2018 - TIMBER NOW'S BIRTHDAY - SEEDLING
Welcome to the not-so-serious yet serious tale of Timber Now’s journey across the years! It’s time to rewind back to 2018, the year of baby Timber Now’s birth – a seedling that would grow into one of the fastest-growing timber merchants in Essex.
Our founder Lawrence Gutsell had a crazy idea to start his own timber business. He held down a full-time job while putting everything he had back into us. It was a wild ride, but Lawrence paved the way for our entrance into the world of timber.
Our fondest memory of 2018 was when our first hi-ab turned up at Lawrence’s front garden to deliver a full load of timber, and the driver wondered if he was in the wrong place. We can’t blame him – we were just a small seedling back then, but we were determined to grow and thrive.
Looking back, we are grateful for the journey that brought us here. We are proud of our growth and success, but we know that we wouldn’t be where we are today without Lawrence’s dedication and hard work.
Cheers to 2018 – the year of our birth and the beginning of our journey!
Welcome to the not-so-serious yet serious tale of Timber Now’s journey across the years! It’s time to rewind back to 2018, the year of baby Timber Now’s birth – a seedling that would grow into one of the fastest-growing timber merchants in Essex.
Our founder Lawrence Gutsell had a crazy idea to start his own timber business. He held down a full-time job while putting everything he had back into us. It was a wild ride, but Lawrence paved the way for our entrance into the world of timber.
Our fondest memory of 2018 was when our first hi-ab turned up at Lawrence’s front garden to deliver a full load of timber, and the driver wondered if he was in the wrong place. We can’t blame him – we were just a small seedling back then, but we were determined to grow and thrive.
Looking back, we are grateful for the journey that brought us here. We are proud of our growth and success, but we know that we wouldn’t be where we are today without Lawrence’s dedication and hard work.
Cheers to 2018 – the year of our birth and the beginning of our journey!
2019 - OUR FIRST WORDS - SPROUT
2020 - TO LEARN TO WALK,RUN - SAPLING
2020 was a year nobody expected. Covid, the pandemic hit hard, and everyone around us was closing down. But for us, it was a defining moment. It was the year we learned to walk and run, the year we became a sapling that stood tall against the winds of adversity.
On the night of Boris Johnson’s announcement, a late-night phone call was made to seal the fate of Timber Now. We had two options: close our doors forever or stay open in spite of Covid. We chose the latter, and our importers joined the call to assure us that we could continue.
From that moment on, the doors of Timber Now were open to all. Over 2500 customers from the south coast of Brighton to Yorkshire ordered deliveries or turned up at our tiny warehouse door. It was a challenging time, but our team stood strong, soaking up the pressure like the strongest team in the timber industry. We needed 14 new employees to keep up with the workload, and mistakes were made, and many a splinter was found soaked in the hands of our team. But one area we never let ourselves down on was our customers.
Looking back, 2020 was a defining year for us. We learned to adapt, to be resilient, and to put our customers first, no matter what. And that’s what sets us apart. We are not just a timber merchant; we are a team that works hard to provide exceptional service to our customers.
We are proud of our journey so far, and we can’t wait to see what the future holds. Join us on this enlightening journey and discover the Timber Now difference.
At the turn of 2021, the news of our founder Lawrence being taken severely ill with Covid left the Timber Now team in shock. But this just made us all rally together even more.
As we were about to enter our second depot in Wickford, every single member of our team came together to make a success of the new 15,000 sq ft site. Containers were lifted in, satellites installed, and forklifts fired up – work had finally begun.
Through hard work and dedication, Lawrence made a remarkable recovery, and our team continued to thrive in the face of adversity. We persevered and poured all our energy into delivering top-notch service to our loyal customers.
In September, to our great surprise, our customers nominated us in droves, and we became finalists in the Timber Trade Journal Awards for the “small timber merchant of the year” category. This was an incredible achievement and showed us that no matter what challenges come our way, we can conquer them together.
We at Timber Now celebrate our triumphs and strive to overcome any obstacles that come our way. Here’s to an even brighter future ahead!
2021 - LEARNING TO RUN - YOUNG TREE
2022 - BECOMING SELF AWARE - GROWTH
The year 2022 marked a major turning point for Timber Now, as the rush of the Covid pandemic began to fade and the demand for garden bars, decking, sheds, outhouses, and project work dropped in popularity with pubs reopening and the world starting to step outside once again. Many of our customers returned to work, and we knew that a tough call would be required if we were to continue thriving as a business.
So, we decided to take a step back and reflect on who we are as a company. While we had been able to meet the demand for timber during the height of the pandemic, we knew that we were not a Covid-only business. We wanted to build on the morals of two families and the work ethic of an army to create something truly special.
One major decision we made was to scrap our plans for opening a third depot. Instead, we focused on our skilled trade sales team, which we had created in 2021 to work alongside our vast number of retail customers. We knew that the trade could benefit greatly from Timber Now, and we were committed to providing the same level of care, attention, and discipline to our repeat customers as we had to the demands of three counties’ timber requirements for over a year.
Our plan was simple: we wanted to let people see who we truly are as a company. We are a family, not hidden behind a brand, but instead in front of you, ready to shake your hand and deliver timber right where your job needs it. “People buy from people” became our motto, and we were determined to create a level of trust and relationship with our customers that went beyond just providing them with timber.
Of course, this was not an easy journey. It required a lot of hard work and effort from our team, who had already worked tirelessly to meet the demands of the pandemic. But we were up for the challenge, and we knew that no one could work harder than us, except perhaps our customers themselves.
In September of 2022, our customers nominated us for two awards following our successful nomination in 2021 at the TTJ awards. And we were thrilled to find out that we had won one of them: Small Timber Business of the Year 2022. This recognition was a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team, as well as the trust and loyalty of our customers.
The aim for 2023 : Timber Merchant of the Year!
As we continue to grow and evolve as a company, we are excited to see where this journey takes us next. But one thing is for sure: we will always remain true to our values of family, hard work, and exceptional customer service.
2022 was a transformative year for Timber Now. Despite the challenges, we made bold decisions that set us on a path towards sustainability and success. We shifted our focus to include retail and trade customers, a move that we believe will enable us to continue to grow and thrive in the years to come.
As we look to the future, we have exciting plans in store. We are expanding our fleet with new Hi-ab vehicles, growing our trade sales team, and revamping our website to provide our customers with an even better experience. We are committed to maintaining the best timber supply chain in the market and working harder than ever to support our customers.
We also want to be the go-to hub for trade customers seeking reliable, up-to-date timber market information, competitive pricing, and unparalleled service. We are dedicated to providing the most active and informative resource possible to our valued customers.
At Timber Now, we believe that our best years are yet to come. We are committed to our path and excited to see what the future holds.
2023 - DEFINING OUR PATH - MATURITY
2023 - Continued
We are proud to say we have been announced the winner of Small Timber Business of the Year at the National Timber Trade Journal Awards in 2023.
Winning the awards for the second year in the row gives us an opportunity to reflect and thank our customers for their loyalty and continued support as we grow and move forward. Over the past 5 years we have developed a team of fantastic delivery drivers, yard support, administration and account managers who ply their trade with absolute dedication to make sure that
all our customers receive the same level of service daily.
We narrowly missed being announced as Timber Merchant of the Year finishing in the final five finalists out of hundreds of merchants across the country. We wish to express our gratitude to all of our trade customers that have voted us for this accolade two years running and we fully intend to deliver an even greater service over the coming year.
