Business Spotlight: Janss Lumber Co. LLC

When Stephen Duzan, Doug McCoy and Jack Rasmussen bought Janss Lumber Co. LLC three years ago, they never anticipated the building industry downturn they would face.

"It sucks," Duzan admits.

Due to the housing market crisis and fewer builders constructing new homes, Janss business dropped 20 percent in 2008 to $4.9 million. The owners anticipate another 15 percent drop this year. While most business owners would be panicked, the Janss Lumber team is taking the market hurdles in stride.

"It was a good opportunity when we bought the business, and it still is," Rasmussen says. "People are still building homes and remodeling homes, just not at the rate they were. No matter what happens in this country, people will always build homes. Population will increase in this area because people are moving here."

Henry Janss, in a partnership with E.R. Compton, started Janss Lumber Co. in 1933 on Commercial Street. In 1970s the Janss family sold the business to Cherry Street Lumber Co., owned by Carl and Mary Squires and managed by their son, Andy Squires. In 1979, the Squires family constructed a building at 1770 N. Packer Road for a door and window shop known as Missouri Millwork.

In 2006, Duzan, McCoy and Rasmussen purchased the lumberyard at 629 E. Commercial St. and Missouri Millwork on Packer Road.

Today, Janss serves customers within a 50-mile radius, although the company delivers products as far as Arkansas and Nevada.

Janss Lumber is using this down time to prepare for what the management team sees as an inevitable upswing. The team says it has cut expenses by 20 percent, partly by downsizing its staff by one and reducing hours.

"By the end of this year, we should see business coming back," McCoy says.

The partners have remodeled the 3,000-square-foot Commercial Street showroom, which meant refinishing the decades-old wood floors back to their original glory and developing a better merchandising system. Walls showcase the latest in siding and decking materials, and customers can check out stylish door and window options that the local home centers don't carry.

"We have product that nobody else has," Duzan says, pointing to a stately black iron door.

"If we see something new to the marketplace, we just bring it in," Rasmussen adds. "We want to be a source for people who are looking for something (outside) of the box."

The front of the shop, has been resurrected into a series of vignettes that showcase moldings, wainscoting, window, door and wall finish options. One room will house binders and photographs of projects completed by local builders, which make up 80 percent of Janss' clientele, including Ramsey Building Co. LLC in Nixa and Clark Construction & Remodeling LLC in Republic. McCoy says the builder's room supports local contractors and gives homeowners ideas for new construction and remodeling projects.

The company's Packer Road millwork shop offers in-stock and custom wood pieces for residential jobs.

The team also is promoting green building products. "Anybody can slap a 'green' sticker and say a product is green, but it doesn't mean it is," McCoy says. "We are becoming experts."

Formaldehyde-free doors that are sourced from Kansas are just one of the eco-friendly product options McCoy is excited about.

"Building green has much more than doing something that's recycled," Rasmussen adds. "It's windows, doors, flooring, carpet. Our goal is to become a green retailer. We may not necessarily stock all green products, but we will have access to everything people will need."[[In-content Ad]]