Ganahl Lumber Adds New Facility And Brings New Products To Market
Ganahl Lumber, with its headquarters based in Anaheim, CA, has carved out a sustainable business through the ageless philosophy of helping their customers succeed. This has allowed the company to have tremendous sales, with over 300 million board feet of lumber sold from November 2023 to October 2024 from Ganahl’s 11 facilities scattered throughout Southern California.
The hardwoods, Red and White Oak, Ash, Poplar, Birch, Walnut, Maple, Alder, Cherry and Hickory, make up 1.3 million board feet of the sales, along with some imports like Red Balau, Ipe, Apitong and the Mahoganies. Douglas fir, redwood, cedar, pine, radiata pine, sugar pine and Cypress account for up to 300,000 board feet of those sales. Mainly upper grades are purchased, such as FAS and Select in hardwoods, with a small percentage of Nos. 1 and 2 Common in 4/4 in Poplar and Red Oak.
– Deonn DeFord,
“We look for good quality companies to work with, that can help us become a better company with better products. We try to partner with people that operate in a similar manner to us, and that will help us supply the right products to our customers so they can be successful.”
product manager, Ganahl Lumber
In November of 2022, one of the newest additions to Ganahl Lumber was purchased in Northridge, CA. Product Manager, Deonn DeFord explained, “We added a lumberyard in Northridge, and we’ve made some major improvements at that location. Our ultimate goal is to bring it to the specs of our other facilities.”
Previously a family-owned and operated business, formerly known as Northridge Lumber, DeFord said, “I believe the family thought of Ganahl when they were ready to sell. We are a family-owned operation, just like they are, and they knew that we would take care of their employees and the facilities.”
The newest addition to Ganahl’s yards is its San Juan Capistrano facility. The construction of the San Juan yard started in 2016 and was completed in August of 2023. Sitting on 16 acres, with 10 acres of operational lumber space, this facility sets the standard of how future Ganahl locations will look and feel. The main retail space of this yard has over 45,000 square-feet of merchandising space as well as 2,500 square-feet of door and window showroom space and 4,700 square-feet of hardwood and finished lumber. The DLT ceilings, the mezzanine deck system and three distinct ceiling heights with natural light throughout allow the lumberyard to stand out amongst its competitors.
DeFord also said the operation has recently expanded its product offerings. “We’ve added some additional building materials such as concrete accessories. We’re marketing all of the tools to accompany them like hardware, rebar and Simpson Connectors. We’ve added concrete forming panels and taken on some new product lines, which have become a new sales avenue for us.”
Ganahl Lumber, located in Anaheim, CA, purchases over 1.3 million board feet of hardwood lumber, with hardwood species including Red and White Oak, Ash, Poplar, Birch, Walnut, Maple, Alder, Cherry and Hickory.
Much of the finished lumber arrives rough; value-added milling at the Anaheim plant produces random-width and sized boards, hardwood plywood, solid pine mouldings and exterior trim. Ganahl’s lumberyards also have retail outlets for tools, paint, fasteners and hardware items as well as a door and window department at every yard, but lumber accounts for about 65 percent of Ganahl’ s overall sales.
DeFord, one Ganahl’s wood products buyers, purchases all hardwood lumber, moulding and hardwood panel products from mills, distributors and wholesalers. He also purchases clear Douglas fir, redwood, cedar, solid pine, spruce-pine-fir, fencing and exterior trim products and is also in charge of manufacturing stock solid moulding. “We have excellent relationships with vendors,” said DeFord.
“We look for good quality companies to work with, that can help us become a better company with better products. We try to partner with people that operate in a similar manner to us, and that will help us supply the right products to our customers so they can be successful. It’s a flow through system, and it can’t happen without personal relationships with suppliers, vendors and customers. These are crucial to our business.”
Pictured is Dan Delaney, COO of
Ganahl Lumber.
About 90 percent of Ganahl’s customers are building professionals, and it’s main focus on the Southern California market allows customers to call in their orders and have them delivered to the job site or pick up materials at a different location than they ordered them from, making it convenient for the customer, no matter where they are in Southern California. The Ganahl truck fleet makes more than 300 deliveries daily, allowing for the contractor to stay on the job site and complete their jobs at a faster rate.
Today the 11 locations include Anaheim, Buena Park, San Juan Capistrano, Corona, Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Pasadena, South Bay-Torrance and Northridge.
“We look for ideal locations at which to add yards,” commented DeFord. “All the locations are lumberyards and stores; those that have been updated are 40,000 to 60,000 square-foot buildings. Most of our locations are drive-through lumberyards as well as hardware and building material stores. The yards are set up so customers can drive right up to the material, getting in and out quickly.”
Ganahl is constantly looking for ways to improve its efficiency and standard operating procedures. One new program that has been implemented is PitStop. Time in and out of a lumberyard for materials is recorded by a scanning system. The yards post their turnaround times every day. Some of the yards compete with how quickly they can get their customers into the yard and out to their job sites. Another improvement is rooftop parking, which began with the Torrance yard. Reengineered beams provide support for plentiful employee parking, opening spots closest to the store for customers to get in and out more efficiently.
“In Torrance, we took a tip from Disney,” said DeFord. “All their employees are on stage and what runs the park is all backstage. Milling, receiving, getting trucks ready for deliveries, and all the material that supplies those functions are off the scene, away from the customer. The building, the drive-through sheds and the customer area is simply focused on the customers. They can get in and out without dealing with forklift traffic and guys pulling orders. That’s done behind the scenes.”
Ganahl Lumber has 11 facilities scattered throughout Southern California.
Employees stock shelves at night, using roller racks, an innovation that was tested at Anaheim and expanded to the other stores as a huge time-saver. The racks can be stocked behind the scenes and exchanged with near-empties, and staff can focus on helping the customers rather than stocking.
Ganahl’s focus on the customer via personal relationships goes back to the company culture: a family atmosphere that includes management, employees, vendors and customers. The Ganahl family has led the company since 1884, when Christian Ganahl gave the family name to his Los Angeles lumber company. Four generations later, leadership is Chairman of the Board, Peter Ganahl, CEO, Brad Satterfield and COO, Dan Delaney.
Pictured, Peter Ganahl, chairman of the board, and Brad Satterfield, CEO of Ganahl Lumber.
“Even with 1,000 employees, it’s still a family atmosphere,” noted DeFord. “The family is very involved in running the company. The employees earn ownership of the company through an ESOP. We are vested in the company, so yearly we get our certificate of value and dividend payouts. Peter and John Ganahl implemented the employee stock over 40 years ago.” Incentives and bonuses assure employees of their value and foster an atmosphere where all employees work together for the betterment of the company, and in turn, their future.
Ganahl Lumber is a member of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, Indiana Hardwood Lumbermen’s Association, International Wood Products Association, West Coast Lumber and Building Material Association (WCLBMA) and West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau.
Several of Ganahl’s managers have been instrumental in developing the WCLBMA, especially in the softwood industry. Ganahl’s philosophy is to purchase the best products, sell the best products and have a helpful, personal relationship with customers. “Our whole goal is to help our customers. We try to select vendors that help us be our best so we can do the same for our customers,” emphasized DeFord.
To learn more, visit www.ganahllumber.com.
