History of Outdoor
Timber
Early History
Since 1958, when the James family built one of the
first supermarkets in England,
an association with the building industry has been maintained.
Errol James studied as a structural engineer in Cheltenham College to expand on a love for all
aspects of design & construction. He continued building houses in Gloucester and
together with his wife Elsie also expanded the family grocery business.
They opened a popular café, which was often visited
by the touring headline artist of the time, such as the Rolling Stones and
The Who.
They also found time to run a youth group, in the
local Brockworth area.
This support continues today with helping to provide a positive focus for
local Bayswater youth through supporting the Bayswater Junior Football
Club.
Land of Opportunity
In
1966, Garrie was born. This changed priorities for the family.
Australia – the land of
opportunity beckoned. In
1968, they emigrated on the “Fairsea”.
The
James family settled in Boronia, which was then all unmade roads and gum
trees and began the journey towards the great Australian dream.
Building in the Suburbs
The
tradition of family business began with Suburban Landscaping which established
many gardens in the suburbs of Melbourne.
House building continued with E James Constructions through the seventies,
building 100s of quality homes throughout the eastern suburbs. In the mid
seventies, he also completed a restoration and renovation of the famous
Salisbury House in Upper
Beaconsfield.
In
the 1980’s, he expanded on his building business into home improvements and
renovations. He started a window replacement business and became “The
Window Man”. He very quickly became one the largest window replacement
business in Victoria,
setting up a window manufacturing business to maintain quality and price,
and meet the demand.
Out of the Ashes
In 1989 &1990, with interest rates reaching record levels,
we had “the recession we had to have”. The combined businesses went
from a multi-million dollar turnover to tens of thousands. Something had to
give! Thanks Mr Keating! From the debris an idea sprouted. Errol took over
the remnants of a trellis making business. It grew to the point where, his
son Garrie joined the business.
In 1992, the whole family rallied together to form Trellis
Wholesalers. The main products were trellis and lattice for the wholesale
market. We serviced large hardware chains such as BBC Hardware, and many
smaller garden yards. We sold factory seconds from the yard at 868 Mountain Hwy
Bayswater, to the general public. We were often asked for
timber, for which we would send our customers to a local timber yard we
supplied. We were sending an increasing number of customers away, so we
decided it was time to stock some timber. In a short time, retail timber
sales were outstripping wholesale lattice sales. We identified that treated
pine timber sales were our future.
Old timber racks
at Mountain Hwy circa
1993.
What’s in a Name
In dealing with the major timber mills, we had access to a
cheap, readily available source of timber for our production. We also purchased
a variety of other timber sizes for sale in our yard. Eventually we were
selling more timber than lattice. Many customers would get confused when we
answer the phone as “Trellis Wholesalers”. The name suggested we were only
wholesale or only sold trellis. Garrie and Errol did some brainstorming.
The conversation was something like this…………
“What do we sell?”
“Treated pine, decking, fencing, sleepers & fencing”
“Where is it used?”
“Outside”
“No indoor timber at all?
“No”
“So, we sell outside timber?
“Yep”
“How about Outside Timber Supplies”
“No, sounds silly!”
“Hey, how about Outdoor Timber”
“That’s great, what about fencing?”
“OK, Outdoor Timber & Fencing”
“What about Trellis Wholesalers?”
“OK, TW Outdoor Timber & Fencing”
Garrie thinking.
In 1996, we started answering the phone as Outdoor Timber
& Fencing. In 1998, we registered the name TW Outdoor Timber &
Fencing, the “TW” representing a link to Trellis Wholesalers. We dropped
the “TW” in 1999 to trade as Outdoor Timber & Fencing. Our name says it
all!
We stand by what we sell because, what we sell is who
we are.
Errol standing next to what we
sell. Ha, ha. We sold the truck too.
Growth to Meet Demand
We were making waves in the lattice market by offering better products
at a cheaper price. To maintain margins, we had to break into the chain of
production to cut costs. At first, we would buy the lattice laths (timber
slats) in pack lots already treated. We then bought timber directly from
the mills and sent it out to get ripped into lath, and then treated. To cut
costs further again, we began ripping the timber ourselves and sending it
out to get treated.
Ripping lattice
lath
We established a recovery sawmill at 180 Canterbury Rd
Bayswater. We would receive pine logs from tree fellers that
otherwise become firewood or landfill. One Norfolk Island Pine Tree we
recovered was planted in Surrey Hills by Dame Nellie Melba as a teenager.
Some of these trees were up to 120 years old and 4 foot diameter. We cut
these up with a portable bush mill into sizes suitable for production or
for retail timber sales. At one stage we had over 4 acres of logs waiting
for processing.
Kevin from Wrigglers Worm Farms &
Garrie sprung with a ciggie & beer in hand.
We began sending our cut timber to a local treatment plant,
but found that our volume of work was too great for their production
capacity. We agreed to become a major customer of CCA Pine in their new
treatment plant in Kilsyth. We then found, again that our demands were too
strong and identified the need to set up our own CCA treatment plant.
In 1998, we decided to close the Mountain Hwy
yard and combined operations at 180 Canterbury Rd.
We found that the increased exposure increased our sales. We
were right down the road from BBC Hardwarehouse selling similar timber at
30-40% cheaper prices, of course many customers realised this and bought
from us instead.
Front View – 180 Canterbury Rd
Bayswater
Our Own Treatment Plant
We began construction of our CCA Treatment Plant to service
our growing needs.
Slab goes down, tanks are in place.
Construction of building.
In 1998, we commenced operations of our new CCA treatment
plant and extended our price cutting philosophy into doing custom treatment
for other customers at a cheaper rate. We work on the maxim of price,
product, consistency & volume. Within a year the treatment plant
business had more turn-over in a year than 3 years of the lattice business.
Busy at work
We expanded into selling treated timber to the wholesale
market. We would buy in raw timber and treat to specifications. We
identified that fencing and sleeper markets were key growth areas. We eventually
bought our own wood processing equipment to cut overheads.
Production Facilities
We now reprocess timber from all over southern Australia.
We have numerous machines performing different functions. We manufacture
palings for a large part of the Melbourne
fencing market. We also supply fence rails and sleepers.
We have automated most of the processes to help eliminate
physical work, reduce risk of injury, increase productivity and provide a
more consistent quality of product.
We have gained significant savings and pass this on through
cheaper prices to all our customers. We also have a profit sharing scheme
for all our employees.
Forklift training
Corporate logos & branding
Our old logo incorporated in a letterhead
The “TW” represents Trellis Wholesalers. The trellis
background represents our formation to make trellis and lattice.
Our New logo
What it all means.
v The circle background represents
the renewable source of our materials. It is also represents a saw log end
section.
v The fluted board represents our old
fashioned values. It also represents a piece of sawn timber.
v The word “Outdoor” is prominent,
stressing the nature of our products and brand name
v Since 1958, our family has been in
the building industry. We apply gold old fashioned family values in all our
business dealings.
The Future
·
We will be expanding our wood
processing business, incorporating modern technology to meet old fashioned
needs.
·
We will maintain our commitment
to cutting our costs to the bone and passing savings on to our customers.
·
We will ensure all staff members
are kept up to date through in-house and external industry training
programs.
·
We will continue to reward our employees’ productivity
through innovative incentive programs.
·
We will strive to achieve an
accident free workplace and proactively improve safety for all staff and
customers.
·
We will continue to ensure that we promote environmentally
friendly solutions to all our consumers’ needs.
·
We will continue to support
junior sport in our local area.
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