The Woodpreneur Podcast

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100

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Aug 2026

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About the show

We cover the business and marketing side of the woodworking, sawmill, tree service, furniture making, Urban Wood, and woodworking industry. If you're a woodworker, sawmill owner, or any other entrepreneur and/or business owner in the wood industry, you need to check out this podcast. Each week, we interview business owners, large-scale companies, entrepreneurs, makers, and designers while also offering marketing and business advice that will help you grow your business and increase your profits. Tune in every week! www.builldergrowth.io www.woodpreneurlife.com Join our free and private Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurlife

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August 20, 2026Episode 50037 min

Jake Power, PowerWood

The duty at the border went from 15 percent to 45 percent in two months, and their sales volume went up anyway. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Jake Power, managing director of PowerWood in Agassiz, British Columbia. His father started the company out of the family basement in 1995, brokering kiln dried red cedar into a California market that needed it, and Jake was the first employee, cleaning the office once a week for a dollar at twelve years old. He came into the business full time around 2005 with a wood products processing degree, came back from his honeymoon into the 2008 collapse, and in 2011 he and a colleague loaded up on personal debt and bought the lumber business from his parents. What happened next is the part most owners will recognize. Cheap equipment after the crash got them their first molder and dust collection system, fully installed, for under $20,000, and taking the single piece orders nobody else would run turned a distributor into a manufacturer. Then in 2017 the softwood lumber agreement expired and a 20 percent duty landed on a lumber business that sends 50 to 75 percent of its product into the United States. The duty is charged on value, so every hour of labor they added made the bill bigger, and the equipment they had spent a decade buying became a liability instead of an asset. Jake is blunt about the three years after that. The market was telling them how to run the company, and they had never written down who they were trying to be. The turn came from a seven year plan they wrote themselves, no consultants, and finished just as the pandemic hit. They thought they had wasted the effort. Instead it told them exactly what to buy when money got cheap: twelve acres, a hundred thousand square feet of warehouse, four kilns. They took ownership of the new site on April 1, moved the entire company on July 1, were running three molder lines by September, lost three people out of twenty something in a move an hour east, and hit every goal in the plan by November 2025. You'll also hear how they buy from British Columbia sawmills, including taking 80 percent of a custom cut and giving small portable mill operators a way to turn a mixed truckload into cash, how the same lumber business serves wholesale distributors in California and architects directly at home, why Hawaii works differently, the tariff math as it stands today, the one number he wishes he could get out of his customers and into a spreadsheet, why they rebranded their core values as rules, and what shed the bark means to a lumber business crowd that would rather not talk about feelings. Chapters: 00:00 Thirty years from a family basement to a twelve acre yard 03:07 Buying the business in the middle of the 2008 collapse 06:03 A $20,000 molder, one piece orders, and learning what not to chase 11:55 When duties turned a value added business into a liability 14:44 The seven year plan, and moving the whole company in one summer 19:51 How PowerWood buys, sorts and specs cedar for architects 25:40 A 45 percent duty, the K shaped market, and rules instead of values 27:52 The K shaped market, and the next growth ring 29:46 The number he cannot get, and rules instead of core values The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Jake at: https://www.powerwood.com/ https://www.instagram.com/customcedar/

