By Steve Weatherbe

Lumberworld co-owner Dave Flaig

So did their faith.

Customers not only remained loyal when Lumberworld reopened for business; but contractors who’d been shopping at the store for decades also helped with the installation of temporary buildings.

And a competitor provided lumber. Though much of the firm’s lumber was untouched by the fire, it became untouchable for several days while the fire department sequestered the site for its investigation. (Arson is suspected, and police say they are still looking for a “person of interest.”)

This is where Home Lumber comes into the story. Operated by the Jawl family, Home had cooperated with Lumberworld for years, filling orders for each other when one firm’s inventory drew a blank.

“They let us have their lumber at cost,” says Flaig. “Which was phenomenal. They even offered to deliver it for us.”

Customer and business continuity was providentially maintained – but it was a close shave. Business records kept on disk and onsite were damaged beyond retrieval in the blaze. But five months of struggling with their business software to deliver archiving to offsite storage ended the very night of the fire. “That night, for the first time, we got a complete archive.” Records are one thing. But, says Flaig, “the backbone of the company is the staff.”

The company provided as much cleanup work as it could for its staff, and managed to retain two thirds of its 50-plus workforce. The inside retail staff had to find other work, says Flaig regretfully, but at least the company helped with that. And others quit in frustration over working in crammed, temporary buildings, or outside in all kinds of weather.

Different parts of the new inventory have been divvied up into four steel shipping containers turned into departments, and a U-hut has been erected onsite.

The contractors who were the mainstay of the business responded in Lumberworld’s hour of need. “They loaned us trucks with equipment, and said to bring them back when we were done,” says Flaig. Some provided crews to install temporary facilities. “Some of the contractors came themselves and worked.” And all for free.

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Flaig figures people will pull together in times of disaster. Nor could it have hurt that Lumberworld’s approach has always been to “treat customers ethically and to go beyond the call of duty” for them.

But to keep them as customers, he knew he had to continue to deliver competitive prices, and the same plentiful stock of the bewilderingly wide range of materials that go into house construction. “Contractors don’t want to have to go to four or five different places.”

Clearly Lumberworld and its staff have succeeded. While overall its revenues have diminished, the contractor side of its sales has increased, not merely as share of total sales, but in absolute terms: Lumberworld, says Flaig, “actually has more business from contractors than before.”

It helps, of course, that Victoria is in the midst of a construction boom. “I wouldn’t want to have had to face this if the economy were going the other way,” he admits.

The boom has its downside too, since Lumberworld must join the lengthening line of consumers of development and construction services.

These are in short supply, and Flaig guesses they will add three month’s delay to plans to rebuild the operation.

Those plans are now being developed in detail for the Saanich building department. Though Saanich’s long term vision for the area includes a lumber operation and mixed use, including residential, Lumberworld’s plan will initially stick to rebuilding itself.

In the meantime, the owners are looking for another location; but Flaig admits alternatives are scarce, especially in a central location.  He has urged Saanich municipal politicians to consider the important role a building supply operation would play in the event of a disaster. “We use any argument we can,” he chuckles.

Flaig also credits his son Jarrett with setting up a phone system that was fire-proof and a camera surveillance system – which captured the suspected perpetrator on tape, as well as his own staff leaving well before the fire started. When Flaig speaks of Lumberworld’s  “long term plans to rebuild,” Jarrett is part of the plan.

Flaig admits he was in business in the first place, “because I like a challenge.” And the fire “is a major one.”

Flaig credits his faith for enabling him to keep Lumberworld going, where other fire-struck lumberyards have collapsed. Both he and partner Piercy are religious men.

“Absolutely without a doubt, we couldn’t have done it without the Lord. That gave us the strength to go on.”

December 2007