I made more than $1.7 million in a week selling doomsday bunkers. You know who doesn’t buy them? Democrats.

• Ron Hubbard, 59, is the owner Atlas Survival Shelters, a bunker-building business based in Texas.
• Hubbard says business is booming among Republican customers since the election of President Biden.
• This is what his job is like, as told to freelance writer Jenny Powers.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with Ron Hubbard, owner of Atlas Survival Shelters in Sulphur Springs, Texas, about his business. It has been edited for length and clarity.

The bunker business is hotter than ever this year. Day and night, my phone is ringing off the hook from people across the country looking to buy a bunker.

Before starting my bunker business in 2011, I worked building custom iron doors for 30 years. Now, I don't even know all of my customers' full names or where their bunkers will be located because we ship to a local third-party.

It's all pretty discreet, because people don't necessarily want to announce they're buying a bunker or its whereabouts. Customers don't finance their bunkers either – they're plunking down cash upfront and in full via wire transfer.

In the second week of August, we made over $1.7 million in sales in one week.

Our bunkers on offer range from 100 square feet in size for around $50,000, to over 10,000 square feet for close to $5,000,000. People are snapping up everything we have, from in-stock standard models to custom-built designs.

I credit the increase in sales to the reality that people are scared of what's happening in the world right now. Many are buying a bunker to be somewhere safe to hide regardless of what the future holds, as a survival Plan B.

The lion's share of our business comes to us via our YouTube Channel, which has close to 350,000 subscribers and is typically how people first learn about us.

Our customers tend to be pro-Trump, pro-gun, educated, upper-class Christians.

These clients often bring up their political views when talking about why they want to buy a bunker. They'd rather build a shelter they may never need than risk not having one should the need ever arise. Everyone from CEOs to billionaires to celebrities are buying our bunkers.

In my experience, you know who doesn't buy bunkers? Democrats - at least they don't buy Doomsday Bunkers. They might buy our tornado or fallout shelters or safe cellars to store wine but that's about it.

Since Biden took office, more and more customers have reached out wanting bunkers to prepare for a potential disaster. Every time Biden appears on the news, it prompts another Republican to call me up and say 'This country is going downhill. I need a bunker!' Our sales are up because Biden is unknowingly driving a bunker boom, and we're here for it.

The standard bunkers we build are always in stock and ready to be shipped from our Texas warehouse.

They have military-grade nuclear, biological, and chemical air filtration systems, a mudroom and decontamination shower, air and gas-tight waterproof doors, and power sources. Beyond that, customers can outfit and design their place however they like, so it feels like a real home.

Custom jobs typically take two to three months, and larger projects that require poured in place concrete can take over six months to complete. We've designed lots of custom bunkers, many that are 2,000 to 3,000 square feet. The largest we've sold to date was a whopping 4,000 square feet.

For customers looking for a bit extra, we offer our Platinum Series, which begins at $300 per square foot, with 24 inches of under the floor storage and built-in water tanks. These bunkers have spacious master bedrooms with full baths and walk-in showers, as well as enough area for dining rooms, game rooms, and gun rooms. We also offer high-end upgrades such as stainless steel appliances, ceramic-tiled backsplashes, granite countertops, oak flooring, and sliding barn doors.

All of our platinum bunkers really pack a "wow" factor. I mean, who doesn't want to have a secret passageway to a secret escape tunnel that leads to a secret bunker?

These aren't your grandfather's bunkers we're building anymore.

Times have changed. If you're going to be hunkered down below ground for a while, it may as well be in style.