Proudly Made in America

Each bed is custom made in Upstate NY by "The Crew"

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

                   Working out of our garage                

How did you get started?  College Bed Lofts was started in 2002 by Mike Vence, a student at Penn State University and his dad, John. At that time, Mike and and a few buddies rented a large house and were in the process of starting a new fraternity on campus.  As both Mike and John were avid woodworkers, they built a loft bed for Mike and his roommate.  When friends saw the beds, they wanted one too, so Mike and John started building them on weekends in their garage.  Soon word spread around other campuses and orders started coming in.  In 2004 they were ready to move out of the garage and they moved into a warehouse in a nearby industrial complex.

They developed a web site and the plan was to sell lofts to college campuses in the Northeastern US.  In 2004 they started talking to FedEx about shipping nationwide.  With the help of FedEx packaging services, FedEx was able to show them how to best package their beds to be able to                                       Our Current Location

ship them economically using FedEx Ground and Home Delivery Services.  With nationwide shipping, orders increased, and in 2007 they moved to their new facility and currently have 15 employees.  Last year they shipped more than 5,000 orders to over 450 colleges in the 48 contiguous states.

In 2011 they added another product, Cornhole Tailgate Bean Bag Toss Game Sets.  Cornhole is one of the fastest growing and most popular outdoor games found across the US.  Also called Corn Toss, Bean Bag Toss and Baggo, it can be found being played in backyards, graduations, cottages, camps, outdoor parties and especially at all tailgating events.  Cornhole is a fun family game, can be played by all ages and is a must have for all college students.

As a family business, everyone is involved.  It was John's wife, Bobbie, who came up with the idea of selling just the loft bed plans.  One night Bobbie mentioned that John and Mike were having such a good time building these together, we should offer just the plans so other parents and their children could build them as a family project.  A few days later they offered the plans on their web site and they now sell thousands per year.

John's daughter, Sarah, a high school music teacher and the "artist" in the family, is the main designer of the web site and is featured on the set up video.  John's nephew, Anthony, is the brains behind the camera and the youtube video.  The family dog, Aria, is the shop dog and is frequently seen sleeping on the bottom of the bunk bed.

Originally, their thought was the beds were only going to be used by college students.  One day a mother of a 6 year old called and asked if they could build the bed a little lower and add a few more safety rails.  She painted it white and we posted it on the photo gallery page.  Soon, customers were asking for that Youth Loft, and now youth lofts represent about 75% of their business.  A typical comment they receive from customers is "it was a fun family project to assemble, paint and decorate together".

We have three main business goals:

1) Customize each bed to the customer's exact specifications.  With each college having their own height requirements, with apartments having sometimes 7', 8' and 9' or greater ceiling heights, and with different thicknesses of mattresses for home and college, we decided early on that by building each bed to the customer's exact specifications, they can better maximize the space in the room. 

2) Fast shipping.  We know college students can't wait 5 - 6 weeks for their bed, (the semester is half over by then) and parents of young children, once they have decided to do a bedroom makeover for their child, can't wait either.  We build and ship them out in a few days and with fast shipping, orders arrive quickly. 

3) Excellent customer service.  We know in this age of instant communications, internet and cell phones that with good customer service, word-of-mouth advertising moves fast, but bad customer service moves even faster.  So, we strive to meet each customer's requirements.  We are Accredited with the Better Business Bureau and PayPal verified. Before you buy a loft from anyone, you should review their BBB report.

Ok, so who is "Don" that we talk to when we call?  Don was one of our first employees and is now our Operations Manager responsible for customer's orders, scheduling and shipping.  There is no one who knows more about loft beds, bunk beds and high rise platform beds than Don.  If you have a question, need more information or just want to place your order over the phone, give Don a call.

Click here to see the 30 second TV promo about us.