Branching out; Lumber company explores new niches to stay profitable.

Byline: Brian Lee 

POMFRET - The president of Hull Forest Products Inc., a family business and the largest sawmill in southern New England, says it's almost as if lumber just keeps the business's lights on.

"To make money, you have to do other things," Jeffrey M. Durst said during a tour Sept. 24 of Hull's 25-acre, 11-building facility. At that time, the business held 1.1 million feet of wood.

Key lines that are still productive include retail flooring and post-and-beam timbers for homes, Mr. Durst said.

But the biomass energy niche continues to grow, he said.

For seven years Hull Forest Products has supplied Mount Wachusett Community College with wood chips for the Gardner school's wood-chip-fired heating system, which replaced the college's all-electric system, saving $300,000 a year in heating costs. MWCC is investing in a biomass cogeneration system to provide heat, air conditioning and electricity to the campus.

The company also provides wood chips for the Quabbin Reservoir Visitors Center in Belchertown, Bennington College in Vermont and public schools in Massachusetts.

Incorporated in 1973, Hull was founded years earlier as a small operation by William B. Hull, who spends most of his time on an energy project.

The company makes unfinished plank flooring that is 4 inches or wider and will explore the possibility of making a finished surface for the convenience of remodelers, Mr. Durst said.

Post-and-beam timbers haven't led to large volume, "but because of the equipment we have, we're able to saw longer stock very accurately," Mr. Durst said.

Hull Forest Products, which is holding an open house of its 101 Hampton Road facility running at full operation from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 10, also produces custom millwork, paneling, siding, stairs, green- and kiln-dried lumber, bark, mulch and sawdust.

Annual sales are more than $6 million.

It gets most of its raw wood within about 60 miles of Pomfret. The company also has a yard in Russell, Mass., which allows it to pull material from Northwestern Massachusetts.

The company cuts about 160,000 feet of wood per week but has the potential to saw 210,000 feet a week.

Three or four years ago Hull had 48 employees; now it's down to 38.

Lumber markets are tough, Mr. Durst said. For instance, high-grade green oak lumber sold in recent years at $1,200 or $1,300 per 1,000 board feet. The same quantity now goes for about $800 or $850.

In the early 1990s, about 60 percent of the company's lumber was exported, much of it going to the Far East. Now about 10 percent is exported to the Far East, Mr. Durst estimated.

On the global front, competing against products that are produced in the Southern United States has proven difficult. For instance, red oak from Virginia is poorer in quality, with a less desirable color, grain and texture, but carries lower overhead costs than oak grown in this area, Mr. Durst said.

During the last six weeks, interest overseas has revived, but pricing is still tough, he said.

The hardwood industry overall has seen a sharp decline. Three or four years ago the industry produced 15 billion feet of lumber per year. Now it's about 5 billion to 6 billion feet, according to the trade magazine Hardwood Review.

Mr. Durst predicted the national hardwood industry would return to about 10 billion feet, but never again to 15 billion feet.

"What's happening is the market is forcing itself to find the strongest companies," he said.

Energy markets will continue to cut into the lumber markets, Mr. Durst said. Lower-value tie and pallet logs will be diverted into energy markets. That affects markets for low-grade lumber

that's available for strip-flooring programs or railroad ties, he said.

The high-value logs that go into items such as cabinets "will still be there," he said.

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Jeffrey M. Durst talks about Hull Forest Products against a backdrop of rough-cut oak lumber at the Pomfret sawmill. (2) Bill Rose, a sawyer at Hull Forest Products, operates a circular saw head rig to cut hickory logs into cants (square-sided logs) at the Pomfret sawmill.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff Photos/PAUL KAPTEYN