If you’ve ever met Kuiken Brothers forest products buyer Jim Wagner, you know he is very serious about negotiating the best lumber for the best price. He has purchased thousands of railcars and truckloads of lumber, engineered lumber and other forest products. After 45+ years in the business, 35 of which have been with Kuiken Brothers, he demands premium-quality lumber for Kuiken Brothers’ building professional customers.

“I enjoy the industry,” said Wagner. “It’s challenging, though. Lumber is a true commodity that trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Price goes up and down. Sometimes it can be very volatile. We not only have to purchase lumber intelligently but also provide competitive pricing for our customers. Even though we are buying premium lumber, we are still able to keep our pricing to our customers competitive because of the overall volume.

Kuiken Brothers is a member of Lumbermens Merchandising Corporation (LMC), a co-op of independently owned lumber and building material dealers from across the country.  With annual purchases of nearly $8 Billion in the lumber and building materials industry, membership in LMC gives Kuiken Brothers an edge when it comes to buying power.  Through LMC, Wagner has established long-term relationships with key vendors, such as Weyerhaeuser. While Kuiken Brothers has its own 110-year history of good business practices, Wagner said, “Being a member of LMC gives us even more clout.”

Another part of Wagner’s job is to ensure Kuiken Brothers has inventory available when customers need it.

“There is great value in having locations which are serviced by rail. Our vendors produce, bundle and ship the lumber to us in about three weeks. Our customers get clean, fresh wood that isn’t weathered and hasn’t been sitting on the ground for months. Because we’re consistently buying large volumes of lumber at a time and the cost of rail freight is less than truck freight, our average landed cost tends to be lower, and our quality superior.

Wagner says he’s enjoyed his tenure with Kuiken Brothers. “I knew the owners even before I started working here. The company is on solid footing and makes good business decisions each and every day. Upper management routinely puts money back into the company through renovating, repairing and upgrading equipment, locations and implementing new technology. As an employee, you can’t ask for anything more than that, and that’s why I enjoy working here.”

When You Order Lumber From Kuiken Brothers…

Are you tired of ordering a load of lumber and getting a mixed bag of spruce, fir and hemlock with bark or split/ cracked ends? When you order from Kuiken Brothers you can be assured that  we will be doing everything within our power to supply you with  premium grade Douglas Fir dimensional lumber, which is shipped to our yards by railcar directly from the lumber mills in Washington and Oregon. Having rail access at our locations gives us the opportunity to negotiate directly with the mills and contract for specific a specific volume of material each year. This ensures a fresh quality product, resulting in less culling of waste and a higher utilization of lumber, saving you money on material and labor.

How consistent is our lumber supply? Each year we receive over 500 rail cars of plywood, OSB, studs, pre-cuts and dimensional lumber shipped directly to us from the mill. We are certain that this consistent and high quality lumber will be noticeable to both you and your customers.

Check out our stock charts below.

Douglas Fir

GRN Doug Fir STD & BTR

Nominal Sizes	Actual Sizes	8’ Precut 92 5/8”	9’ Precut 104 5/8”	10’ Precut 116 5/8”	8’	10’	12’	14’	16’	18’	20’	22’	24’	26’	28’
2” x 4”	1-1/2” x 3-1/2”
2” x 6”	1-1/2” x 5-1/2”
2” x 8”	1-1/2” x 7-1/4”
2” x 10”	1-1/2” x 9-1/4”
2” x 12”	1-1/2” x 11-1/4”

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 If you are interested in using Kuiken Brothers Premium Lumber in an upcoming project, please feel free to give us a call at (201) 652-1000 or fill out the Contact Us Form and one of our sales representatives will follow up with you right away. Be sure to add “Premium Lumber” in the comments/questions box. We look forward to working with you on your next project.