Preston Wilson hopped on the podcast to discuss the birth of Texas Garage Gym Builders, the company’s growth, the home gym installation process, favorite setups, make predictions for the future, and MORE.
The episode can be listened to on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get podcasts.
(0:42) Preston’s background
Preston Wilson defines himself as a “standard, run of the mill, Texan guy.”
He is also married and has a 3-year-old daughter.
(1:22) The founding of the company
The origin of the company goes back to when Preston had to get a physical for a job, and it did not go well. That led Preston to try to get healthy and join a neighborhood fitness boot camp.
That ended up being a great start, and it turned into him joining an actual gym. Due to time restraints and life, Preston found himself needing to have equipment at home.
After building his first plyo-box, he ended up building boxes for friends and selling them on Craigslist. Boxes turned to peg-boards, which turned into platforms, which led to a full schedule of building out gyms for people. As this side hustle turned into a business (PW23 Fitness), Preston would visit gyms and market himself directly to the customer.
Those relationships he built got the business rolling.
(10:30) First products created & the beginning of installation jobs
The initial products were plyo-boxes. Other early items were platforms, and peg-boards were starting to get more attention after being released during the CrossFit games.
Once customers began asking for items beyond woodworking, Preston got a wholesale relationship through Fringe Sport. They are a local company in Austin.
He was now helping people build out complete gyms. He decided to change the name from PW23 to a more encompassing name: Texas Garage Gym Builders.
(14:51) 2020
Before 2020, Preston was as busy as he wanted to be with work. Many were already tuned in to home gyms before Covid hit as well.
Nevertheless, Covid blew up orders. He put a pause on doing at-home installs because no one really knew what was going on. Neverthless, the orders started to pile up.
He recalls a time when his entire office, from floor to ceiling, was filled with plyo-boxes and people were driving from all over the state to come and pick them up. He went from being as busy as he wanted to be to it is insane.
(19:07) Texas Garage Gym Builders today
Preston linked with a guy named Chris, who was acting as a mentor and navigating Preston through the back end of the business. Chris and his wife ended up becoming business partners.
With the company’s back end being covered, Preston could now go out and do what he does best: talk to people and build gyms.
Today they offer free consultations where he drives out to people’s spaces to measure their space and discuss options. He can help people avoid many buying mistakes and direct them to make decisions that will be best for them.
Today’s product is a custom gym that includes aesthetics like shiplap walls and storage and gym equipment that they pull from different vendors to meet the customer’s needs.
(25:02) Reasons for installation and mistakes they avoid because of it
Customers who don’t know much about fitness have no clue where to start. They don’t know what they need or where to get it from.
For other customers who already have a strong foundation in what they do, Preston can help them with the equipment that will fit in their space and simplify the experience for them.
Some things that Preston can help people avoid are buying cheap equipment or purchasing items that are not universal that you can use for a long time. He also talks people out of buying many things they don’t need.
(28:52) # of employees & jobs per week
This has grown to an eight-person operation.
There are people out making sales, someone working on the back end running the books and the online presence, welders, designers, and two installers.
Most weeks, they are entirely booked. It could be a few quick install jobs to more complex builds.
(32:19) Best ways to transform a primary garage into a gym atmosphere
One of the things Preston brings up is making the gym shareable on social media. Whether that’s paint, better lighting, or mirrors, people want to train in a gym rather than work out in a garage, so they try to transform spaces into feeling more like gyms.
(34:26) Trends since 2016 in the home gym crowd
The most significant change has been people wanting the home gym not to be something simple or just a supplement but a fully equipped gym.
In addition, the quality of gym equipment has just grown tremendously.
(36:09) The future of TGGB
Looking ahead to the future, Preston talks about taking the business, growing it across state lines, and having the services offered in other places besides Texas. He also discusses offering his line of equipment designed for his installs and what they offer.
(39:50) Best installations
One of the first full installations that Preston was able to be a part of sticks out in his head. It was for a facility helping people get sober, and they wanted to put in a gym. Being a part of that meant a lot to him. Other notable installs were celebrity and athlete installs, and currently, he is falling in love with the 3rd bay install they have been working on. Those are the big ones that are super cool, but Preston’s favorite installs will be the ‘no excuse’ installs, where people put in what they need and get the work done with what they have.
(42:35) Home gym predictions
Preston predicts the uptick of the used market for home gym equipment following all the quick buys from COVID. He has also noticed the interactive workout systems like the Tonals and Peletons come out and get a call later from those people asking to build them a real gym.