Lumberyards expand Ozarks operations

“Any year where housing starts in Greene County are around 1,000 is considered a robust year in residential construction, and this looks like it will be one of the top three to five years ever in the area for housing construction,” said Matt Morrow, executive officer of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield.

Also fueling lumberyard growth is steady business in the home-remodeling sector.

Jana Lee, vice president of marketing for Rock Solid Construction, a remodeling company working primarily in the residential sector, says the company is on track with the level of business it has done for the past several years.

While she declined to discuss specific numbers, she said, “We’re still seeing a high demand.”

Lumberyards – particularly those that work predominantly with residential builders – are growing their operations to keep pace with that demand.

Design needs

Meek’s The Builder’s Choice recently opened Meek’s Design Center, a 5,000-square-foot millwork showroom where builders and individual homeowners can take an up-close look at customized products and talk with consultants.

“Everybody wants something different, and for them to see what the products are out there, we needed more space than what we have in our lumberyards to show the products,” said Tom Buckner, district manager for Meek’s and Design Center manager.

Meek’s Spring-field-based Midwest division, which has 30 lumberyards, has doubled its sales since 2000, prompting the company to open the design center in Springfield. Revenue and sales figures were not disclosed. Meek’s Midwest division also has a design center in Springdale, Ark., and five distribution and manufacturing facilities.

Million-dollar expansion

Little Rock, Ark.-based Dyke Lumber & Millwork is about a month away from completion of the $1 million expansion of its Springfield location at 2119 W. Battlefield Road. Dyke has 13 stores in the south and east, said Doug Herrold, manager of the Springfield branch, which has been open for 30 years. The expansion project will nearly double Dyke’s warehouse space to 45,000 square feet.

“I’ve been here a little over six years now and we’ve grown more than six times in volume,” Herrold said. “We went from being able to handle it to pretty well busting at the seams.”

Delivery access

A 40,000-square-foot Herrman Lumber Co. location is under construction at 1917 State Highway MM in Brookline.

Herrman will relocate its 60-year-old 332 S. Glenstone Ave. operation and its headquarters to Brookline.

“We chose that location mainly for delivery speed and productivity,” said Kent Phillips, manager of the Springfield store.

Phillips noted that the company delivers 90 percent of its sales, and moving operations to Brookline will make delivery easier to outlying areas where much of the home-building activity is occurring.

Herrman also has a second location at Grant Street and Wildan Avenue. That location is primarily used as a reload yard, Phillips said.

Herrman Lumber Co. distributes to its nine other locations. Seven are in southwest Missouri, and there is one store each in Kansas and Oklahoma.

Phillips said southwest Missouri is a great market, though he did not provide local revenues.

“We obviously feel like it will go on for many years with our investment in that facility. We think it should get better and better,” he said.