August 13, 2026Episode 49937 min

Wes Carroll, Rice Lumber

The person who knows the most about this 87 year old lumber company has been there forty three years, and almost none of it is written down anywhere. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Wes Carroll of Rice Lumber in Vermont. Wes got a cell phone and a job in the yard the year he turned fourteen, then left the state for college in Colorado with no intention of coming back east. He spent a year and a half cold calling for an office supply company, two years selling software into contractors, and came home in June 2020 after a layoff. He started behind the counter learning products and applications, and now leads the sales teams at a lumber business his family has owned for roughly half of its history. The heart of the conversation is what happens when a lumber business runs on people instead of paper. Wes names the three things he is most worried about losing: the load builders who stack a delivery in the order the framer will need it, so the pressure treated sill comes off the truck first, the buyer who has read the lumber and plywood markets for thirty five years and knows when to accumulate and when to liquidate, and the product knowledge that lets a salesperson talk about how a structure actually goes together. His approach so far is listening, documenting and repetition, and he is honest that it is still an experiment. You'll also hear how the boom years turned the lumber business purely transactional and why he thinks the slowdown was healthy, what selling strictly on price taught him not to do, why a small mill loses the account over follow through rather than price, and how Rice Lumber grew from a structural and engineered wood yard into a building center with a hardware store, a showroom and a kitchen design department. Wes closes on the belief that sent him to college in the first place, that the trades are where you land when you have run out of options, and why the replacement rate in construction makes that idea an expensive one for the whole industry to hold. Chapters: 00:00 Growing up in an 87 year old family lumber business 03:21 Coming back to Vermont in 2020 and learning it from behind the counter 04:37 The boom years, and what they cost in relationships 11:49 Forty three years of knowledge, and how to capture it 18:27 Three things Rice Lumber cannot afford to lose 25:19 Writing the playbook a company of veterans never needed 29:35 Live inventory online, and the misconception about the trades The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Wes at: https://ricelumber.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ricelumber/

August 6, 2026Episode 49839 min

Michael Friedrichsen, Roddis Lumber

A fourth generation CPA walked away from a large accounting firm to take over a 104 year old Texas lumber distributor, and the first thing he protected was not the balance sheet. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Michael Friedrichsen, general manager of Roddis Lumber in San Antonio. Michael grew up around the family business, spent one college summer running a forklift in the warehouse, then went off for a master's in accounting and a CPA license. When his dad retired in December 2023, he stepped in alongside his cousin, the company president, right as the post COVID lumber market started cooling off. You'll hear how a single branch, thirty person company keeps a family atmosphere while running a fleet, a hardwood distribution operation, and a separate door shop that pre-hangs doors and trim packages for custom home builders. Michael talks about why so many employees are still there thirteen years after he worked beside them, and what his finance background actually gave him when bids slowed and lead times got unpredictable. Jennifer and Michael also get into the sourcing side: why his hardwood comes from out of state mills chosen for color and consistency, how paint grade, white oak, and walnut are moving in the Texas market, why import plywood dominates cabinet carcasses, and the rule that drives his inventory decisions, which is that if you don't have it, you hand the customer a reason to walk down the street. The conversation closes on urban and reclaimed lumber, LEED specification, and whether a distributor his size could add an urban wood line before the rest of the industry catches up. Chapters: 00:00 From CPA track to fourth generation lumber operator 04:39 Why employees stay: a family atmosphere at a single branch company 06:53 Thirty employees, a fleet, and a door shop 09:44 Stepping in as the lumber market cooled 14:03 Hardwoods, plywood, and sourcing from the right mills 27:03 Technology, lead times, and economic uncertainty The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork Connect with Michael at: https://www.roddislumber.com/ https://www.instagram.com/roddislumberveneerco/

