazing. Added to this we are in many ways creating a new market: people who rent, RVers who currently use mats, people who would like portable decks on the beach, and many others who want a quick and easy deck that currently doesn't exist until now! Let's together see where this can go!
Executive Summary
After 20 years in the making we have the unique designs, patents, product, and the production. We are locked and loaded to take this to market. What's left to do now at this time is get the word out. On the threshold of launching I want to thank my team for helping me get to this point. James, and Mary for all those countless years of hanging in there. The Angel investors back during the Costco days. Kevin and Angela. Roger, Don, Ken, and Brian.
This Indiegogo campaign would have not been possible had it not been for Helen, my daughters Sarah, and Erika, and many others who also helped over the past three weeks with their contributions to the launching of this campaign. Finally I'm very grateful for you, Jackie, for the endless support, and encouragement to stay the course.
We are excited and taking on the world at Indiegogo. You, the contributors to our campaign, are looking at my product and helping us get it right. Please look at our perks and take advantage of the special offerings we have for you to get our amazing products at huge discounts, with delivery in time for next summer season. Asking everybody to help. Even if our products are something that you don't have a need for, please tell others and help spread the word. Please help us create jobs in Canada and beyond.
In closing I want thank everybody for visiting my campaign, and spreading the word. A special thanks for those who contribute, and helping us succeed with our new products. Finally, to everybody at Indiegogo for making all this possible! Contact me with your questions and suggestions, I would love to hear from you all! Thanks again to everyone involved!!
Sincerely yours,
Alex Dantzer
President