Banks of photos spanning decades line the walls at the offices of DHH Timber in Purfleet. Showing industry dinners, foreign trade visits and ships, it’s clear that one person featuring in them has been in the timber trade a long time. This January, in fact, Derek Fletcher, joint owner of DHH Timber and Decor Solutions, has been in the trade an amazing 60 years.
He has been nicknamed “Mr Birch” (his LinkedIn job description) for his long association with the birch plywood trade and the fact DHH is the UK’s largest stockist. We caught up with him recently after he was honoured by Latvijas Finieris with a 25-year recognition award presented at the Latvian Opera House in Riga.
As anyone who has met Derek will attest, he is passionate about the timber sector, a storyteller and expresses his views frankly. Our conversation ranged from the art of selling, to Brexit, training and the economy. But first we need to roll back the clock to see the “different world”, as Derek puts it, of the timber trade when he started out.
He was introduced to the trade with a role at teak and hardwood importer Richard H Keeping, though earlier at aged just 10 he sold firewood from a barrow (steamed beech off-cuts from a company that made ladies’ shoe heels). It was the pre-calculator era, when hand-cranked Brunsveger machines were used for costings.
After six months Bamberger’s bought the company and Derek decided to move on. In 1963 he became a junior salesman for Denny Mott and Dixon where he became a top softwood and plywood rep, opening 378 new accounts with no leads in his first year. He earned the nickname ‘Aladdin’ as he also sold a large volume of teak to the lighting industry to make standard table lamps. Many colleagues also found it amusing that he sold teak items to the London Rubber Company for condom testing! Around this time, he says, he also introduced Potton Timber to timber frame production and sold CLS to it. It was also then that his affinity with birch plywood began.
Denny’s relocated to Kent, trading as Mallison-Denny, and was then taken over by Brooke Bond and Unilever, at which point Derek was promoted to sales director. He remembers the company owning a herd of elephants in Thailand for moving wood. Next came a move to William T Eden, then Saracen Timber where turnover rose from ?3m to ?10m in just over two years. However, he became disenchanted and formed MDM (Malcom, Derek and Mickey), before moving on again and establishing DHH Timber with David Francis. For the past 25 years they have grown the business to offer what is regarded as the largest and most comprehensive stock range of birch plywood in the UK, with a variety of formats and thicknesses held ex-stock, as well as marine and Douglas fir plywood, Medite MDF and SmartPly OSB products.
ART OF SELLING
While accepting there have been improvements in some trade practices over the years, Derek laments the loss of a sense of integrity. “It was a different world in the old days. People used to take an order for a few million pounds without a purchase order – it was built on trust.
“But now there is a lot of sales for short-term gain, which is counterproductive. It shouldn’t just be having to sell things but also about promoting the product, making a profit, giving good service and telling the tale about the timber trade. People say to customers ‘I can do it cheaper’, but if everyone in the timber trade sold at the correct price we’d all make more money.”
MOVING WITH THE TIMES
One of the major changes since 1958 is the advent of email, internet and social media. Derek remembers some years ago disagreeing with a Plywood Club of London meeting speaker who had predicted the rise of the internet and social media in business. But he has since revised his opinion after seeing the impacts they can have. DHH, for instance, has a major architect following on Twitter. But sales staff, he insists, still need to use intelligence to get the most out of contacts made online.
“You need to talk to those people, find out what projects they’re involved with and what they’re looking to buy. A lot of people in the timber trade do not know how to ask those questions.”
Training is something he and DHH values highly and he highlights the need for more young people in the trade.
He remembers the days when companies would spend extensive time with new recruits before they conducted sales calls.
“We did not have to tell new sales people what to do then because they were trained first and learnt all about the products.” Derek attended one of the first TRADA training course with ‘Jimmy’ Latham of James Latham, during which he was invited to attend his first Plywood Club of London dinner at the Barbican 50 years ago.
ECONOMY AND BREXIT
As for the current market outlook, Derek expects the economy to falter somewhat in coming months, but he remains upbeat. “I think a lot of big construction projects are going to end in April and a lot of new big projects are not starting,” he said.
“There will be more offsite construction – that is the big thing for housing – and timber frame will become more widely used.” He also believes birch plywood can still get bigger in the market. “I can also see OSB volumes growing too and Douglas fir plywood is really taking off; architects keep specifying it.”
Very much a Brexiteer, he is also positive about UK prospects outside the EU. “I do not think there will be tariffs on timber,” he said. “I think the EU is more worried about it than we are and I don’t think it will be too bumpy in the meantime. But I do think there is too much being said about the subject.”
Prices are on the rise, he says, but he wonders whether global demand is as strong as analysts are making out.
FROM LAND’S END TO JOHN O’GROATS
Turning to DHH, Derek is very proud of its countrywide distribution “from Land’s End to John O’Groats”, with products imported to Creeksea and Tilbury. Export business has also seen birch ply shipped for a velodrome project in Jakarta and 17 containers for an exhibition in Dubai.
DHH plywood was used in the London 2012 Olympic Games construction project, while King’s Cross Station also features its birch ply. And the walls and ceiling of the Wood Awards-winning Colyer-Fergusson Hall at the University of Kent are lined with Douglas fir plywood supplied by sister company Decor Solutions.
Today DHH and Decor Solutions, which focuses on melamine, veneered and phenolic plywood and other decorative wood-based panels, are still evolving family businesses. Sons and daughters from both Fletcher and Francis families are in key positions taking the company forward, assisted by fellow directors, sales and operational staff. DHH, for example, is adding poplar plywood and coloured wood engineered fibreboard to its stock portfolio in 2018.
Derek still “enjoys the trade thoroughly” and intends to remain actively involved, currently working three days a week. An active member of the Plywood Club of London (PCL) and Timber Trade Federation, he is looking forward to the annual PCL dinner in February. No doubt another photo to add to the gallery on his wall!
