A light rain falls on the storage yard at Woodchuckers Manufacturing, settling into the countless logs scattered throughout the property and evoking the distinctive aroma of cedar, which hangs heavy in the air.
Meanwhile, Gibson, a golden retriever and the company’s mascot, gleefully bounds through waist-high piles of sawdust and disappears, his fur matching the hue of the wood shavings.
Three nearby workers, accustomed to the sights and smells, ignore the scene and continue cutting the cedar logs into planks of various lengths. Soon, these will either be used in the company’s custom cedar products such as saunas, hot tubs and lawn furniture, or sold directly to local customers pursuing do-it-yourself renovation projects.
At the centre of it all is Kevin Mulligan, the 29-year-old owner of Woodchuckers who often spends 10 to 12 hours a day preparing wood, assembling furniture, and making sure his personally-designed products are shipped on time.
"Value-added really is the word of the day," he says. "Cedar is an underutilized wood, it’s beautiful and naturally weather-resistant, which it makes it perfect for what it is we do here."
Smack dab in the middle of a forest products manufacturing firm might seem an odd place for Mulligan, who graduated from the University of Windsor with a political science degree not three years ago. Even he admits it seems strange, though he was only too happy to return to a passion for woodworking which he first developed in high school, having built some lawn furniture for his parents. Other friends and family began asking him for pieces of their own, and Mulligan soon found enough orders to put himself through university, working primarily in the summertime.
"It was so popular that I was getting calls for orders throughout the year," he says.
After graduating from university, Mulligan decided to pursue his lucrative hobby as a full-time business, and moved back to his hometown of Timmins.
In 2006, Mulligan put in a bid for the Ministry of Natural Resource’s cedar allocation, which instead went to Chapleau’s Cree-Tech and the new Hardy Cedar Lumber facility in Smooth Rock Falls.
Despite failing to secure the allocation, he nevertheless pressed on, securing a supply deal with a local company, as well as funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund and Canadian Youth Business Foundation. This allowed him to establish a small but effective 9,000-square-foot manufacturing site on the grounds of his cottage, a 20-minute commute from Timmins.
His handiwork is now featured in retailers throughout the North, including Timmins, Kapuskasing and Cochrane, with discussions to begin selling in Sudbury. Trying to catch examples of his work at the source can be difficult. Orders are filled and delivered almost as fast as they can be made. In fact, Mulligan already has enough orders to carry him through to the fall, and new calls pour in daily.
No part of the process goes to waste. Bark is sold to a co-generation plant in Cochrane, while unusable slabs are sold for firewood; the sawdust and shavings, meanwhile, are provided to local farmers.
With the local do-it-yourself home renovation market growing by leaps and bounds, sales of custom-cut cedar logs for use in decks and other such projects now make up anywhere from 30 to 40 per cent of his regular business.
However, he expects the balance to tilt further in favour of the manufactured products as he looks to delve into the lucrative Muskoka-Parry Sound market, with their abundance of cottages and camps.
He’s optimistic about the opportunity, especially as he cuts his own wood, thereby lowering his costs.
While one of his highly popular Muskoka-style chairs sells for $130, the average for similar products in that same area typically runs to nearly $300, he says.
If successful, he anticipates his staff levels will skyrocket within the next few years, potentially expanding his staff of four full-time workers to 20.
Like many other value-added forestry firms, however, Woodchuckers stands at the mercy of the wood supply. While he’s sourcing his wood from a local company with which he has a strong business relationship, having his own allocation would solidify his future, he says.
"This is what we’ve accomplished in just one year," Mulligan says. "Imagine what we could do with a proper wood supply."
