Old lumber builds niche

If landfills had feelings, they'd hate Scott Royer.

The owner of Windfall Lumber, Royer has carved out a boutique niche in Washington's wood-products industry by recycling castoff wood into flooring, moldings and countertops rather than see it carted off to the dump.

In the yard behind Windfall Lumber's plant next to the Port of Olympia are his raw materials.

There's a pile of redwood staves from 75-year-old wine tanks Royer salvaged from California vineyards.

There are well-preserved Douglas fir and cedar logs from Lake Cushman in Mason County. They'd been underwater for 75 years since the lake was created by Cushman Dam.

In one corner are the heavy Douglas fir timbers used to hold up a Tacoma-area bridge.

Beside them are Douglas fir trusses from recently demolished 1940s-era Fort Lewis barracks. They display the tight-grained characteristics of old-growth trees — the kind of wood that doesn't exist any more in harvestable forests.

By being one of the few companies to mill and sell salvaged wood, Windfall is differentiating itself in an otherwise very competitive industry, says Ian Hanna, director of Northwest Certified Forestry.

"It represents a new breed of forest-products companies that's capitalizing on this environmental niche," Hanna said.

Environmental commerce wasn't Royer's first career choice. Software was after he got his economics degree from Washington University in St. Louis.

But software, lucrative though it was, left him unsatisfied.

"I knew at the end of the day, I'd have to give something back," Royer said.

That brought out the recycler in him.

"The environment isn't free in my mind," Royer said. "There's a cost, and I want to make sure we don't take it for granted."

Four years ago, Royer bought Windfall Lumber and moved it from Port Angeles to Olympia. Now 40, he spends workdays dressed in a flannel shirt and down vest, guiding Windfall's eight employees.

"I truly do believe that business can be fundamentally sound from a financial perspective as well as a social and an environmental perspective," he said.

Still, the commitment to recycling has been challenging.

The forest-products industry has been challenged by foreign competition from countries like Malaysia that have abundant trees and lower-cost labor.

"As you can imagine, it's hard to be an American manufacturer," Royer said. "Labor here is high and materials are high. I'm for that, but it's difficult to compete from a cost standpoint."

Backed by bank loans and private investors, Windfall should see its first profit early next year, Royer predicts, as it closes in on $1 million in annual sales.

He expects the turnaround will come because he recently bought the machinery necessary to mill his wood into finished products.

Previously, that step had been outsourced.

He also hired an efficiency expert, Tim Tomlinson, who taught the staff how to mill wood faster without actually working faster.

That's led to a 20 percent savings in labor costs and the ability to fill orders more quickly.

"[Royer] is awesome, wide-open," Tomlinson said. "He listens. He wants to serve the customer better."

Some 70 percent of Windfall's wood is reclaimed stock, like the bridge timbers.

About 10 percent comes from trees downed by windstorms; however Royer always has more offers of felled timber than he can accommodate.

The final 20 percent is from Washington's small, privately owned forests that are certified sustainable.

It's an earth-friendly designation akin to the organic label on some food.

Some Windfall products are sold through eco-friendly stores, including Seattle's Environmental Home Center.

Others, including flooring, are sold directly out of the company showroom, where customers have a choice of wood.

At various times, the offerings have included black walnut, California chestnut, Douglas fir, Eastern maple, Oregon white oak, Pacific madrone, big leaf maple and Oregon myrtle.

Seabrook, the planned community being built north of Ocean Shores on the Olympic Peninsula, is a major buyer. All floors in the development are made of recycled wood from Windfall.

Another customer, photographer Steve Mason, is renovating his 1912 Olympia home using Windfall's flooring, countertops and custom-milled moldings that match the home's original ones.

Mason sought out Windfall because he'd worked in the logging industry years ago and thought there had to be a better way.

It may be a niche idea, but Scott Royer is betting it's one that will catch on with environmentally aware homeowners.

Elizabeth Rhodes: erhodes@seattletimes.com