Damon Barron: Carolina Urban Lumber

 

Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast with Steve Larosiliere. Today’s guest is Damon Barron, the founder of Carolina Urban Lumber based out of North Carolina. Damon has been in the bulk commercial lumber space for over twenty years, and Carolina Urban Lumber is very much a natural extension of that career.

Damon describes himself as being intrigued by unique specialty wood especially in the latter part of his career, and although he isn’t a sawyer, he intrinsically understands that there is a real story behind urban trees. A major shift occurred when he was on an otherwise run-of-the-mill sales call, and heard an unusual story.

A man called Damon explaining that he was building a coffin from the wood of a tree he planted when he was five years old. For the rest of the day, all Damon could think about was the customer’s story, and he explains that he had an epiphany moment that led him back to Charlotte, North Carolina to make some changes in his life.

“I started learning what happened to urban logs through going to trade services and just asking questions. And that was a two year kind of exploratory mission while I was still working. I learned and I developed a plan of action to build a business and go to market by selling urban logs. The next thing I know, I quit my job, and boy, my wife was pregnant. All perfect timing, like anybody starting a business right?”

• Damon Barron

 

 

The First Focus

 

With all the responsibilities that Damon had riding on his new business, he immediately focused his attention on what he needed to do to become sustainable. He bought a small band sawmill, and focused entirely on cash flow. Since he came from the business world he recognized the importance of understanding his needs and what level of income he would require.

Initially he attempted cutting green lumber for the pallet industry, which sold for about 30 cents per board foot in his location. Damon explains that he did that for about 90 minutes before realizing that he wouldn’t be able to make the income to support the lifestyle that he had established while working at his previous career, so he quickly scrapped that idea.

The long-term goal was high-quality precious slabs, so he began with the concept of the traceability of the tree, the chain of custody, and he developed a system to track trees before quitting his previous job. Although Damon went into his business with a plan, it was not easy, and he notes that people who see his company now have no idea about the amount of work that went into developing it from the ground up.

“Everyone in the business knows it takes a year to air-dry small stuff, two years, three years for larger pieces, so I built inventories for the first six months and I didn’t make a dime of revenue. I was in a sweet spot where I saved my money, created a plan and executed it. It still didn’t work out as I thought, but I did have a plan. 

So instead of me spending those hours on that saw cash flow that I knew long term wasn’t going to pay what the business needed. I just said the heck with it. I didn’t do anything. I just didn’t even chase the dollars. I focused on the story, the chain of custody, the best quality stuff I could do. And I just stacked lumber. It took me about two years before I earned any revenue.”

• Damon Barron

 

 

Staying the Course

 

Although he went in with his long-term plan, Damon acknowledges that he worked 7 days a week for 10 hours per day all year around to make things happen. While that might have been the cause for some people to quit their attempt and get a regular job, Damon had a mentor who helped him stay on track.

His mentor explained to him that he had wanted to use every piece of the tree, and he felt that Damon’s plan would work, so he offered his help by letting Damon use his bobcat and one of his employees when Damon needed extra hands. While building his business, Damon lived for a year and a half off of his savings, and he notes that it took enormous discipline to accomplish that, and that discipline has helped him the whole way through.

Over time Damon continued to accumulate his stock, and he had lumber drying under shelter and he also engineered a solar kiln plus track system. He notes that he looked at a large number of plans before building and then tweaked them to the point where they actually worked better than the originals. Some people from North Carolina State came to measure his airflows and asked if they could use his plans. They were that effective.

“After everyone saw what I was doing, I was talking about it a lot, but I didn’t have a product. I planted a lot of seeds, so as I started to have dry lumber, we already had kind of a customer base started because my whole thing was the chain of custody and an upcycled log. 

So I would go do lunch-and-learns and educational presentations at architectural firms. The architects already wanted to use my product because it had a chain of custody, and it could be proven through a network of businesses that it had some green and sustainable aspects. So that really helped me out.”

• Damon Barron

 

 

Motivation comes from Passion

 

Many other entrepreneurs and business owners would not have the same level of focus and motivation that Damon possesses. When asked by Steve what keeps him going, he explains that in his 46 years he’s seen a lot of waste, and a general attitude of gluttonous consumption in the country and the world. When his wife became pregnant and he met that man who was building the coffin, he discovered that his passion came from wanting to create a legacy.

However, the legacy that Damon wants to create is not one based on his name, and not simply his children, but he wants to create a legacy in the industry of a sustainable business that will live beyond him. He notes that everyone who works at his business comes to work because of the mission, not necessarily because of the hourly pay or the discount on wood. They have locked arms with Damon on his mission, and they see the value of building a good positive change and solving a problem that nobody knew existed until they saw it firsthand.

 

Steve’s Advice Corner

 

When it comes to advice for him and his business, Damon notes that he’s starting a new part of his company that will be rooted in the firewood business. He adds that although it’s still wood, he doesn’t know anything about the specifics of that industry. Steve asks whether he plans to sell directly to customers or through distributors.

Damon explains that he intends to do both, but he’s got a plan that’s different than anyone’s ever done before. He intends to do a subscription-based neighborhood delivery using a newly-engineered reusable bag, aimed at the under-50 age group where it seems viable and effective.

“One of the things that I would do is to market your product right now. Going into fall is the perfect timing. I would build a Facebook page for specifically this firewood brand, and do some bag photoshoots. Promote the page as much as possible, create a separate website, and put the Facebook pixel on the website, then you just drive traffic so that you can get as many likes as possible.” 

• Steve Larosiliere

 

Website: https://carolinaurbanlumber.com
Instagram: @carolinaurbanfurniture

With all the advice and information jam-packed into this episode, expect to see a dedicated advice blog coming soon!