credibility issues with recycled timber

Have you ever had a difficult specification for recycled timber that was filled too easily, or an unusual dimension available very readily? You know from experience the limitations of this resource. You trust in your long term contacts, but circumstances force you to look further afield. You believe you want the product offered - but you'd also enjoy some reassurances that the product is the species required and is indeed recycled.
 

This article isn't seeking the moral high ground on the ethics of timber sales. I've made too many mistakes in business to claim that. It's just a bit of practical advice. The dialogue between timber merchant and client is complex by dint of length. The sales process looks at multiple choices - and is not easily revisited to rediscover fine points of definition or agreement. Clients often ring back days after a final decision to ask: Is that recycled timber? It's easy for us to remember. We do it daily. Clients know what they like and remember what they have seen, but they have to absorb a range of qualifying information - abstract and forgettable.

What should provide clarity in the aftermath of discussion of options and issues arising from choice is the written process. Invoicing and Quotation. Modern computer programs such as MYOB and Quicken insist on product codes to delineate stock items. Any business, which does not have distinguishing codes for Recycled and Kiln-dried options, is either dumb or suspect. A dodgy operator is much more likely to fudge a reply or lie in spoken word than he is to falsify a written quote or invoice that can be produced for examination by many eyes for many years.
 

Timberzoo codes timber product to give clear distinction between product categories. Packs and loose boards are coded with both category and species prefixes followed by size. We have done this since the very beginning of computer invoicing prior to 2000. The product code on the MYOB system is an exact match for these pack codes.
 
XMS is the code for recycled messmate in rough-sawn or original salvaged state
ZMS is the code for recycled, remilled DAR or T&G messmate product
YMS is the code for kiln-dried New Forest product in messmate sold at Timberzoo
 
It's a simple system but an effective one. If you request a coded invoice or quotation, you can still be sold a pup, but you have forced the supplier to make categorical representations of his product that he must comply with in the supply of product under consumer laws.
 

recent production
 
 

Blackbutt  ZBT   220mm x 40mm   rate $45.00/m   3.8 - 4.2m lengths
 

Verandah Posts in Red Gum and Stringybark

ZRG  120mm x 120mm   rate $100.00/m
ZSB  120mm x 120mm   rate $90.00/m  
 

Furniture legstock in Red Gum  ZRG   95mm x 85mm   1000mm to 1200mm long

Std grade     $40.00 ea 
NFG grade   $30.00 ea 
 

Tasmanian Oak  (recycled and remilled) overlay   80mm x 17mm with mild rustic feature

ZTO  80mm x 17mm   rate $48.00/m2
 

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