From Domes to Mod Pods: Barry Sendach’s Bold Bet on Alternative Structures Across America

Quinton Comino: Listen in today as I sit down with Barry with Dicester and you're going to hear about all the different homes that they provide. In fact, probably some homes that you've never heard of before. They do yurts, they do geodesic domes, they do air domes, they do storage tents, they do modular bathroom components. Just a whole plethora of different unique housing products that they provide. And Barry's been doing this since 2014. So he’s certainly got his hands in it. He's got a lot of wisdom and a lot of insight into these different types of homes and different unique offerings that can be pretty versatile. You can have a home like this in Florida or all the way in North Dakota where he provides across the entire US and even into Europe. So tune in and let's hear about some of these very unique offerings.

Barry Sendach: Well, you know, we have alternative housing. We do a lot of custom work. Last year for Burning Man I made a dome that was three domes in one. We're working on a project now for a planetarium in Tennessee, which is a real planetarium. My guys will supply the LEDs and the content. We work with hotels.

Barry Sendach: If you look on Deal or No Deal Island this season, you'll see three of our domes for NBC. We were on CBS last year, NCIS Hawaii, the Cabin Fever episode. We have clients that are big, and also guys who just want to camp or glamp or own campgrounds, yoga studios. We just sold some yurts to the Girl Scouts of America, the main organization. And we build shipping container homes.

Quinton Comino: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I noticed a lot of different offerings. So help me understand the structure—is Deister the company name? Is that how you say it?

Barry Sendach: Deister is the company name. Domespaces.com is a division, tentspaces.com is a division, yurtspaces, etc. Then the company we use to build shipping containers is Containers in Motion. That's separate because the liabilities are different over there.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. So what's your position in all of these companies?

Barry Sendach: I'm I guess the chief cook and bottle washer. We have marketing people, SEO people, public relations people. We have people who contribute during the month in various ways. We hire interns every season to give them a chance to move ahead.

Barry Sendach: It's not a high-volume business. These things are expensive.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. How long have you been doing this?

Barry Sendach: Let's see... what's 20... 59 years.

Quinton Comino: Okay. And why did you get into this business?

Barry Sendach: That's a good question. I started with the shipping container homes. I had a background in importing—we had a family business in New York doing home decorative fabrics. I learned importing and exporting there. I wanted something else to do besides waiting around for real estate to mature. So I got into these shipping container homes. We sold them, but not many around here because they couldn't pass code. Then I found a company that builds them, and I sell them while they build them. From there, I thought there had to be other structures. A couple of years before COVID, I started messing with domes and yurts and other things.

Barry Sendach: During COVID it was popular if you had them in stock. We started a stock program to meet demand. Then, like anything else, it slowed down. But I kept the stock program for people who need something today.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. With these other products, you sell them but someone else builds them?

Barry Sendach: Well, the shipping containers get built from scratch. You get an empty container and turn it into a house. Last year we built a bathroom for the Radford Racing School in Arizona. We built a kitchen for a mushroom farmer. We built several server warehouses for a technology company. We build homes, offices, retail establishments—whatever someone wants. If they have plans, we can build it.

Barry Sendach: Now the domes and yurts are already fabricated, but you can't put anything over 9.5 feet on the highway without escorts. So they come in crates and have to be reassembled. But they’re already built and come with instructions.

Quinton Comino: And you have teams to do that? Or do you just provide instructions and maybe local contacts?

Barry Sendach: You don't have to hire us. The instructions are pretty clear—you can do it yourself. A 36-foot dome might need a crane and a licensed contractor to assemble. We do have people in Florida who have built domes and yurts for us and could travel if hired, but it’s not necessary.

Quinton Comino: So which of these do best? Domes, shipping containers, yurts, storage tents? You have a lot of offerings.

Barry Sendach: You never know what will do best. We're seen all over. We have a pretty big marketing footprint and people following up on leads. But it's not like selling sneakers. My average sale is over $8,000.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. How many people work for you? You mentioned hiring in cycles.

Barry Sendach: We have about 14 contributors in marketing, public relations, bookkeeping, things like that.

Quinton Comino: You have all these different websites—storage spaces, dome spaces, tent spaces. Does that help marketing and SEO? Or would one website make more sense?

Barry Sendach: Well, if you're looking for a storage tent or air dome, you're not going to search under geodesic domes. Universities buy air domes—those are big deals, over a million dollars sometimes. They're airtight structures with generators and blowers, HVAC, permits, footers in the ground. Where a dome might be for glamping—very different customers.

Barry Sendach: They're all related structures, but with different byproducts, like modular floors or modular bathrooms people want for domes. Those can be shipped ready to assemble. Or we can even crate a whole bathroom unit if needed—you just need a forklift to unload it.

Quinton Comino: I want to talk about those modular components. Where do those bathrooms get installed? In your domes? In other buildings?

Barry Sendach: Generally they go inside a dome. One design is seven feet high with a queen mattress on top with a guardrail—a loft. Below you can have a kitchen module attached that uses the same water line as the shower. But to use them you need water, power, and sewer. Some customers want to be off grid and will use compost toilets or gray water systems with a wood stove.

Quinton Comino: Do these modular bathrooms get inspected locally or do you have modular-stamped state approvals?

Barry Sendach: Generally they get approved by sending specs in and getting a permit upfront. Then they inspect once installed. Some places don't require anything because they're considered temporary structures.

Quinton Comino: Would there be any benefit to getting modular-stamped state approvals?

Barry Sendach: Maybe. But you'd need that in all 50 states.

Quinton Comino: You could focus on one state at a time, like Florida.

Barry Sendach: Unfortunately, business doesn't work like that. We sell more domes outside of Florida than inside. I was just talking to someone in Hawaii before this call.

Quinton Comino: Really? Do you have any states that perform best?

Barry Sendach: The Northwest—Washington, Montana, Wyoming, the Dakotas. Camping's really big there.

Quinton Comino: We're working on something similar we want to call Mod Pod—a modular bathroom/kitchen component that's the heart of the home. The idea is you save on all the trades on site by building it in the factory. Is that similar to your modular units?

Barry Sendach: I'd like to see it. Send me a picture and what you sell it for. We'll take a look.

Quinton Comino: Yeah. My father is putting it together. We have a couple of designs with Florida modular approvals and others we're working on. We're trying to combine factory and onsite construction.

Barry Sendach: That's interesting. How big is it?

Quinton Comino: Various sizes. But you want to keep it under 10 feet wide for hotshot trucking without escorts. Length can go up to 56 feet on a truck bed. But you can do a lot with something like 10 by 30—bathrooms, kitchen wall with connections. You can build the cabinetry on site but have all the utilities ready to hook up.

Barry Sendach: That's pretty cool. Yeah, why not?

Quinton Comino: There are obstacles—state approvals, learning how to put it on a foundation without crawl space.

Barry Sendach: You could get third-party modular approval. It should be good for most states.

Quinton Comino: What do you mean by third-party modular?

Barry Sendach: A third party will inspect and, if you follow the same specs, it'll get approved automatically in almost every state.

Quinton Comino: Really? Is that for repeat production or one-offs?

Barry Sendach: Exactly. You build that model and they'll stamp it for you.

Quinton Comino: How long does the approval process take?

Barry Sendach: I don't know. We're looking into it now for container homes—to have one or two models pre-approved for repeat builds.

Quinton Comino: That'd be great. We'd love more info. We have a plant in Indiana and one in Cocoa, FL. We want to serve all states but can only do one at a time now.

Barry Sendach: Okay, all right, what else we got?