Portland, OR– For over 100 years, Patrick Lumber Company has been serving the Pacific Northwest, North America, and beyond as a secondary manufacturer of specialty high-grade wood products.
Established in 1915 by Charlie Patrick, his father James Patrick, and their business partner Bill Brushoff, the company has had its fair share of ups and downs. Since its inception, Patrick Lumber has survived and thrived through a Great Depression, two world wars, the spotted owl, the great recession and company transitions in product and personnel.
Today, Patrick Lumber Company has roughly 90 employees, with approximately 25 at the corporate headquarters located in Portland, OR. “Patrick has been part of downtown Portland since its origination in 1915,” said the company’s president, Pat Burns. The history of Patrick lies in the Pacific Northwest, so it should come as no surprise they have become experts in the principle species harvested there. “We focus on selling high-grade West Coast Softwoods – Douglas Fir, Western Red Cedar, Hemlock and Alaskan Yellow Cedar – in niche markets worldwide.” The company added Southern Yellow Pine to its product mix over 30 years ago, and it’s become a growing staple for the future.
Trader Chelsea Brown added, “We offer a quality product, something that is beautiful and pristine. Beyond that our focus is on building relationships and being present. We are well acquainted with our supply-chain, from the log to manufacturing, down to our carriers. Our staff are hard-working, and get the job done. All of these relationships and people matter to us, and on top of a great product that is ultimately what helps keep our customers happy.”
Burns says the company’s knowledge and experience with local species is a major benefit when dealing with customers. “We’re able to recommend products that suit various projects: Western Red Cedar for its decay resistant characteristics or fine vertical grain, Douglas Fir for trim and moulding applications. Having a variety of species and products allows us to be more relevant to distributors throughout the country offering highly mixed loads on one truck.”
Chelsea continued, “The great thing about Patrick Lumber is the diversity within our core products as Pat mentioned. We have a well-established supply. We cut rough dimensional lumber, boards, and timbers. If our customer is looking for some Doug Fir timbers, there is a good chance they may also need flooring, ceiling, siding or moulding. We can provide the custom patterns they need.”
One of the pillars that has given Patrick Lumber the ability to deliver on customer needs and demands is the acquisition of The Mary’s River Company dry kilns and reman plant in Philomath, OR, in 2016. Managing partner of the facility and trader Brad Mehl said, “The PLM (Patrick Lumber Manufacturing) complex is on 30 acres, with sawing, and drying capabilities. We are primarily processing Doug-Fir and Hemlock. But we process some of all the northwest Softwood species including Alaska Yellow and Port Orford Cedar.”
Mehl continued, “The dry-end has a small boiler and five dehumidification dry kilns, more of a DHQ hybrid system. The reman plant consists of two, thin kerf multi-saw (5 inline resaws) banks and one single resaw line. A thin saw kerf is of extreme importance when sawing high-grade lumber.”
Patrick Lumber has invested significantly into the facility and is currently in the process of making additions. Mehl commented, “Pretty exciting times; we have great people that need ‘all of the tools to win,’ so we purchased additional dry kilns at an auction last year and are in the process of dismantling and relocating them to Philomath and installing a second, new (Johnston) boiler.
“Our focus is on efficiency enhancements. When phase 2 is complete we will have doubled our drying capacity. We just completed phase 1, the installation of a separate machine center; an automatic stick placer/stacker, and (hand) sorter. This gives us the ability to multi-task – stick green lumber or de-stick dry lumber on the new line while resawing or de-sticking on the existing line.”
On the decision to acquire and invest in the Philomath site, Mehl explained, “Basically it came down to the choice between being 100 percent dependent on others and having no management control of our production or investing in a facility and controlling the flow of a chunk of our production. The opportunity was there, it made a lot of sense, it gave us the ability to influence our inventory turns that we didn’t have before.”
Mehl finished by saying, “We sell into many segments, so we have different product lines – green or dry rough lumber, industrial lumber, appearance products, millwork or finish. Anything outside of our production capabilities is processed at a few, quality custom manufacturers that we have aligned ourselves with and have very strong relationships with.”
