Don Devries, 47, and Jarron Genzlinger, 36, aren't sure when they realized it was time to switch from building decks to manufacturing rooms for growing pot.
But the two Foresthill men saw the new market demand when they made the rounds on construction jobs in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
Their new venture may have been inspired when they went to build a deck at house in Lake of the Pines in Nevada County and found a mess of wires streaming from a room where the owner was growing weed.
"I told him, 'You're going to burn your house down,'" Devries said. "Let me at least re-do the electric."
Sometime later, Genzlinger was called on a room remodeling job in suburban Roseville. The owner wanted to grow pot indoors.
"I was bringing in lumber and framing. I was destroying the sheet rock. The carpet had to come up, and we needed a floor," he said.
Now, Devries and Genzlinger have a thriving new business. They manufacture and sell indoor grow rooms, promising no construction mess with installation.
Their Pro Grow 2000 Indoor Grow Rooms company builds and sells a galvanized steel, hydroponic lighting-equipped home weed-tending room called the "Pro Grow Time Machine."
They say their 6-foot by 6.4-foot by 7-foot enclosure is energy efficient, fits in any garage and can produce 10 pounds of premium pot in 65 days. All for a cool $11,500.
"We discovered a need and wanted to build the most efficient thing you can build," Devries said.
For now, their customers are patients growing medical marijuana.
If voters approve a taxation and legalization measure for recreational use in November, they might have to re-size their grow box. The ballot initiative would allow Californians over 21 to maintain a single residential grow room of 25 square feet - or 5-foot by 5-foot.
"Personally, I don't know if legalization will help us," Devries said. "Once it becomes legalized, the market may be flooded."
Pictured: Genzlinger tends demonstration plants inside the "Pro Grow Time Machine." Peter Hecht/phecht@sacbee.com
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