July 30, 2026Episode 49753 min

Dwayne Sperber, Wudeward Urban Forest Products

Twice in close to two decades of building an industry that barely existed, Dwayne Sperber has come near to walking away. Both times the phone rang. The second time was the morning he recorded this episode, when a project shifted against him and the call that came in was Jennifer asking him onto the show. What we're doing together is meaningful, he says, and that idea carries the whole conversation. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Dwayne Sperber of Wudeward Urban Forest Products, a founding member of the Urban Wood Network and one of the earliest advocates for urban wood in the Midwest. Dwayne grew up on a farm in central Missouri and was working a corporate job at Ford Motor Company when a Chicago Tribune article about an arborist salvaging removed trees stopped him cold. Three days later he was standing in front of the man from the article. He went from commissioned furniture maker to partnership with a sawmill that agreed to take the entire production of a tree removal, and he did it without ever writing a business plan. Then a general contractor chewed him out on an otherwise done deal, refusing to put his name on a project using a material he had never heard of. That rejection convinced Dwayne the wood needed standards behind it, which led to Wisconsin Urban Wood, a multi-state US Forest Service project, the Urban Wood Network, and the USRW certification work he does today. You'll also hear the business model he calls suits to boots, why a first order can take three to five years, and how more than 40,000 board feet of his lumber ended up in the highest visibility areas of the Fiserv Forum. Dwayne closes with the one idea he most wants specifiers to understand: urban wood is not a product category to shop for, it is a material that can become almost any specified product, from ceiling systems to wall cladding to library tabletops. At the end of the day it is wood. The source is what is different. Chapters 00:00 From Ford Motor Company to Urban Wood 04:47 Rising from Ashes and Building Without a Business Plan 11:47 Getting Chewed Out, Then Building an Industry 16:26 Standards, Certification, and Nature's Inventory 21:23 Suits to Boots and the Five Year Sales Cycle 28:10 Fiserv Forum and 40,000 Board Feet 41:19 Almost Quitting, and What Urban Wood Can Become The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Dwayne at: https://www.wudeward.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/dwayne-sperber-64a58819/

July 23, 2026Episode 49642 min

Chris Bingaman, Bingaman & Son Lumber

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Chris Bingaman, CEO of Bingaman & Son Lumber. The company traces back to Chris's grandfather, who logged with horses, hauled timber by truck to local sawmills, and eventually started finding new markets when the coal mine prop business dried up. Chris's father joined in, they incorporated in 1968, and today the operation spans five locations with three sawmills, though 80 percent of their lumber still comes from outside mills. It is a processing and distribution business at its core, built on relationships. Chris has been part of it since he was five years old, riding along in the truck while his dad spent six or seven hours hand-grading and hand-loading lumber at sawmills that did not even own a forklift. Every summer growing up, he worked in the company. He wanted to go to the swimming pool. His dad had other plans. That early training in work ethic and lumber grading set the foundation for everything that followed. The conversation digs into how the hardwood lumber industry has contracted and what Bingaman & Son Lumber has done to stay relevant. Chris talks about the 2008 recession as a turning point that forced the company to diversify its product offering, become nimble, and develop deep strategic partnerships with customers. More recently, they invested in a computerized grading system that processes 60 to 70 boards per minute, work that previously required three people. The system has been running about five months, and the results have been significant, though it came with more debt than they are comfortable carrying. Chris also opens up about succession planning. His father went through the painful experience of buying the company back from an estate after Chris's grandfather died suddenly, and that lesson drove decades of intentional estate planning. Chris has four daughters, and when none pursued the business full time, he transitioned the presidency to a long-tenured CFO who had been groomed for the role with the help of an advisory board. Meanwhile, an ESOP launched around 2006 now gives employees 35 percent ownership, with flexibility to go either direction in the future. The broader industry discussion covers tariffs, export markets (25 to 30 percent of volume), the growing threat of synthetic substitutes for wood, and a proposed tax incentive through the National Hardwood Lumber Association that would give homebuyers a deduction for using hardwoods. Chris also touches on mass timber research for low-grade species, biofuels as an outlet for junk wood, and the connection between healthy markets and healthy forests. His message is clear: without demand for wood, there is no economic reason to manage the resource, and unmanaged forests suffer. Chapters 00:00 From Horse Logging to Hardwood Processing 08:36 Family Business, Succession, and the ESOP 16:25 Navigating the Hardwood Market Contraction 21:03 Computerized Grading: 60 Boards a Minute 24:01 Tariffs, Exports, and Staying Nimble 28:05 Forest Health, Substitutes, and the Case for Real Wood 32:06 Thermally Modified Wood and the Architect Community The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Chris at: https://bingamanlumber.com/ https://www.instagram.com/bingaman.lumber/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-bingaman-391630b/

July 16, 2026Episode 49531 min

Cathy Cohne, Melrose Lumber Co.

