Britton Lumber Company announces acquisition of Grafton County sawmill

SALEM (Scrap Monster): Britton Lumber Company, Inc. has decided to purchase the assets of Bath, New Hampshire-based H.G Woods for an undisclosed amount. The company has also decided to move its sawmill operations to the newly acquired facility. Accordingly the company has decided to drop plans to rebuild the Fairlee sawmill location which had got damaged by a devastating fire during March last year. According to company press release, efforts had been underway to resurrect the Fairlee facility but it has finally concluded that rebuilding of the facility is not practically feasible.

Massive Fire

The Fairlee lumber yard and warehouses were hit by a 4-alarm fire on March 29^th, 2015. Thetford Fire Department and departments from surrounding communities had attended to the fire. The full building was involved in the fire and the mill was declared a total loss.

Rebuilding efforts

According to Britton Lumber Co. it had been in involved in diligent efforts to rebuild the Fairlee sawmill. The evaluation by mill designer, architect in association with the Vermont State and Fairlee Town officials and insurance company representatives suggested that rebuilding the mill was nor feasible economically. As per suggestions, the company was recommended to elevate its base and provide waterproofing for the structure before operations could be restarted at the mill. This required spending of huge money. Also, insurance-related hurdles on rebuilding the mill in flood zone prompted Britton Lumber to decide not to rebuild the Fairlee mill.

Key acquisition

Located in the heart of the White Mountains, H.G. Wood offers Eastern White Pine boards to the wholesale distributor market. It is situated on Route 302 in the Grafton County town of Bath and is 32 kilometres away from Britton’s Fairlee site. As per Britton Lumber Co. the acquisition of HG Wood will help the company to take possession of a highly reputed firm that deals with top quality Eatern White Pine lumber. Furthermore, the purchase of the sawmill will strengthen its long-term plans towards manufacture and distribution of pine boards. The company plans to transport 50% of the pine produced in Bath to the wholesale distribution centre in Fairlee for distribution to retail customers.

Jobs

The Fairlee site had employed around 20 people at the time of fire. Out of them, nearly 50% had lost their jobs following the fire incident, while others were transferred to other locations within the company. The settlement of the purchase deal is expected to lead to another five layoffs. However, the wholesale distribution business is planning to hire a few employees including truck drivers.

Meantime, the financial details of the deal were not disclosed. However, the company stated that the manufacturing facility at Bath is nearly 85% of the fire-damaged Fairlee facility.

About Britton Lumber Company

Britton Lumber Company, Inc. is a forest products and building materials business. It was founded in 1946 in Hartland, VT. by Allen H. Britton and his sons Allen H. Britton Jr., and Leonard W. Britton. Sole ownership transitioned to Allen H Britton Jr. in 1997 and to his son, Douglas G. Britton in 1984. Effective January 1, 2014, Robert E. Moses acquired ownership of the company.

The company’s manufactured products are sold to wholesalers and distributors in the United States and Canada. The Wholesale Distribution division buys a wide variety of building materials from manufacturers in North America and distributes them to over 200 retail lumber yards and home centers in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts and New York.