Patrick Lumber envisions exports as another avenue for growth. John Quast, who started with the company in 1996 and oversees the export side of the business said, “We are one of the few companies that exports all of these Softwood species from North America, including Doug Fir, WRC, Hemlock, Southern Yellow Pine and a few other species. It makes up approximately 20-25 percent of our business.”
Patrick Lumber offers value in their custom patterns, like the Douglas Fir, VG Flooring seen here. 
This is one of the five Dry Kilns being loaded at Patrick Lumber Manufacturing.
Quast continued, “One of our biggest strengths is Southern Yellow Pine. It really is the foundation and future of the export side of our business because of the sustainability of Yellow Pine. We as a company are very much focusing in on clears and higher-grade lumber in all our business across the board, and it is widely available in Yellow Pine. We have an office just outside of Raleigh, NC, staffed by Jeff Baumgartner who has been in the business a long time. Having Jeff in North Carolina is instrumental in our long-term plan of growing our export business and growing our Yellow Pine business, especially right now during this COVID-19 situation. Having an office and presence in the South is crucial because, as of right now, no one is traveling, and to have Jeff down there on the ground, able to monitor quality and maintain relationships, is critical to what we do.”
Quast described his overseas customers by saying, “We really focus on program business. We have long standing relationships with large importers and in some countries we have agents. We work with large importing stocking distributors and some of those relationships go back 50 years.” Quast finished by saying, “We have warehouse locations in the South where we keep Southern Yellow Pine and we keep a significant inventory on the West Coast as well, and so that’s kind of it in a nutshell – our export division.”
A detailed plan has led to Patrick Lumber’s assembly of a diverse and effective team. The company has invested in bringing in the next generation and providing them the opportunity to thrive. John Quast explained, “The role of the traditional trader is changing. The veteran leadership in our company – we have a lot of seasoned traders that are very good at what they do – is what allows this younger generation that is coming into the industry to be propelled toward having some success.”
One of those next generation employees is corporate controller Natalie Heacock, who has been with Patrick for just over six years. “The people at Patrick are amazing, some of my best friends, which was unexpected in a lot of ways. We all have become a really close-knit group and want what’s best for the company going forward,” Heacock shared.
Both she and Chelsea were nominated and selected to be part of the first-ever YELP (Young Emerging Lumber Professionals) program through NAWLA. Heacock stated, “It is exciting to be part of the inaugural class. I met a lot of sales professionals and service providers at the NAWLA Leadership Summit earlier this year, and I’m very excited to connect and learn with other young industry professionals through this new program.” Heacock came to Patrick with a background in public accounting. She said, “When I interviewed for the position, I had a few requests, one of which was working from home indefinitely for one day a week. They came back and said yes, and that openness set the foundation for a smooth transition for the company working from home during this pandemic.”
Patrick has responded to the coronavirus pandemic by doing what they have always done: adapt. Chelsea said, “We are fortunate our office was transitioning each employee to have work from home abilities already. We would never have imagined for this reason, but the transition was almost seamless. All weekly meetings are held on video conference, and it almost feels like we have become closer as a team in some ways. We are fortunate to be in an industry considered essential and we are conducting business as usual during this time, rolling with what comes our way.”
Patrick Lumber has come a long way since its inception 105 years ago. The company has shown the ability to adapt to market conditions for employees, vendors, and customers alike particularly in these uncertain times. Brad Mehl said it well: “Patrick Lumber is over 100 years old, so each generation of ownership has left its mark for a legacy and I guess this is probably our generation’s legacy, and it will be around for the next generation to have some skin in the game.”
Learn more at www.patlbr.com.
Patrick Lumber has shown its commitment and support to the wood products industry by participating and investing time and resources in memberships like North American Wholesale Lumber Assoc., National Hardwood Lumber Assoc., Portland Wholesale Lumber Assoc., West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau, Hoo Hoo International, National Wood Flooring Assoc. and National Retail Lumber Assoc.