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Cathy Cohne, fifth generation at Melrose Lumber Co. in Austin, New York. The company was founded in 1922 by Cathy's great-great-grandfather, and when he passed away early, his wife, a Russian immigrant with no English, stepped in and kept the doors open during the Depression. That grit runs through the whole story. The family later operated Manhattan Lumber Company in the city before New York's Urban Renewal program purchased the location, and a fire in the 1960s forced a move from the Melrose section of the Bronx to where they are today. Cathy grew up in the business. If she wasn't in school, she was stocking shelves, helping customers, and making sure everything looked right. She went on to earn a business degree with a minor in marketing and later an MBA, always with the family business in the back of her mind. After COVID, she stepped fully into a leadership role alongside her dad, and the two manage the operation together with her mom handling the books. Melrose Lumber Co. is about 70 percent lumber and the rest hardware, essentially a miniature home center. They carry plywood, dimensional lumber, Douglas fir, pressure treated, cedar, PSLs, LVLs, and a full hardware selection. Cathy walks through the realities of sourcing from major suppliers, fielding quotes by phone and email, and competing with the big box stores on price while offering something they never will: real customer service and a personal touch. A big chunk of the conversation centers on marketing and staying current. Cathy launched an e-commerce website in October and has been working with a media company on SEO for about a decade. The data from those efforts is already shaping how she runs the physical store. When analytics showed that walking sticks were the number one search keyword, she stuffed the rack full and let foot traffic do the rest. She also talks about the early days of AI-generated quoting, her hesitation to give up control, and how ChatGPT started sending brand new customers through her door during an ice dam season. The conversation touches on COVID-era challenges, the shift from cedar everything to more economical Douglas fir as budgets tightened, fuel surcharges driving up order minimums, and the balancing act of inventory management when you refuse to run out but also refuse to overstock. Cathy's philosophy is simple: stay organized, stay efficient, and listen to what customers are actually asking for. Tune in, be inspired, and don't forget to follow the Woodpreneur Podcast. New episodes drop every Thursday morning wherever you consume your podcasts. Chapters 00:00 A Russian Immigrant Runs a Lumber Company in the 1930s 05:10 What Melrose Lumber Co. Carries and How They Source It 09:36 Launching the E-Commerce Store and Navigating AI 18:23 Lumber Trends, Cedar to Douglas Fir, and Economic Shifts 22:06 Education, Family, and Choosing the Business 27:55 Tariffs, Fuel Surcharges, and Adapting to Rising Costs The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Cathy at: www.melroselumber.com https://www.instagram.com/melroselumberco/

July 9, 2026Episode 49445 min

John Melvin, CAL FIRE

Every tree tells a story. The question is whether we treat it like a resource or throw it away like waste. In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger welcomes John Melvin, Assistant Deputy Director of Resource Protection and Improvement at CAL FIRE. The two have worked together in the urban wood movement for over 15 years, and this conversation traces the journey from its earliest days to a program now granting hundreds of millions of dollars. A central theme is language. John makes the case that calling removed urban trees "waste" teaches the public to see them as garbage. Reframing the conversation around resource and value opens doors for municipalities to build wood utilization into their arborist service contracts, saving disposal costs while keeping material out of landfills. He walks through CAL FIRE's role in building the urban wood industry from the ground up, starting in the late nineties with five mobile sawmills and four dehumidification kilns made from converted shipping containers. Those early investments seeded real businesses and put a sawmill at Palomar College that still runs today. As the program grew, CAL FIRE funded urban wood utilization grants and backed the creation of the USRW Certified Urban Wood Standards. Today the scope is enormous. John highlights the green schoolyards initiative transforming over 170 paved campuses into outdoor learning spaces with tree canopy and urban wood features. He also discusses AB 2251, the legislative mandate to increase California's urban tree canopy by ten percent by 2035, and a forthcoming strategic plan to get there. Chapters 00:00 Growing Up in the Woods and Choosing Forestry 03:17 Losing a Childhood Home in the Caldor Fire 10:00 Municipalities, Cost Avoidance, and Policy Solutions 16:28 Why Standards Matter for Urban Wood 22:25 How CAL FIRE Built the Urban Wood Industry from Five Sawmills 31:09 Green Schoolyards and AB 2251 38:15 Legacy: Helping People See the Bigger Picture 40:24 One Small Change Everyone Can Make The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with John at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-melvin-7a5118275/

