Buying directly from the Importer of Record can minimize your risk.
In case you haven’t noticed, it’s no small feat presently to get lumber safely and legally from the forest to the job site. While all the regulations and liability issues have you wondering how you can possibly keep up and ensure your business’s safety and sanity, we have a recommendation for you: Buy lumber from an Importer of Record. Basically, what that means is that you’re buying your lumber from the entity that owns the lumber as it arrives on U.S. soil, ensuring a fairly direct line back to the source forest.
Since each link that lengthens the chain provides an opportunity for problems; the fewer companies involved, the better. (Of course, an added bonus to cutting out middle men is typically decreased cost to you, the customer, but that’s beside the point!) It’s not uncommon to find lumber at your local lumber yard that has passed through the hands of 10 or 15 different companies on its way from the forest to the lumber rack.
While an Importer of Record still has to pay exporters, local taxes, shippers, storage fees, distributers, and manufacturers along the way, the more direct route will mean a shorter supply chain and clearer paper trail from the forest to the lumber yard. The simplicity involved can give you, as the end user, confidence that the lumber has been harvested both legally and responsibly. Particularly when you’re dealing with CITES-regulated species, knowing the Importer of Record has done the hard work of tracing the supply chain and attaining the needed documentation is priceless.
When it comes to exotic hardwoods, J. Gibson McIlvain is the Importer of Record. Not only do we know where our lumber originates, but we also check up on the source’s harvesting practices and how they line up with current local regulations and land concessions. We’ve researched long-term plans relating to the species’ sustainability and worked hard to forge and maintain strong relationships with sawmills that have proven themselves over decades — and even centuries! We’re confident of our ability to attain legally & responsibly sourced, high-quality lumber that is reasonably priced.
We add to the lumber’s intrinsic value by providing optimal air and kiln-drying as well as milling and moulding capabilities. What’s more, we can usually ship your entire order of hard woods, soft woods, hardwood plywood, and millwork directly to your job site within 2 weeks, allowing you to receive all the lumber products for a given job in a single shipment. This arrangement saves you time, frustration, and money — resources that all of us value. To sweeten the deal, we can air dry and kiln dry your lumber and mill it and mould it, if applicable, and ship it nationwide.
