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Saturday, January 19, 2008
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Dream venture shows what's old is new again
Senior Reporter A Brainerd manufacturer is finding its future in the past.
And it's all wrapped up in the growing demand for green building as reclaimed wood, salvaged from old barns and other buildings, is sought for new construction.
"These are the products that are key to our future," said Jeff Forsythe, Nordecor owner, as he tapped a hand-hewn maple timber in a loft display at his Brainerd manufacturing plant.
Forsythe left Florida for Minnesota and five years ago, with a corporate life behind him, sought out the dream of owning his own small company. An information technology consultant, Forsythe worked as director of IT for Sears Roebuck and later for a startup software company and as an independent management consultant. When he was 50, Forsythe retired and decided to move back home and pursue his life-long dream.
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A vintage hand-hewn maple timber (left) stands in the Nordecor reclaimed studio. While vintage wood is prized, hand-planing techniques may be used to provide that same look on new wood.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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"It was intended to be a part-time endeavor," he said and smiled.
Forsythe, along with his brother, Bill, started Nordecor. The manufacturer creates standard and custom wood moldings, flooring, paneling and stairs, along with cedar siding and shakes to log siding and trim. Forsythe said he provided the management experience, investment capital and entrepreneurial drive while his brother had the millwork industry background and connections.
"It's paid off," Forsythe said. "There have been moments when you can doubt yourself when you are starting something new, but it's been exciting and it's been a lot of enjoyment from being independent. On your good days that's a plus. On your bad days there is nobody to fall back on but yourself to be successful."
Nordecor has been growing at a pace of 50 percent a year. Its showroom in the Brainerd Industrial Park is a testament to its ability to work with multiple wood species. A display wall provides a primer on a wide variety of wood grains and colors, depending on the source tree. A trend is toward knotty alder, which is easy to mill and provides a rustic look.
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A reclaimed 2 x 10 white oak floor joist is split into two pieces for flooring. Reclaimed wood, often from barns, is scanned and denailed before it is planed and sanded and readied for reuse. Reclaimed wood, part of green building, is a growing part of Nordecor's business. A vintage hand-hewn maple timber (left) stands in the Nordecor reclaimed studio. While vintage wood is prized, hand-planing techniques may be used to provide that same look on new wood.
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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With small beginnings at the Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd - which Forsythe said serves as a good incubator for manufacturing - the company has now reached a telling fifth-year anniversary. Forsythe looked up the numbers and said his company has now passed a milestone that 55 percent of new businesses with employees don't make - surviving the first four years.
As a new business, Forsythe said Nordecor faced the challenge of winning over builders with established loyalties. First impressions took on heightened importance. The company sands all the wood - and has a particular sander for custom moldings - so the end customer has a better quality experience when it comes to staining.
"When you get that opening with a new customer, it's pretty hard to be forgiven and get a second chance if you screw it up," Forsythe said.
Company plans were to expand at the five-year mark and reserves were in place for that move. But it came a little sooner than anticipated when Nature Vision was interested in Nordecor's space at the Northern Pacific Center. With an offer too good to pass up, the company was rushed to find the right land for building. After looking throughout the lakes area, a site on Thiesse Drive in the Brainerd Industrial Park was chosen. The fire protection was a key in making the decision along with considerations such as taxes. Just down the road Lexington Manufacturing was an example of another business that successfully moved from Northern Pacific Center incubation to larger facilities of its own. Within two months time they purchased land from the city, which helped them fast track the move, and were their own general contractor for their new building.
"Everybody said we couldn't do it," Forsythe said.
The move allowed them to triple their capacity and modernize their working environment. In terms of business, Forsythe said they were able to be more efficient to handle both the small job and the large customer whether orders were for 10 feet or 10,000 feet.
"We widened our spectrum of capability," Forsythe said.
Nordecor now does work for the entire home, from wall paneling to bead board, stair parts, flooring, doors and trim.
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Nordecor shop foreman Chris Michlitsch handled reclaimed American chestnut wood. Reclaimed wood has become more than half the company's business.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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The added equipment allowed Nordecor to do stair parts in house that they once had to send out. Keeping the work in-house allows greater profit and more control over the end product, Forsythe said. The business can expand by adding shifts and there is enough room on site to double the plant.
Safety also was a major consideration. Working with a Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration grant, Nordecor put in a spark arrester in its dust collector. And the company added a circular table saw that uses sensors and technology to stop the microsecond it makes contact with a hand or fingers instead of wood.
Once reclaimed wood was a small element of the business. Now it accounts for more than half. In green terms, Forsythe said being environmentally friendly to reclaim the old buildings is satisfying to customers. Builders want lumber from sustainable forest practices and reclaimed wood is part of that goal, Forsythe said.
Old oak timbers may come from reclaimed tobacco warehouses. Nordecor saws the timbers in half and prepares the wood for home siding. It is more common to see it for flooring although reclaimed wood is used for that purpose and for interior walls. Large plank flooring is more expensive as it comes from the larger trees and carries the old world look versus the narrow floor boards people may be more familiar with.
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Nordecor built its manufacturing facility on Thiesse Drive in the Brainerd Industrial Park, just off County Road 45 south of the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds.
» Purchase reprints of this photo.
Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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American chestnut tree's once dominated much of the eastern U.S. before being devastated by a fungal disease believed to have come in the 1800s from imported Japanese chestnut trees. Forsythe said the American chestnut is considered the ultimate in reclaimed wood. Nordecor includes a reclaimed wood studio where wood options for the American chestnut, oak and Douglas fir are among the displays on the wall and underfoot.
"Giving people those choices is what we do," Forsythe said.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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