Q&A with Wilson Lumber

Q: What's your typical split as far as sales go, and who is your customer base?

Josh Hendrickson: Primarily 99 percent of what we do is new construction. Production builders are our bread and butter. We do a lot with first-time homebuyers and builders. But what we've been doing well with lately is getting more into the multifamily space, especially turnkey, specifically installing the trim and hardware on large multifamily jobs like apartments and assisted living facilities.

Generally speaking, our sales are split evenly between building materials, trusses and millwork, which would include manufacturing the doors and windows.

Robb Wilson: What I would say in addition to that is we do like manufacturing. It's fun, first off, but we also like the control that it gives us to some extent to own our lead times and control quality. 

We're very much about people, and doing more manufacturing enables us to employ more people.

Q: What trends are y'all seeing right now, and what do you see as important moving ahead? 

Josh Hendrickson: One of the things that we talk about with our customers is how we help them build faster. That’s really important to them, and I don't think that's gonna change in the next several years. There's still such a huge housing shortfall that we have to help them build quickly, without compromising service and quality. And that doesn't mean that we just do it with short lead times.

We're also going to continue communicating quickly and clearly with them so they can make informed decisions. In addition to proactive communication, we offer any suggestions that might help them build faster—so we become more than just a building supplier. We want to be a resource to their operation so that they see us as an extension of their business. With the ongoing housing shortfall, I don't think that mindset is going to change anytime soon.

Q: What are some of the ways that you're helping people build faster? How are you building some of those efficiencies?

Josh Hendrickson: With builders that are purchase-order based, we don't just blindly trust their purchase orders. We still go and do our own estimates. We check behind them if a delivery is made and if there's material that needs to be picked up. 

We're taking note of that to make sure that we don't deliver an incorrect quantity next time. We also walk through jobs regularly. Even if they're purchase-order based and they tell us they don't need us on the job, we're still gonna be out there to help ensure everything’s correct.

On the multifamily side, it's really combing through all their plans trying to find gaps that the architects may make or the engineers may make so that we can spot it before it becomes a problem and raise the flag to them.

Q: Do you see any big shifts in terms of building materials or building styles in the near future?  

Josh Hendrickson: As long as I've been in this, outside of something like Zip board coming onto the market or potentially some of the color siding, I just haven't seen any products that builders have just grabbed onto or that they feel like they need to be able to build more efficiently or more cost effectively. 

Robb Wilson: I don't know that I foresee a big disruption in the way homes are built anytime soon. But the point of that for us is to make sure that we set up properly and that we have the structure in place and that we're nimble enough to be able to adjust to industry changes quickly – and I think we are. 

We are nimble, even for the size company that we are, and can change with the industry as needed. I think that's the key. There may be some huge change that we don't see, but we just have to stay ready for it.

Ultimately, the product isn't the solution for us. The solution is how we do it.

Q: Looking toward the future, what’s your view of the prefab or modular kind of building?

Josh Hendrickson: I’m very much interested in off-site construction. What I have found is that ultimately, it’s market-driven, and we have seen several markets take on some version of a prefab product. For the most part, wall panels and wood trusses seem to be where most builders are comfortable. 

Here in our market, it's not really a panel market where we're building the walls before they go to the job because the framer wants to build them themselves. 

But back to what Robb said, if that's what they want, that's what we're going to be doing next. And we have done a lot of that in the past. It just shifted at the bottom of the downturn and then, in this market, it never came back. 

Q: Is there any aspect of the business where you plan to invest more heavily?

Josh Hendrickson: For me, it's technology. We've hired a software developer, which is new for us. We're currently beta testing our own proprietary software. There's just a lot of different things that we'd like to do that we could solve with technology to make what we do a lot easier and reduce friction for our employees and make it easier for them to do their job. 

Externally, there are different things that we can do to communicate better with the builders to help them build faster. And, I think for us right now, technology is a big solution.

Q: What are you doing for employee communication and engagement? 

Robb Wilson: We do several different things. Monthly, we send out a newsletter, which we send to the employee’s house. It's important that it goes to their home because we want the entire family to read it and understand what's going on in the company. We want them to know what their parents or spouses do all day. 

Josh Hendrickson: I remember as a kid getting Highlights magazines, where they have the word search and other fun things, so we'll put in things for kids or recipes to try to be more engaging with the employees' families.

We just kicked off what we're affectionately calling the “Buffalo News Network.” It's like an internal broadcasting network that we're putting in all the break rooms to post employee information, work days for our Wilson Lumber Cares team and different events that come up. 

We’re trying to help employees and people at our different locations feel more connected and engaged.

Q: What’s with the buffalo?

Robb Wilson: Several years ago we very informally adopted the buffalo as our company mascot, because buffaloes charge into a storm, as opposed to cows, which always run away from a storm. 

The idea is, pushing forward amid adversity can get you through the storm faster. So, “charging into the storm” is something that we've used over the past few years to push the value of taking on problems head on. Don't let things fester. That’s why you see buffaloes around. 

Just to add to the employee communication, we also have “Buffalo lunches,” which are named that because of our mascot. We do that two times a year to communicate with employees on the state of the company, and we have lunch at all locations. So that's another way we communicate with employees.

Q: What about employee surveys? 

Josh Hendrickson: We do an annual survey through Best Workplaces Institute. It's an anonymous survey that all the employees are encouraged to take. It's divided into divisions so that we kind of get a snapshot of how well these different departments are functioning.

Then we also get a collective of the whole company, and it measures eight different areas that deal with everything from communication, interaction with your supervisors and so forth. 

Right now, we're in a “healthy” environment, and we've been improving a little bit each year. But we take seriously the feedback we get on that survey, and we try to integrate ideas into our plan for the next year. 

We're also in the middle of rolling out focus groups at all locations in which frontline employees participate voluntarily. They're led by a chair person that's not at that location, so they're not communicating with any of their direct supervisors or managers that are there. It's a very open environment, and they get to provide feedback and weigh in on new things that are rolling out in the company. And now there really is a direct line of communication from that entry level front line employee to the executive team. 

All this is on top of quarterly conversations that supervisors have with their employees regarding what's working and what's not working. 

Robb Wilson: Regular contact and communication is crucial to let employees know that there is a plan—and then clearly stating what the plan is. Then, they know what to expect, and they know how to plan for it.

Q: A lot of folks are expressing concerns about recruitment. Is there anything you’re doing on that front?

Robb Wilson: There's nothing more important to recruitment than having a good culture. That's all there is to it. But if you're trying to have a good culture so that you can recruit, well, it's not gonna work. The reason you have a good culture is because that's the right thing to do for people. 

Treating people right, defining what culture should look like—and then holding people accountable to that. It’s about holding managers accountable to that standard and allowing them to hold you accountable to it. I've only been here 30 years, I guess, but getting a clearly defined culture and getting it in place, has been the greatest thing we've ever done here. 

Josh Hendrickson: I’d also say we’re trying to emphasize that being in the trades is a great place to be right now. We have specialized roles; it’s not just riding a forklift all day. 

Q: Are there any other future big projects on the horizon?

Robb Wilson: Well, not that we can tell you about. We definitely are a growth-oriented company. And so we plan to continue to grow, whether it be by greenfield or acquisition. We want to continue to grow and share the Wilson Lumber story and culture with more people.