Talking mass timber with Structurlam CEO Hardy Wentzel
While the pandemic has had long-term impacts on inflation, the supply chain, and labor, among other pieces of the residential construction puzzle, the mass timber market has been impacted as well.
HBSDealer discussed mass timber and how obstacles have been overcome with with Structurlam CEO, Hardy Wentzel. Additionally, the company’s top executive provided insight into where the company is headed and the advantages it provides.
Here’s what Wentzel had to say about the mass timber market and the future of Structurlam.
HBSDealer: How did the pandemic impact the progress mass timber solutions were making in the construction market?
HW: The pandemic did have an impact, but we were able to navigate around it. In early 2020, we had several large projects in production, and our clients wanted us to continue on through COVID. They had confidence they would have a workaround solution. That got us through a large part of the crisis, but we are still feeling lingering effects today.
Some projects were postponed and delayed, especially the ones that were about to put a shovel in the ground. Those are the projects where people hit the pause button. There have also been ripple effects in regard to the supply chain impact on lumber and the cost of lumber. The cost of the raw materials we buy, such as lumber, has risen. We don’t make the lumber that goes into mass construction.
Lumber is about 50% of our input cost to make mass timber – when it goes up three times in pricing, you can imagine how that causes a lot of concern for everyone. We are not a vertically integrated group and we do not have to be. We can buy lumber anywhere.
The other part of COVID that impacted us was the construction of our new plant in Arkansas. We put a shovel in the ground in March 2020 and had hundreds of containers of mass timber manufacturing equipment from Europe and North America that were fortunately not held up because of our planning and organizing. So we had COVID implications on our mainstream business as well as building our plant, but the plant is scheduled to start-up in the coming weeks.
HBSDealer: How is Structurlam advancing its message about mass timber solutions?
HW: A lot of the messaging is happening on many levels. We have sales engineers in all the major markets. They are mass timber specialists who are supported by Structurlam’s technical services group in British Columbia. We’re also able to reach quite a wide audience through our social media outreach and are also seeing more mainstream media outlets cover mass timber and sustainable building.
Our mass timber specialists are all engineers or architects who talk to developers and building owners, architects, engineers, and builders. We have a lot of technical support materials to figure out loads, fire codes, sound acoustics, and all of the technical questions about building with a new building material.
HBSDealer: What type of edge does Structurlam provide its customers?
HW: We call it the “Structurlam Advantage.” Our company has been making glue-laminated timber for nearly 60 years. Structurlam has a legacy of making very complex, heavy timber structures. In 2011, we were one of the first producers of cross-laminated timber (CLT) and we’ve already completed hundreds of projects for key customers, including Google, Walmart and Microsoft.
Our edge is our ability to provide technical services that support projects as a world-renowned fabricator of complex mass timber components. We’re able to accomplish this through our mass timber design support, sustainably-sourced products, fabrication design and 3D modeling and more.
HBSDealer: How many mass timber projects are underway that include Structurlam's involvement?
HW: Our sales funnel starts with a lead from serious people and it’s filling in nicely for 2022. It’s construction, which always has schedule changes, so it’s important to be nimble in our industry. But we have a robust order file and we can do more.
HBSDealer: Is mass timber being used more in commercial construction or residential construction? And what might lie ahead for residential construction?
HW: Commercial - but we see opportunities for growth in residential construction. In the multi-family sector, there have been new code changes. The International Building Code in the United States now allows up to 18 stories of mass timber construction. That was a big revelation. when the building code people allowed us to increase from 6 to 18. But as you go up from 6 to 12 to 18, there are different requirements on fire protection. With these building code changes, I think we are going to see a big uptake on multifamily and mixed use mass timber construction.
HBSDealer: What is the long-term goal for Structurlam when it comes to the use of mass timber in construction?
HW: Our ultimate goal is to bring awareness to the sustainability and structural benefits of mass timber. Mass timber construction is faster, more efficient and more precise than traditional construction methods, with buildings constructed approximately 25% faster than with concrete and up to 90% less construction delivery traffic.
Construction, especially the transportation aspect, includes huge greenhouse gas emissions. Mass timber buildings have a third of the greenhouse gas warming potential of concrete buildings, and nearly half that of steel buildings. We can grow trees and grow more than we harvest. The trees are the lungs of our planet - they keep the carbon in the tree and give back the oxygen. When you put it in mass timber, the carbon is stored. That’s a huge story.
