When retirees Bruce, and Rosemary Kidd moved to Ridgeway, Ontario, one of their first desires was to add a double car garage to their property. However the cost was holding them back. Then one day, right there on the side of the QEW, they saw their first Amish Shed, and fell in love.

“I could get two Amish Sheds for about half the price of a garage,” says Bruce Kidd, a retired manager from the automotive industry. “Not only that, but the way they’re made, they’ll outlast us.”

Doug Stenberg, owner and operator of Amish 1, just smiles. He’s been there.

When Doug retired to Ridgeway in 2003 after 18 years with Mississauga Transit, he returned to a life-long passion: Long-distance trucking. During a trip through Amish country in Pennsylvania, he spotted the eponymous sheds. Constructed with raw hemlock and larch wood skids, and finished with sturdy black-plated steel hardware; the quality and pride in workmanship was evident.

“I was in the middle of constructing my own shed in the back yard,” says Stenberg, 68. “But when I spotted these in Pennsylvania, I knew they were better than anything I could build.” So he bought one from the Amish carpenter, and transported it home with the intention of bringing this craftsmanship to others. He had his first one sold before he could even remove it from the trailer back home.

His passion for Amish1 is evident the moment you meet him. Doug not only manages the business side of the sheds, but he picks up and delivers each one.

Our sheds are built by a traditional Amish family who are without the benefit of electricity, technology, vehicles, telephones or many of our modern day comforts. Each one is custom constructed to our customer’s tastes.

Doug drops off plans, and requests personally. Each time he drives down to pick up one shed in Amish country, he’s usually dropping off plans for the next. That changes only when the carpenter wants to ask a question. He hitches up his buggy and heads to the local store where they happen to have a phone.

Larch wood is valued for its tough, waterproof, and durable qualities. There’s a larch wood road in Manitoba that was built before the Second World War that’s still there.

Being built off the ground on larch wood skids, offers protection. Constructed off the ground also means the sheds do not require a concrete foundation; a bed of gravel suffices. They can also be placed on patio stones in the case of small sheds.

As long as the site lies unobstructed for Stenberg to drive his flatbed trailer; he can drop it pretty well anywhere.