HOLLAND LOG & CEDAR HOMES Posts Positive Numbers Despite Challenges
Holland Log & Cedar Homes employs seven people and runs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shifts, five days a week in a 19,000-square-foot facility.
By Bridget McCrea
Meeting the challenge
Holland, Michigan–The recession hasn’t been friendly to anyone, but some areas have been hit particularly hard. In the area of Michigan where Holland Log & Cedar Homes is located, job losses and foreclosures have mounted due to declines in the automobile and related industries. “We’ve seen a lot of people lose their jobs and homes over the last three years,” said Matt Nevins, general manager for the Holland, Mich.-based log home manufacturer. “We’ve really had to adjust to these changes, all the while retooling to be able to stay ahead of things.”
Unlike many firms, Holland Log & Cedar Homes has been posting steady growth over the last few years. Credit some of that growth with the firm’s willingness to think outside of state – and even country – lines, and embrace projects that in the past would have seemed geographically impossible. Right now, for example, Nevins said the company recently quoted a large project for a Dubai firm. If it comes to fruition, the project will find the log home manufacturer working in four different countries over a 7-year period. “That would be huge for us,” said Nevins. “We’d be looking at a minimum of 10 containers per month going overseas for the next seven years.”
The firm sells 10 to 24 log home packages to individual homeowners, and sells the balance of its products to builders of high-end, conventional, residential homes and cottages.
Nevins, along with Scott Christopher, president and Ron Krommendyk, sales manager, head up the firm, which employs seven persons and runs 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. shifts, five days a week in a 19,000-square-foot facility. The company was founded in 1982 by Jerry Schneider, who has since retired and living in a log home (built, of course, by Holland Log & Cedar Homes) in Nevada. Christopher purchased the company from Schneider in 2001, and continues to consult with the firm’s founder on an “as needed” basis. “Jerry is the go-to guy when we get hung up on a technical issue,” said Nevins.
Holland Log & Cedar Homes sells a wide variety of building components, including some framing lumber, exterior sheathing, interior plywood, and both rough and milled Softwoods and hardwoods. It carries an average inventory of 1 million board feet of various species, with an emphasis on Northern White Cedar and Western Red Cedar, all kiln-dried. The firm sells 10 to 24 log home packages to individual homeowners, and sells the balance of its products to builders of high-end, conventional, residential homes and cottages.
The manufacturer also uses hardwoods, which it utilizes when supplying a high volume of trim products for installation in conventional homes. Right now, for example, the firm is providing trim for a 30,000-square-foot home and its 10,000-square-foot guesthouse. “This is an area where we are just getting our feet wet,” said Nevins, “starting with the four multimillion dollar homes that we’re working on right now.”
Holland Log & Cedar Homes purchases most of its raw materials from Michigan mills because “the orders are fulfilled a bit quicker,” says Nevins.
Holland carries an average inventory of 1 million board feet of various species, with an emphasis on Northern White Cedar and Western Red Cedar, all kiln-dried.
Some of those local mills are low on inventory right now, however, due to cutbacks that have taken place over the last year. “The downturn was abrupt, and no one is stocking or buying what they used to,” he explained. “A lot of the mills are now holding back and waiting, and that wait-and-see approach is impacting our industry.”
One way Holland Log & Cedar Homes differentiates itself in the industry is by providing customers with a concept-to-completion home package. This differs greatly from the 1980s and 1990s business strategies that were largely rooted in “log home kit” sales. Those kits basically comprised a package or “list” of building materials that was handed off to an independent contractor selected by the new homeowner.
“Our founder bought one of these kits, and quickly learned how hard it was to take two semi-tractor trailers of logs – which were not even precut – and turn those materials into a log home,” explained Nevins. “He felt he could do a better job than that, and hence Holland Log & Cedar Homes was born.” As the owner of a construction firm, Scott Christopher took the concept a step further when he bought the company.
“Because we are now owned by a builder, we can build from the ground up,” said Nevins. “The market as a whole has since evolved into turnkey options, and we were ahead of the curve on that evolution.”
One way Holland Log & Cedar Homes differentiates itself in the industry is by providing customers with a concept-to-completion home package. This differs greatly from the 1980s and 1990s business strategies that were largely rooted in “log home kit” sales.
Nevins also credited Holland Log & Cedar Homes’ employees with helping to keep the company on track and in growth mode throughout even the toughest economic times. “We have the best employees, hands down,” said Nevins, who estimated the staff’s average years of service to be about 20 years. “Every one of them is knowledgeable, courteous and customer service oriented.”
Expect to see Holland Log & Cedar Homes expand into timber and “hybrid” home construction in the near future, the latter of which is particularly compelling during a time when more consumers become “green” and environmentally conscious. “We’ll be using more reclaimed lumber,” said Nevins, “while also helping our customers achieve even higher energy efficiency from their homes.”
Expect to see Holland Log & Cedar Homes expand into timber and “hybrid” home construction in the near future, the latter of which is particularly compelling during a time when more consumers become “green” and environmentally conscious.
