“This is a unique job setting, given our location in Southwest Colorado. We are a bit of an anomaly, but I believe manufacturing is kind of in the American blood, and for a good reason.” – Ryan Siggins, owner, SoCo Wood & Windows
One day, a chiropractor walks through the doors of a struggling wood shop…
What may sound like the beginning of a long and possibly funny joke is the beginning of a story of an engaged entrepreneur entering the lumber industry for the second time.
Like many others in the Durango, CO, area, Ryan Siggins was familiar with Los Animas Wood Products. The company had been a central business of the Durango area since the mid-1950s when two brothers from a local family began offering quality lumber products to the surrounding communities. The Gomez brothers retired in the mid-1990s, selling their company to a new owner who, with his partner, began running into financial challenges. By 2014, the company was a shell of its former self and on the verge of bankruptcy.
That’s when Siggins walked through the doors.
“I started my career as a chiropractor. After selling my practice in 2012, I began looking for a new business challenge; I’m very entrepreneurial,” he said. “I bought the business as part of a real estate deal and decided if I could keep the business going, l’d give it a shot.”
Although Siggins was not entirely unfamiliar with the world of lumber — he had spent his summers in college working in construction and had also taken courses in construction management — he knew very little about the industry. Furthermore, the once-thriving company was down to its last two employees.
One of Siggins’ first acts as the new owner was to change the company’s name to Durango Wood Company to carve out a new identity so that local customers would understand that the business was under new management. And then, he embarked on his mission to learn the industry.
“I am self-taught,” he said. “I did not know how to quote or buy lumber. I wasn’t sure how to run a manufacturing facility, and unhappy customers called me to inquire about orders I knew nothing about. It was overwhelming. The learning curve was steep, and I jumped in feet first.”
Slowly but surely, Siggins rebuilt trust within the building community and contacted local contractors to reintroduce the business to the local community. He said he spent most of those early days putting out fires, solving customer problems, repairing aging millworks equipment and buying lumber.
“I was trying to create something much more stable. The previous owners whittled the company down, and it was unprofitable,” he said of the company’s income. As he turned the business around, he began to see its potential and focused on growing market share and increasing the company’s overall capabilities. “In late 2015, I bought out another millwork operation servicing the Telluride, CO, area and acquired all their equipment. In 2021, 1 purchased Doors and More, a Pagosa Springs, CO, company that sold doors and windows. At that time, it was clear the name Durango Wood Company no longer fit and we rebranded SoCo Wood & Windows. Most recently, we acquired a cabinet company. Now we offer a wide range of high-end building materials under one roof — all supported by the most knowledgeable team in the area.”
And Siggins insists he is only getting started.
“We recently moved into a new 4,500 square-foot showroom and a 7,500 square-foot warehouse,” he said. “Our 10,000 square-foot millworks operation is on the outskirts of Durango, and we run a door production shop in Pagosa Springs. I’m proud of what we are building and excited to see how the business thrives with these investments.”
Not surprisingly, as SoCo Wood & Windows has grown, so has its employee roster. Today, the original two-person crew has expanded to a team of more than two dozen employees.
Siggins said the company’s capacity has grown alongside its capabilities. Today, the company purchases more than 100,000 board feet of lumber every year. Much of that is Alder and Poplar, but there is also a fair amount of White Oak and Walnut, as well as Douglas fir.
In terms of equipment, SoCo Wood & Windows operates two Weinig moulders, a Ryman rip saw, a few resaws, several shavers, a pair of Northfield pre-hang door machines, a Timesaver sander, and a 100-horse-power dust collection system that Siggins notes with pride is the “biggest dust collection system in Colorado.”
In terms of his growing customer base, Siggins noted that the company sells primarily to contractor end users. “We service the Western Slope contractor market, including Telluride, Pagosa Springs, Durango, South Fork, the I-70 corridor and Crested Butte,” he said.
And although the company was struggling for its very existence less than ten years ago, Siggins now envisions an aggressive growth path to take the corporation into the future.
“We’re the little guy,” he said. “We’re scrapping out our local market, but we are fighting the giants in the industry. I think it’s all about hiring and investing in the right people, building robust processes that make it easier to scale, and creating a culture that inspires our team to go the extra mile to take care of our customers.”
He noted that SoCo Wood & Windows is offering its future employees the same level of opportunity he was looking for when he walked into the flailing millwork operation in 2014.
“There is not much manufacturing in Southwest Colorado, so finding employees with manufacturing experience is hard. But if you are willing to put the time and effort into the training, working for SoCo Wood & Windows is a great opportunity,” he said. “This is a unique job setting, given our location. We are a bit of an anomaly, but I believe manufacturing is kind of in the American blood, and for a good reason.”
And although this former chiropractor has only two remaining patients — his wife and son — and does not miss the healthcare industry, he does look forward to taking care of his employees.
“Many of our employees have no experience in the industry, including me. It’s about remaining patient and investing in them as we grow together,” he said. “I move around; I like to be on the go. It’s been fun building a staff and a company that’s positively impacting our community. I am motivated to leave a legacy and want to ensure my employees are cared for.”
For more information, visit www.socoww.com.
