“When we started this business, we simply tried to look at the resources that were available and attain the highest and best use for them. Luckily, we like to think we have a long history and reputation of producing premium quality grade lumber.”
– William Faircloth, president and co-owner, T&F Lumber Company LLC
T&F Lumber Company LLC, located in Monticello, GA, is a manufacturer and wholesale distributor of custom hardwood flooring, paneling, millwork and lumber. Purchasing up to 4,000,000 board feet annually in Red and White Oak, Hickory and Walnut (4/4, 5/4, , FAS, 1C, 2A, 3A). The company also utilizes softwoods including southern yellow pine and new heart pine.
With a combined total of about 4 million board feet in lumber purchases annually, President and Co-owner William Faircloth said, “Our outside purchases fluctuate based on our own kiln-dried production and availability as well as our customers’ needs.”
The owners of T&F Lumber Company are not new to the forest products industry. With customers in 14 countries around the world and a management team with over 200 years of experience in the forest products industry, and a sister company, T&S Hardwoods, that has been in operation since 1973.
When asked how T&F Lumber was established, Faircloth said, “My partner and cousin, Nathan Thompson, and I are third generation lumbermen. The ideas behind the formation of T&F Lumber Company have been in the making for quite some time. Due to the decline that we saw in demand and reliability in traditional export markets at T&S Hardwoods, the idea began. It gained traction in early 2018 when the opportunity presented itself to acquire a defunct millwork and custom flooring facility that was located approximately thirty-five miles from the headquarters of our sister company, T&S Hardwoods.”
Faircloth said T&F Lumber Company was officially in business when the facility was purchased in April 2018. “We established T&F Lumber Company, took over the facility and the process began,” he explained. “We started making renovations to the facility and installing new equipment to achieve our goals of producing premium quality finished goods and value-added lumber products. The company originally started with about seven employees and slowly grew to the size we are today.” The operation now has about 30 employees. Including Faircloth, key personnel are Plant Manager, John Perkins, Darrell Duggan manages production flow and materials, Kristin Pickens manages the office, Casey Smith oversees all of our moulders and tooling while assisting daily production, Porfirio Martin manages the inbound lumber and rough mill. Along with Faircloth, Co-Owners Larry and Nathan Thompson have played a crucial role in establishing and growing T&F. Today, Larry mainly serves in an advisory role and assists with strategic planning. Nathan Thompson also plays an important role in strategic vision and assists with lumber purchases for the company while also managing T&S Hardwoods.
Encompassing 20 acres, the manufacturing facility spans 45,000 square feet. With just a few years behind them, the business has grown and currently has expansion plans underway. “We are currently in the process of constructing a new building for additional manufacturing and storage space,” Faircloth offered. “We are also in the process of upgrading our flooring line to increase production capacity and raw material utilization through yield improvements while maintaining our high standards for quality. Future plans include upgrades to our rough lumber handling systems with a higher capacity rip line and additional automation. We are very much committed to the future of this business.”
Current equipment in operation includes well-known manufacturing names such as Weinig, Newman Machine Company, Eagle Machinery and Supply, Cameron Automation, Paul Saws and Systems, Hasko Inc., Taylor Forklift, Toyota and Hyundai. Faircloth said, “We primarily utilize Irvington Moore Dry Kilns with SII controls and between the two locations we have a total kiln capacity of approximately 450,000 board feet with an average moisture content target of 6 to 8 percent.” Faircloth said the T&F facility carries about 300,000 square-feet of finished goods inventory and has about 400,000 board feet of raw material in process daily.
As for what sets T&F Lumber apart from their friendly competitors, he said, “We are located in areas that produce high-quality timber and ultimately high-quality lumber in a diverse range of species that lend themselves to the production of hardwood flooring.
Traditionally, the hardwood flooring industry is composed of high-volume producers of commodity strip flooring that produce 2-¼-inch and 3-¼-inch widths in standard grades and lengths. Faircloth said the family owned a strip flooring business at one time in the late 1990s, so they had some experience and insight into hardwood flooring production. “These businesses traditionally use only the lower grades of lumber (2A and 3A),” he explained. “Our goal from the formation of T&F Lumber Company, is to take lumber in higher grades than are typically used by the flooring industry and use it to produce premium quality plank flooring in wider widths and longer lengths than the industry standard. The wood we use lends itself well to producing these products.”
He continued, “When we started this business, we simply tried to look at the resources that were available and attain the highest and best use for them. Luckily, we like to think we have a long history and reputation of producing premium quality grade lumber. This is critical when your goal is to produce premium quality finished goods.”
The company went through many of the common struggles that any new business faces early on. “We have been able to overcome most challenges we have met to this point,” said Faircloth. “To name a few – a trade war with China that had drastic effects on lumber and finished good markets, the COVID-19 pandemic, historically difficult labor markets, skyrocketing inflation and rising mortgage interest rates.” Currently fulfilling countless custom requests for customers ranging from specific length ranges, custom widths, color sorts and custom grade requests, T&F Lumber continues to grow.
He mentioned that T&F Lumber Company also has several custom milling programs for customers. “We started out by building a line to produce premium quality, solid, unfinished hardwood flooring because we knew that was a market we wanted to service. However, we quickly saw an opportunity to service several different markets by adding additional moulders to our facility to produce other products that worked well with our available resources. This allowed us to diversify our business and opened opportunities to build new relationships. We have one program for a client where we’re processing thermally modified lumber into custom paneling and siding profiles in species like Poplar, Ash and southern yellow pine,” he explained. “We don’t treat or thermally modify the lumber at our facility, but we developed a partnership with a company that had more capacity to treat lumber than they had manufacturing capacity. We also have several different custom flooring manufacturing programs/partnerships that we have developed over the years.”
Faircloth said none of this growth would be possible without the entire team at T&F Lumber. “It is not fair to say there is one person behind the company,” he explained. “T&F Lumber Company would not exist today without the blood, sweat and tears of many dedicated people. We have many dedicated employees of both past and present along with their families that have made sacrifices to help get us here.”
Faircloth is commonly found ‘negotiating a deal’, whether it be on real estate or timber, purchasing lumber, selling flooring or other products, or looking for the next piece of equipment. Faircloth and T&F Lumber Company have a passion for their employees, customers and suppliers no matter how big or small. “We are always trying to find the solution that works for everybody involved,” Faircloth explained. When it comes to life outside of work, he enjoys his time spent with his family. If he isn’t working or with his family, he and his partner Nathan are generally somewhere in the river swamp, especially during hunting season.
He said the strong points of T&F Lumber Company are is their quality, customer service, availability and lead times, competitive pricing and flexibility and consistency. “I believe those are the things that we are well known for. Generally, when you are talking to somebody with T&F, whether it is selling lumber or buying flooring – you are more than likely talking directly with one of the owners. We are actively involved with the daily operations of the business and want to maintain a high level of service. We are well known for our consistency of quality and the fact that we stand behind what we produce. If there is a problem, we will be attentive and it will be corrected.”
In an effort to continue to be known for their consistent quality and attention to detail T&F Lumber Company is working with the National Wood Flooring Association Manufacturing Services team to earn their NOFMA certification for their facility.
T&F Lumber Company is a member of the National Wood Flooring Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association and National Association of Home Builders.
For more information, visit www.tflumberco.com.
