Dear Tim,
My name’s Joe Garrett. I’m a midwestern, gear head, a dad, a dreamer, and the founder of something called Shift Haus. I didn’t take the college route. I built my career the way I built everything else, hands-on, ground-up, figuring it out as I went.
I went right into the thick of it. My parents divorced when I was 11, and I was on my own at the age of 14.
I started working young, cleaning concrete forms at a family-owned construction supply yard in Indianapolis. Leading me into construction supply distribution, where I climbed the ladder and eventually led at the executive level. But I never lost sight of where I came from, or how much value there is in knowing how to fix something yourself.
I grew up around busted driveways and borrowed tools and missing 10mm's, learning how to turn bolts from my dad, my friends, and a whole lot of trial and error. When I was a kid, my dad and I would run around the garage grunting like you, those iconic “Ugh ugh ughs” from Tool Time still live in my muscle memory. We weren’t just laughing, we were bonding. You were part of that. You were that!
Somewhere between Tool Time and Santa Clause, between your voice in Toy Story and your spirit in Home Improvement, we saw something familiar:
You weren’t just playing a role. You were one of us. You’ve always championed the garage. Not just the place, but the mindset. The hands-on, heart-forward belief that doing something yourself makes you better for it.
That belief is exactly why we built Shift Haus. It’s a modern day garage community, part maker space, part sim lounge, part mentorship hub.
A place where anyone, young or old can wrench, race, rebuild, and rediscover what makes working with your hands so damn rewarding.
No egos. No gatekeeping. Just busted knuckles and better stories.
And Tim, we think you’d get it.
We’d love for you to be part of this, not just in spirit, but as a partner! A co-founder in a movement that’s ready to grow. We’re building Shift Haus to go national, one city, one garage, one community at a time.
We’ve even imagined a private line of tools, something rugged, real, and built for this space.
Tools that carry your legacy while empowering the next generation of builders, and if we’re going to build this right, we want you in the cockpit with us, or hell, even behind the wheel!
We’re asking if you'd be willing to help us carry this forward.