Whether she’s working with customers, handling paperwork, assisting with sales, or anything in between, AJ Portable Buildings Office Manager Desiree Hausenfleck is a jack of all trades to ensure office operations are running smoothly. Her day-to-day role involves a bit of everything around the business, but that’s exactly how she likes it as she does her part to help Northern Indiana and beyond find customized portable buildings and steel structures that best suit their needs.
“My role here lets me be hands-on with a little bit of everything,” she said. “I tackle anything that comes my way. I assist Pat Dykes, our owner, with a lot on the business side and on anything that comes into play throughout the day. I also do the typical office work such as emailing, calling customers, filing, and just making sure everything is together so the office runs smoothly.”
A lot goes into making sure a business can thrive, and Hausenfleck is a key component on the Yoder’s team who helps the company reach its top potential. This includes many intricate responsibilities such as handling quotes, walking customers through listings, assisting with budgeting and other finances, and much more. Through this hands-on role, Hausenfleck has gotten to know the team members and many of the customers who come Yoder’s way, and this has easily been her favorite part of it all. Meeting so many people has created quality moments that make her fall in love with what she does more and more each day.
“I love working with the customers. It's one of my favorite parts of the job,” Hausenfleck said. “AJ’s isn’t just a place of employment; it's also a good family to actually work for. Pat's a really good guy. He really takes care of the people who he hires and who work for him. There’s constant communication with Yoder’s, and they're great people to work for as well. When you like your job, it makes you want to come to it every day. Everyone is very understanding with everything, and it makes me feel like I have a little family to back me up here at work as well as at home.”
Hausenfleck will be celebrating her three-year anniversary at AJ’s this August. She joined the team after finding the company’s posting when an unprecedented job loss put her back on the market. While a pro at the portable building business now, it was all new territory when she first started, but the posting intrigued her and she was interested in learning what it was all about.
“I started applying and this position happened to come up. I said, ‘Okay, I think I can do this,’ so I came over to basically see what it was all about because at that time, I had no idea about any portable buildings at all,” Hausenfleck said.
The decision to check Yoder’s out on a whim turned out to be a great career move for Hausenfleck. The job interview was confirmation that this job was meant for hers to take.
“My interview was on a Saturday, which totally surprised me because I never had an interview on a Saturday before. I didn't really know what to expect,” Hausenfleck said. “When I got here, I was looking at all these shed buildings, houses, and gazebos, and thought it was pretty interesting. I met Pat, then I met one of our sales associates. I ended up having a great time during the interview. I didn't have any idea what I was getting myself into at first, but I caught on pretty quickly to our system, and I’ve been here ever since.”
Now, Hausenfleck is helping to service the Midwest with all its portable building needs. In addition to quality, custom made portable buildings and steel structures, AJs also has round the clock shed care. Hausenfleck enjoys working with each and every customer to make sure their structure is exactly to their liking, accompanied with quality service every step of the way.
“People are really getting a great product with us; our builders do a wonderful job. We vent all of our warranties with excellent service. Here at AJ’s, we have who we call the Shed Doctor, something that the shed industry typically doesn’t have. We have great customer service; we are here Monday through Saturday, and if customers have any problems with their building, they can call us. We can come up and repair it.”
In her free time, Hausenfleck enjoys spending time with her husband, a retired diesel mechanic from the military. The two enjoy traveling when time allows, including trips throughout the year to visit their daughter who lives in Arizona. In the summer, they enjoy camping in Plymouth – they recently renovated an old camper and are looking forward to spending some days out on the lake. She likes to craft and read during downtime as well.
For more information on AJ Portable Buildings, please visit ajportablebuildings.com.