July 2, 2026Episode 49349 min

Nick Morrison, Brian Studebaker, Brandon Romine, Edmund Allen Lumber

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with three team members from Edmund Allen Lumber out of Illinois: Nick Morrison, Sales Manager; Brian Studebaker, Millwork Manager; and Brandon Romine, Marketing Director. Together they reveal how a 129-year-old cedar and Douglas fir wholesaler has evolved into a full-service custom millwork operation that regularly takes on projects nobody else will touch. The company serves a dealer network of roughly 450 customers across Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana, sourcing the bulk of its Western Red Cedar from Canadian mills and manufacturing everything else in-house. Brian walks through the millwork department's capabilities, from a 54-inch McDonough resaw and six-headed molder to a CNC that lets them replicate any historical molding profile. Brandon explains how he moved from sales into marketing and rebuilt the company's web and Instagram presence to solve a recurring problem: customers kept saying, "I didn't know you did that." The standout story is a clock tower restoration in Madison, Wisconsin. Lightning struck the tower, and the team had to replicate nine or ten unique molding profiles, fabricate stack-laminated corbels, and get everything hoisted by crane a hundred feet in the air while watching pieces swing in the wind. It captures exactly what Edmund Allen Lumber does best: the work nobody else wants to figure out. The conversation also covers the custom design process from architect sketch to final CAD, the economics of quoting without charging design fees, tariffs pushing cedar costs up as much as 45 percent, and the shift from new single-family construction toward remodels and multifamily. The team's message is simple: if you can dream it, they can probably make it. Chapters 00:00 What Edmund Allen Lumber Sells: Cedar, Douglas Fir, and Beyond 03:27 Inside the Millwork Department 05:24 Wholesale Model, Dealer Network, and Architect Partnerships 06:35 From Instagram Screenshot to Final CAD 09:51 The Clock Tower Restoration in Madison, Wisconsin 14:34 Brandon's Journey from Sales to Marketing Director 23:12 Where to Find Edmund Allen Lumber 32:36 Educating Customers on Checking in Cedar Timbers 35:11 Tariffs, Supply Chain, and the State of the Market 41:18 Fifteen Years of Change: Expanding the Mill Shop 44:41 New Construction vs. Remodels and Where the Market Is Heading The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork Connect with Edmund Allen Lumber Team at: https://edmundallen.com/ https://www.instagram.com/edmundallenlumber https://www.linkedin.com/company/edmund-a.-allen-lumber-company/

June 29, 2026Episode 49243 min

Luke Gaskin, Good Old Wood

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Luke Gaskin of Good Old Wood in Vancouver, BC. Luke shares how his business evolved from a full-service salvage operation called Salvage Vancouver into a focused reclaimed wood company. The name change wasn't just branding. It was a turning point. Dropping the salvage identity and committing to Good Old Wood meant letting go of the junkyard mentality and zeroing in on what he actually loved: working with the wood itself and turning it into something new. Luke talks honestly about the growing pains that came with building a self-taught business from scratch. He had no woodworking background, learned everything from YouTube, and operated on a fake-it-till-you-make-it approach for years. He tried partnerships that didn't work out, scaled up to a big shop with four employees before COVID forced him to scale back down, and spent the better part of seven years scraping by before the business started gaining real traction. Through all of it, he grew organically without big loans, slowly building his understanding of the craft and the market. The conversation covers the practical realities of working with reclaimed material. Luke explains why he stopped doing the demolitions himself, how free wood started coming to him once word got out, and why Vancouver's salvage mandate for older homes created a natural pipeline of material. He breaks down the economics of selling individual mantles and floating shelves versus landing larger commercial projects like feature walls and flooring installs, and why the bigger volumes are where the real money lives. He also talks about the challenge of staying true to the DIY customers who supported him early on while building a business that can actually sustain itself. One of the standout stories in this episode is Luke's current project with Aesop, the skincare brand recently acquired by L'Oreal. He's building out an entire flagship store in Richmond Mall using over five thousand board feet of reclaimed wood. The material is coming from large timbers salvaged from a deconstructed Dairyland facility in Burnaby, and the design was inspired by an earlier project using wood from a wooden roller coaster at Vancouver's Playland at the PNE. The whole store will be reclaimed wood, designed around Luke and his story, and he describes it as the kind of project where, if it were the last thing he ever built, he'd feel successful. Jennifer and Luke also dig into the marketing side of the business. Luke admits he hasn't done much formal marketing, relying mostly on word of mouth, Instagram, and Google searches. He talks about the love-hate relationship with social media, the challenge of documenting your own work while you're in the middle of building it, and why he's bringing someone on to handle content creation, especially heading into the Aesop project. Jennifer emphasizes the importance of professional photography and long-term storytelling, reminding Luke that this one project could fuel his marketing for years. The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Luke at: https://www.goodoldwood.ca/ https://www.instagram.com/goodoldwoodco/

