(L to R) Andrew Hill, sales manger, Stag Timber Div.; Len van Ryswyk, sales manager, J.S. Jones Timber; Tom Jones, owner; Jody Boates, sales & marketing, Teal Cedar Shake & Shingle Div.; Scott Boates, sales & marketing, Teal Cedar Shake & Shingle Div.; Paul Saini, Sales & Marketing, Whitewood Lumber Div.; and Tom Haker, Western Red Cedar manager.
THE TEAL-JONES GROUP—Generations Of Family And Quality Wood Products
By Wayne Miller
Surrey, B.C.—For more than 60 years, the Jones family has been providing quality lumber and Western Red Cedar products from the banks of the Fraser River on Canada’s West Coast near Vancouver.
Founded in 1946 by Jack Jones, his sons Tom, Harry and Dick assumed control of their father’s company, Teal Cedar Products Ltd., in 1969. Over the years the firm has grown from its small beginnings of 11 employees to, in pre-recession years, more than 1,000 employees and 400 logging contractors. Currently the company is operating with 600 employees and 200 loggers.
“Our success is due to our excellent and loyal employees and our great customers. That’s what has helped make Teal Cedar what it is today,” Tom Jones said.
Jatinder Bhandol is photographed here cutting blocks in the Shake & Shingle Mill. Operating several facilities throughout British Columbia, the Red Cedar Shake, Shingle & Sidewall Product Division includes the Teal Cedar Shake & Shingle mill, which produces a variety of roofing and sidewall Products.
The Teal-Jones Group has developed into a sizeable forestry firm. With four divisions that include Forestry & Logging, Whitewood Lumber, Red Cedar Lumber and Red Cedar Shake, Shingle and Sidewall products, the firm holds logging rights in the Fraser Valley, Tree Farm Licenses on Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands.
Harvesting timber throughout British Columbia, mostly from crown timberlands, the Forestry & Logging Division is also responsible for the replanting and managing of those lands.
Two company sawmills and two planer mills are located at the Whitewood Lumber Division—Stag Timber and J.S. Jones (small log mill). Stag Timber is the large log headrig sawmill, which manufactures primarily Hemlock, Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce domestic and export lumber products, including structural and appearance timbers and squares and industrial products (clears, flitches, shops, mouldings). This mill also provides custom cutting services.
Five years ago the Jones’ built J.S. Jones Timber, a state-of-the-art sawmill, which has the capability of cutting up to one million board feet of lumber per day. “We named the mill after my Dad. We cut small logs from this mill that go all over the world to our good friends in the U.S. and to our good friends in Japan and other parts of the world,” Tom explained. The small
Teal Cedar is also the only Shake & Shingle mill that has its own timberlands which provides direct access to raw fiber. This in turn provides consistent and reliable sourcing of logs.
log sawmill manufactures Douglas Fir and Hemlock, focusing on high value ‘specialty’ square edged, small tight-knotted structural merchandise products, such as appearance grade decking for treating, trim, fascia, and lam/truss stock.
Teal-Jones offers 215 sorts from the sawmill. “We have 215 primary sorts coming out of the sawmill,” Randy Jackson, mill manager explained. “There is a portion of those 215 that ends up going to the planer mill to be sorted again. We utilize as much of the log as possible, we’ll wind up making another 50 sorts at the planer mill.”
In Salmon Arm, B.C., the firm’s Red Cedar Lumber Division specializes in custom cutting Red Cedar appearance timbers. Well-branded finished products with preferred length and width tallies are manufactured from this facility. Specialty products including Red Cedar fascia, posts and industrials are also manufactured from this facility.
Operating several facilities throughout British Columbia, the Red Cedar Shake, Shingle & Sidewall Product Division includes the Teal Cedar Shake & Shingle mill, which produces a variety of roofing and sidewall products. Teal Cedar is also the only Shake & Shingle mill that has its own timberlands which provides direct access to raw fiber. This in turn provides consistent
Teal-Jones employee Chad Jones packing shingles in the Teal Cedar Mill. The Cascade Cedar operation has three shake machines that produce 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch shakes in both 24-inch and 18-inch lengths. In Masset, B.C., the Graham facility has four shingle machines and one shake machine and the Titan Ridge facility in Port McNeil, B.C., has seven shingle saws and a Diasaw that produces shingles and shakes.
and reliable sourcing of logs.
The Cascade Cedar operation has three shake machines that produce 1/2-inch and 3/4-inch shakes in both 24-inch and 18- inch lengths. In Masset, B.C., the Graham facility has four shingle machines and one shake machine and the Titan Ridge facility in Port McNeil, B.C., has seven shingle saws and a Diasaw that produces shingles and shakes.
With four generations of Jones family now onboard, the company also has a history of multiple generations of employees and customers. “We have customers that have remained with us from the day that we started,” Tom said. “Now their sons and daughters are running their businesses and continuing on.” Some of the Teal- Jones’ employees are in their third generation.
The company’s relationships are as stable abroad as they are in their home of the U.S. “Different countries have different customs, and we respect those customs,” Tom said. “When I go to Japan, the buyers like it when the actual owners come. They like to see the same people coming each visit.”
The infeed of logs at Stag Timber is photographed here. Two company sawmills and two planer mills are located at the Whitewood Lumber Division—Stag Timber and J.S. Jones (small log mill).
At its core, The Teal-Jones Group is a family structured, owned and operated business with decades of experienced personnel. Along with Tom’s wife Holly, his daughter April Choquette, son Chad and his brother Dick’s daughters and sons, Shelley Schmidt, John Gardner, Alan and Mandy Jones also work for the company.
Dick Jones attributes the success of Teal- Jones to values instilled by their father at any early age. “Our Dad instilled integrity in us from the beginning. Everything that he received, he earned.”
As for the reason a customer should choose Teal-Jones Group over their friendly competitors, Dick said, “Quality is not just a word at Teal-Jones. We grew up in this business, we know how to make a good product. The company is fabricated into our daily lives, we take it home at night and wake up with it in the morning.”
Tom added, “I was working in the mill from the time I was 9 years old.” As a framed photo takes him down memory lane, Tom tells what it was like growing up around the sawmill. “In that picture, we were in North (Delta) with our little mill. We used to have five square shingles and every Friday night we would load them onto the truck to sell to another mill,” he explained. In fact, the Jones’ own a renovated truck, identical to the very same 1930 Model AA truck in the photograph. “It’s the same truck
Stag Timber is the large log headrig sawmill, which manufactures primarily Hemlock, Douglas Fir and Sitka Spruce domestic and export lumber products, including structural and appearance timbers and squares and industrial products (clears, flitches, shops, mouldings). This mill also provides custom cutting services.
we used to deliver the shingles from our one machine shingle mill in Surrey many years ago,” he said.
The Teal-Jones Group offers buyers a tradition of quality for over 60 years. Tom Jones said, “The company operations specialize in well-manufactured high quality forest products and in servicing their customers’ needs with innovative, cost effective solutions.”
Manufacturing price competitive products according to customers’ demands and specifications is the company’s mission and policy. By providing well-manufactured, consistent high quality products in a cost effective manner, company management believes customers will continue to rely on the Teal-Jones Group for much of their needs.
For more information about the Teal- Jones Group visit www.tealjones.com or contact 604-587-8700.
Inside the Stag Timber Mill (L to R) Randy Jackson, mill manager and Tom Haker, Western Red Cedar manager.
A load of Hemlock Lumber being prepared for prompt shipment in Teal-Jones’ inventory yard.
