HEAVY EQUIPMENT ADVENTURES!
Extreme Sandbox is a Heavy Equipment Adventure company that lets clients play on construction equipment for FUN! From outdoor events to formal equipment training, Extreme Sandbox has something for everyone. With a focus on safety, we provide our clients with opportunities that go way beyond just operating our sandbox toys. We focus on giving our clients a truly unique, once in a lifetime, bucket list experience. Young and old, men and women, individuals and corporate groups all have a blast living out their childhood dreams at our sandbox!
Training
Are you looking to enter the construction trades or just need a refresher? We are a certified Heavy Equipment Training School with the state of Minnesota.
Consult/Speaking
We have extensive experience consulting Fortune 500 companies or key-note speaking at high schools, colleges and business organizations.
Mobile Experiences
Let’s bring Extreme Sandbox TO YOU! We work with companies, events, and organizations to put together one-of-a-kind events and experiences.
Our Story
Extreme Sandbox is a family owned and operated business, started in 2012. Coming from the corporate world, founder and CEO, Randy Stenger had no background in construction. However, after driving by a construction site, one of Randy’s young boys stated, “Dad, wouldn’t it be fun to go play on those trucks?” Being a kid at heart, an idea was born!
The Sandbox has been giving people a chance to operate heavy equipment for almost 12 years. Our original location in Hastings, Minnesota was so successful that we opened an indoor test site in Rosedale Mall, which included mini excavators and construction simulators. We went national with a second site in the Dallas, Texas area in 2016 after appearing on the hit TV show, Shark Tank.
A New Opportunity
We love giving people the chance to fulfill their bucket list dreams of operating construction equipment, but we also recognized that there was a huge need for skilled operators. With our heavy equipment knowledge, experience and resources, we started doing heavy equipment “how to operate” tutorial videos on YouTube. After accumulating millions of views, we realized that there was a real interest in easy access learning of the construction trades. Starting in 2019, we launched Heavy Metal Learning. Our ultimate goal was to inspire the next generation with educational content through visual learning, hands-on student heavy equipment camps, and certified heavy equipment training programs.
Burgers and Heavy Metal
After a season of Heavy Metal Dine In, we realized that people really enjoying having food & drinks while watching heavy equipment. With that in mind, Extreme Sandbox purchased and developed a construction-themed restaurant in 2023 called The Quarry Taphouse. The menu and drinks (affectionately described as “blue-collar bougie”) were built around what they would like to see in their future Extreme Sandbox concept. The Quarry is even home to America’s First Rock Range!
A Pandemic and an Idea
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, which was tough for any small business, but we survived! During that time, we came up with the idea to put on construction events called Heavy Metal Drive Thru. This fun and unique show gave families a chance to safely get out of their house, while watching real construction equipment up close. (What kid doesn’t love watching construction equipment!)
The concept was so successful, that after the pandemic, we expanded the Heavy Metal Drive Thru concept to Heavy Metal Dine In, where people of all ages could come get some food, do equipment tours, and watch our heavy equipment “work” up close. We still continue our “day job” of letting people experience the fun of heavy equipment operation, while adding the Dine-In as a popular seasonal activity!
The Exciting New Chapter
In 2023, we decided that we had outgrown our site, so we made the hard decision to close down our current operations while we work on the next (and exciting!) chapter of Extreme Sandbox. Everything we have done and learned up to this point will be incorporated into our new concept. We hope to have our new site up and running in the Twin Cities area in 2025. During our transition period, we will be offering equipment training, mobile experiences, and speaking/consultation services. If you are interested in any of these options, email us below.
We look forward to the future with biggest, better things to come for Extreme Sandbox!