In its 111-year history, Simonson Lumber has seen a lot of changes, but one constant that has remained has been how the company treats people, whether it’s those who work for or with the company, or live in the community.
“We are a people-first organization, and we actually follow through on it,” Simonson Lumber President Eric Borchardt said. “Our mission statement is, ‘Be gracious to each other, embrace our customers, sell lumber, components, and designs.’ We take care of our employees, they take care of the customers, and everything else kind of works itself out.”
Founded in 1913 by Nels Simonson, the lumberyard grew quickly and remained a family-owned operation for three generations. Now headquartered in St. Cloud, MN, Simonson Lumber has five lumberyards as well as a truss plant, and works primarily in custom home and multifamily building, offering design services, estimating and delivery of a number of materials including decking, roofing, windows, and trusses. In 2019, Simonson purchased Mathew Hall Components, which had been in operation for more than 100 years.
“A lot of lumberyards have to buy from other truss plants, whereas we have one internally, so it definitely helps that we’re vertically integrated. We have more control over that process, and in Minnesota, that’s pretty unique.”
Relationships above all
Simonson’s employee-first mindset has helped the company attract and retain employees, Borchardt said, even through the tight labor market the LBM industry has seen over the past few years. He said the company goes beyond just compensation to a more holistic way of scheduling workers who may have families or other constraints.
“Just because you can’t get here at 6 a.m. doesn’t mean you’re not a good employee. We try to be incredibly flexible with work schedules, with time off, as much as we can, because that’s what people want,” he said. “When I started working, you worked whenever your boss said and that was it. But there’s more to life than work, and we try and promote that family-first mentality. It does make it hard to manage sometimes, but people appreciate it, and they stick with you.”
That attitude also extends to the builders and contractors Simonson works with, Borchardt said. Because the company works with a pool of smaller building companies in the area, maintaining those relationships is key to ensuring those builders keep coming back. Luckily, he said Simonson Lumber has decades of past leadership that have built a strong reputation in the community.
“That’s one of our competitive advantages, as we’ve been around so long. We have dozens of customers that start with us. They give us first crack every time, and it’s because we’ve got incredibly experienced people,” he said. “Many of them have a relationship with our CEO Richard [Hobbs], and know that he has their best interests at heart. It’s not about making the most money, it’s about building the relationships. In the custom home world, that is incredibly important.”
Outside of the business, Simonson Lumber works with a number of nonprofits that give back to the community, from the United Way and the Red Cross to Summit Academy OIC, an organization that works with low-income adults to help them develop new skills for careers in IT, construction, financial services, and healthcare.
“Community involvement—that’s huge for us,” Borchardt said. “Simonson wants to make the places we work better places to live. As a bonus, we have gotten some unbelievably talented employees from partnering with them!”
Joining the Kodiak team
Following its acquisition by Kodiak Building Partners earlier this year, Borchardt said the company has seen a few changes, but that Simonson remains a locally-operated company at its core.
“The biggest advantage we have is that we are still led very locally. Kodiak is a national player, but they don’t dictate. We know the Minnesota market is different than the Oregon market, for example, so we’re able to customize our sales process to the Minnesota builders. Builders prefer working with people that are able to make decisions on the ground with them, as opposed to calling the corporate office somewhere. Both Kodiak and Simonson care about the builder and how their business does, and we try and accommodate that as best we can.”
Borchardt said the company hasn’t lost a single employee as a result of the transition, but it has allowed Simonson to tap into Kodiak’s buying power and IT infrastructure. Looking forward, the company expects to work alongside Kodiak as it grows. “Upgrading and updating some of our current facilities is definitely part of [that growth]. Hopefully upgrading our fleet, modernizing it a little bit. Kodiak wants us to grow. That may mean acquisition under the Simonson umbrella, too.”
In the meantime, the company continues to move forward with its own initiatives, including internal leadership training for employees to encourage them to grow with the company. “Within Simonson, we don’t want people to just have jobs, we want them to have careers,” Borchardt said. “We’re trying to invest in internal growth paths for them. Anything we can do to help them, we’ll definitely try.”
Get to know Simonson Lumber
Year founded: 1913
Ownership: Corporate
Number of employees: 249
Locations: 5, plus a truss plant
Co-op/buying group: LMC
ERP software: BisTrack
Top 3 brands by revenue: Marvin Windows, Bayer Built, Vector Windows
