Raising the standard

First and foremost I’m a timber merchant, who happens to be occasionally allowed to write on timber-related subjects. Generally we merchants are traders, who tend not to do much more than buy and sell, sometimes with a bit of added value machining, priming, joining and the like – I guess to some people, we’re a “necessary evil”!

But what I believe we must do to survive is change, like chameleons merging into the current colours of demand and supply, as we try to match producers with end users, handing timber over from the trade to its final resting place.

I strongly suggest that you read the previous excellent pieces in this Wood Futures series to get some of the wider anticipated trends, while I try to express opinions on what merchants will need to do to keep going in the short term and prosper in the future. Although, if I could first add just one point to their earlier predictions, it would be the amazing technical improvements in treatment and finishing that are now giving timber its markets back, particularly in sectors like windows. So long live the timber window!

Professionalism

Having worked through the 70s/80s, 80s/90s and now the ‘noughties’ crashes I know that it will weed out many (as my own appearance on a dole queue in the past reminds me!), but timber will come out well ahead of its competitors. The timber trader’s increasing level of professionalism will only grow, by necessity, as they become timber experts.

All too often, we get customers asking or even pleading with us for help, as they try to understand the increasingly complex issues surrounding specification. Just supplying ‘plywood’ is not a long-term career; understanding the whole building process and the causes and effects of specifying the wrong materials is.

Merchants need to know exactly what is available and then offer alternatives to their customers, giving them informed options, while also ensuring that the products they supply tick every box in terms of legality, sustainability, suitability, performance and appearance.

Need for expertise

I predict that one-stop merchants supplying anything from copper tubes and boilers, to flame-proof treated hardwood cladding with chain of custody will struggle – the expertise we need is only going to increase and we’re very likely to see a lot more specialism.

IT and the mass of electronic communication that we see growing exponentially will also help smaller individual businesses compete and even beat larger, more flat-footed rivals. And, providing the whole industry has standards and systems that are enforced, against easily understood legislation, we will see the more piratical elements wither away, leaving a stronger, more professional timber merchanting industry.

I firmly believe that a strong Timber Trade Federation is crucial, as it will put a unified message across to government, NGOs and other parties, proclaiming the amazing benefits of timber, compared with those other dinosaur materials which know in their hearts that they actually are not as good as timber.

That same Federation will assist us all in ensuring that training and career structures are put in place. We’re now talking to bright young people at graduate fairs who find timber interesting, new, socially acceptable and something to develop compared with concrete, steel and the like. We’re actually seen by them as the new kids on the block, which is refreshing!

I also know that these next few years will see timber breaking free from the shackles of constant over-scrutiny by people who are passionate about environmental issues, but lack the commercial understanding of how important forestry is to countries, their wildlife, ecosystems and their people.

Regrettably the timber industry walked into this whole subject with its usual poor controls and then allowed the agenda to be taken on by others. But we’ve learned, changed and become a lot better for it.

Generic chain of custody

One example is the forthcoming generic chain of custody, where merchants will be able to put products from all approved certification schemes into one section and sell it on with a covering chain of custody. The existing methods are, quite frankly, a restraint of trade, where competing schemes just create confusion, while we the taxpayers spend vast sums of money verifying which ones are acceptable! End users are not even vaguely interested in all this jargon – “just give me timber that’ll do the job, or else I’ll go back to steel” is what they say!

So we, the timber industry, have a way to go, but we’re up for a challenge and we’ll meet any takers!