Mike McGarry: Urban Lumber MB

January 19, 2023

Mike McGarry: Urban Lumber MB

“So, I mean, it took a lot of lobbying and a lot of convincing to eventually get to the point where I could run a pilot project, basically just to convince the city that this is a feasible option. So, I borrowed as much money as I possibly could. I think I had, at the time, I think I had 50K to try and pull together a full sawmill facility.

And I found a nice landlord that gave me a building to rent for cheap. Founded a used forklift, found an old sawmill that I rebuilt into an electric sawmill, bought an edger, and it just started milling. Just really figuring it out as I went every step of the way. The mechanical side especially was the first challenge.”

-Mike McGarry

Welcome to a brand-new episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast. Today, your host Steve Larosiliere is joined by Mike McGarry, the Co-Founder of Urban Lumber MB.

Mike has been at the urban lumber game since about 2018. In Winnipeg, they were losing a ton of trees in their urban canopy, primarily due to Dutch Elm Disease and Emerald Ash Borer. Because of this, Mike decided, “Hey, I’ve seen other companies pull this off in other locations (recycle trees); why can’t we do this here in Winnipeg?” However, there was a lot of red tape at the time, mainly because three levels of government were saying, “There is no way that we can allow you to run a sawmill using these trees.“

In this episode, Mike recounts how much lobbying and persuasion it took him to get to the point where he could launch a pilot project and persuade the city that his proposal was viable. And how he borrowed as much money and got scammed in the way just to try and pull together an entire sawmill facility.

It’s time to hear the complete story now!

“It’s been good. It’s been a wild learning experience, but I mean, you kind of need to have those battle scars to really push forward.

I’d say the third thing I learned through all of that is how to efficiently and effectively set up a facility, everything from the electrical side of things to the mechanical side of things, how to just efficiently set up and get going.”

-Mike McGarry

Educating and Engaging Your Customers

As a Woodpreneur, there are numerous things you can do to utilize social media for brand development and promotion properly. Throughout this process, you must educate your clients about your company and product. Mike’s current goal is to educate people about the benefits of using local lumber and the usage of Elmwood. They are now using Instagram and beginning to explore using Google Ads to increase their reach. The majority of successful Woodpreneurs are aware of the use of social networking sites for consumer education. Social media promotes your company’s identity and mission and allows you to discuss issues your audience is most curious about or is interested in learning more about, such as Elmwood’s benefits and applications.

“We got to really educate people on what Elmwood can be used for and the positives of using local lumber. So right now, we’re mostly just Instagram and we’re just starting to look into getting into Google Ads and that sort of thing.

I think what keeps me going is knowing that if I’m not doing this, all these logs just keep going into landfill, and everyone just kind of washes their hands of it.”

-Mike McGarry

Want to get in touch with Mike McGarry?

Contact him through:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Urban_Lumber_MB/?v=1&hl=en