Family Business

Why are family businesses important? After being with Union Church Millworks for 5 years, I’ve seen the ups and downs with family business. Most owners that I talk to will say working in a family business is the most rewarding job but also the most challenging job. I couldn’t agree more! I’ve found that each family business works differently, so I wanted to share some of the innerworkings of our business.

The entire process starts with my father’s business. He harvests over 80% of the timber that comes into our sawmill. We’re actually in the process of making a video to show this process. Interestingly enough, when he harvests a tree, it takes over 8 months for me to see any lumber here in the mill. It makes for interesting dinner talk when I know the work he is doing now won’t make it over to our mill for at while.

Once the logs are trucked to our mill, they are processed and the best lumber for flooring is sorted out for us. My grandfather still oversees the sawmill everyday! I find that very inspiring that he is still here on site everyday.

With over 8 months of process spread out over 3 generations, we do have a very unique position to provide some pretty special flooring. All of our lumber is sourced locally, so you know that the floor is from here and it’s made by people from here.

Now to the fun part. What makes a family business challenging? Most decisions impact a family member in one way or another. For instance, my grandfather and I work very close together because we are on the same site. What happens when we disagree? Awkward right? At the end of the day, we go home family. We come into work the next day as family, and we even go to Thanksgiving dinner as family. Who wants to eat turkey and complain about work disagreements? With a good bit of patience and a little bit of luck, all issues are settled one way or another, and we can enjoy turkey in peace.

Here’s the first attempt at a blog! We plan to use these forms to give a more personal look into the business and to allow clients and customers to share stories. If you have any thoughts for a topic, please comment below!

Stephen Bennett