ShareThisIt's 2008: The housing market is a mess, new home construction is half the level of four years ago and remodeling sales are down. It's a pretty crummy time to be in the building supply industry.But not for EcoTimber.The Richmond, Calif. firm, a national leader in environmentally friendly wood flooring, expects to see its sales rise 20 percent this year -- even while the overall wood flooring industry is likely to face a third consecutive year of declining sales.EcoTimber has the good fortune of serving the green building market, one of the few parts of the construction industry that continues to grow.But that good fortune didn't come about easily. EcoTimber labored for 16 years and went through three ownership changes before achieving success as a distributor of sustainable wood flooring.Now it is finally benefiting from the tide of consumer interest in green products -- but also facing competitive challenges because of that tide."EcoTimber has been a great pioneer for sustainably harvested wood flooring," said Melissa Mizell, an interior designer with the Gensler architectural firm who has used EcoTimber's flooring for years. "But I'm excited to see that there are others popping up. Because there's demand, there's new competition."EcoTimber's roots go back to 1992, when several idealists in their 20s decided to open a business selling tropical wood from forests that were not being clear-cut or overlogged.Their wood often came from obscure species of trees. And their potential buyers in the contracting world had no idea what "sustainable forest" meant."People ask for cabinets made out of things like cherry or mahogany," said Jason Grant, an EcoTimber co-founder who left the company in 2000 and today is a consultant on sustainable forest products. "No one asks to make something out of mersawa from New Guinea or chakte kok from Mexico. People couldn't pronounce these, much less order them." The groundwork for change was laid in 1993 with the creation of the Forest Stewardship Council, an independent nonprofit group that gives a seal of approval to commercial forests that meet strict environmental and social guidelines.EcoTimber was a strong supporter of the council and was one of the first vendors to receive its certification for wood.But the early years were tough. "It always felt like we were pushing water uphill," Grant said. "Every time we did a sale, we spent half an hour talking about why we were doing this and what it was all about. We had to work very hard to locate people who were interested in green building products."Grant and his partners eventually sold EcoTimber to a lumber firm, which later sold it to two private-equity firms -- one of which, Greenmont Capital Partners, focuses on the organic and green product sector. Along the way, EcoTimber opted to halt direct sales to consumers and instead sell through dealers. It also made the key decision to get out of general lumber sales and specialize in flooring. "Lumber is a commodity with no branding," said Lewis Buchner, a former cabinet-maker and longtime environmentalist who has been CEO of EcoTimber since 2003.The other key factor behind EcoTimber's success is the growth of the green building movement, spearheaded by the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council.The council created a certification program for green buildings called Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, which has become an increasingly coveted standard in the building world over the past five years. Builders can get points toward a LEED rating by using wood with a Forest Stewardship Council seal -- which fueled demand for EcoTimber's wares.Under Buchner's leadership, and with the growing demand for FSC wood, EcoTimber's sales shot from $800,000 in 2003 to a projected $8 million in 2008.Today, the company sells 24 varieties of hardwood and six kinds of bamboo flooring. All its hardwood is 100 percent FSC-certified, unlike some suppliers that use a conventional wood veneer over a certified backing. EcoTimber's flooring is also made without added urea formaldehyde, a carcinogen common in composite wood products. EcoTimber's $8 million in annual sales represent just a fraction of the $6 billion wood flooring industry.Buchner said he hopes to increase sales to $50 million within five years.(E-mail Ilana DeBare at idebare(at)sfchronicle.com)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Environmentally-friendly flooring company finds success
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