June 23, 2026Episode 49142 min

Joshua Morvant, Revival Timberworks

In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger sits down with Joshua Morvant of Revival Timberworks in Louisiana. Joshua shares how his journey through woodworking started with taking apart pawn shop guitars as a teenager, moved into cabinet making to pay the bills, and eventually led him to an apprenticeship with a luthier just outside Quebec City. Living among some of the oldest colonial architecture in North America, buildings constructed in the 1600s that were still standing strong, something clicked. The idea of building something with your hands that could outlast you by centuries became the driving force behind everything he's done since. What makes Joshua's path unique is that he had no formal apprenticeship in timber framing. He taught himself by visiting historic buildings across the East Coast over a five-year period, studying joints, reading failures, and building a mental toolbox of what works and what doesn't. He talks about how broken braces, undersized members, and insufficient relish behind pins taught him as much as the structures that survived, and how those observations now inform every project Revival Timberworks takes on. The conversation covers the real-world complexity of integrating timber framing into modern light-frame construction, why the phrase "it's just decorative" has become a trigger for Joshua, and how working closely with engineers from day one leads to smoother, more cost-effective projects. Joshua breaks down how Revival Timberworks operates across multiple client channels, from partner builders and architect relationships to homeowners who find them on Google, and how customizable pergola and timber frame kits have found an unexpected niche with landscape companies looking for turnkey outdoor structures. Jennifer and Joshua also explore the supply side of the business. Joshua talks about watching Douglas fir log sizes shrink over the past 15 years, the disappearance of old growth material, and why he's become a strong advocate for mass timber and glue-lam as ways to use younger trees more effectively with less waste. He shares his perspective on the 200-year growth cycle needed to produce quality timber and why the conversation about sustainability in the Southeast needs to go deeper, especially on smaller private woodlots where education and attention don't always follow. Chapters 00:00 Origin Story: From Cabinet Shops to Guitar Building to Timber Framing 04:07 Learning from Old Buildings: What Lasts, What Fails, and Why 09:31 Structural vs. Decorative: Integrating Timber Frames into Modern Construction 12:44 Client Relationships: Builders, Architects, and Homeowners 16:03 Customizable Kits and the Landscape Company Niche 19:36 Marketing Through Relationships and a 15-Year-Old Website 21:41 Bonsai, Yamadori, and the Parallel Path of Working with Living Trees 27:29 Material Sourcing: Shrinking Logs, Thermal Modification, and Mass Timber 34:20 Sustainability, 200-Year Growth Cycles, and the Future of Wood 40:04 What's Next for Revival Timberworks 44:29 Legacy, Mentorship, and Where to Find Revival Timberworks The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io Connect with us at: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sawmillsnearme/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/woodpreneurnetwork/ Join Our Facebook Group! https://www.facebook.com/groups/woodpreneurnetwork Join our newsletter: https://substack.com/@woodpreneurnetwork You can connect with Joshua at: https://revivaltimberworks.com/ https://www.instagram.com/revivaltimberworks/