Business View Magazine | September 2022

83 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 9 THE KALESNI KOFF LUMBER COMPANY “Mass timber has been going really well for us. We’ve been able to build our business during pretty unique times. I’d say that we’ve done a good job of building our reputation and building some great relationships,” Chris says. “We’ve been able to develop strong partnerships across North America with installation firms, architectural firms, structural engineering firms, and lots of steel and hardware connection suppliers.” Chris says it’s interesting to look back on the past few years and “see how many things we’d anticipated actually come to fruition.” Demand for mass timber has been rising, as predicted, and having both a sawmill and mass timber facility has proven useful in navigating fluctuations in lumber pricing and keeping costs stable regardless of changing market conditions. “We’ve seen great growth across North America, but specifically in British Columbia, the Pacific Northwest, California and Texas, and we look forward to supporting them in the future,” he says. “We’re participating in the market at a time where there is a massive opportunity for us to help grow and support. I feel like we’ve gotten our legs under ourselves now and have built those really important relationships and we’ll be able to be important members of the mass timber marketplace for years to come.” So far Kalesnikoff has supplied mass timber for well over 100 builds of all shapes and sizes. “For me walking into every project is still a really cool experience. I get excited about it. I also take a lot of pride in being able to see how our company has now grown from a forestry company of 80 plus years and how we’ve evolved in being able to execute and supply these amazing projects. There’s just a ton of emotions as you walk through these buildings. You get inspired by them, but I also feel an immense amount of pride for our team to be able to have grown and to help support this industry.” Chris says he’s especially thrilled to provide mass timber for schools. Kalesnikoff’s mass timber has been used to build educational facilities from a local daycare center to elementary schools, secondary schools, universities and colleges across North America. “Schools and institutional projects are always rewarding, being able to create those centers for students whether it’s youth or the collegiate group. Those projects are always unique. There’s always a pretty high level of artistry in the design and the architecture, and they’re usually more challenging for assembly and connections and things of that nature. While they’re usually more complex, our team also gets excited about creating those kinds of environments for students.” Chris also enjoyed supplying mass timber for a 161,000 square foot cross-laminated timber warehouse in Texas. “It was a neat experience for us to be able to use that product in an environment where speed of construction