Rooted in tradition

Clelands Timber in Taranaki fits this description perfectly. It produces a wide range of premium quality, New Zealand-made products ranging from weatherboard systems, fascia, window reveals, door jambs and laminated structural beams and posts—and has been owned by the same family for the past 100 years.

General Manager Daniel Donaldson says the company has a reputable and good history, which is evident throughout the workplace.

“Our staff are very proud of our long history and we all work hard to keep the ‘family feel’ in terms of how we treat both our staff and our customers. We have two staff members who have been with us for 49 and 45 years, respectively, and several more who have been with us for more than 20 years. This is a big focus for us—looking after staff and making the most of the experience and knowledge accumulated over the years.

“That knowledge and experience is enormous and is a key to the kind of customer service we like to provide. Over the years, these people have seen most things before, so they understand the quality that our customers are expecting and how our products can be used and adapted. They can think outside the box in terms of coming up with innovative solutions for customers. This is all part of the service that a small company like ours wants to offer its customers.”

The company manufactures its product range in a selection of standard profiles. However, because of its size and philosophy of being adaptable, it can easily run specialised profiles for customers. You can choose from rustic, vertical shiplap or bevel-back weatherboards, or the company can create a one-off profile to match the original boards on a villa that's being renovated or for an addition to an existing home. Run sizes don’t have to be large—anything from 100m to 1000m or more is possible.

The same flexibility is applied to other products like door jambs and joinery profiles. The company supplies a full range of interior and exterior door jambs in a standard range of finished profiles. It can also manufacture specialised joinery profiles to match that old Edwardian villa, French doors or even more contemporary styles.

All products are made from plantation-grown radiata pine and can be supplied in solid timber for a natural or stained finish, or they can be finger-jointed and painted.

"Our focus is on quality and service. We aren't the biggest company but we carry a large range of our stock products so we can offer great service. Orders that are in by lunchtime can generally be delivered to our customers in the North Island the next day—although freight is making that a bit more difficult at the moment!"

Also crucial to the company is investment in the equipment and machinery it needs to make its cladding and fascia products. Daniel says the company has focused in the last ten years on buying top-of-the-line machinery from Germany, a country well known as a producer of the best woodworking equipment in the world. “This investment allows us to produce good-quality products efficiently and competitively.”

Clelands Timber provides its cladding and fascia joinery to major merchandising chains and it makes timber liners for supply to manufacturers of aluminium windows. Again, the company's flexibility is helpful here, as it can supply the liners for an extensive range of standard and speciality window sizes.

The same flexibility is applied to other products like door jambs and joinery profiles. The company supplies a full range of interior and exterior door jambs in a standard range of finished profiles. It can also manufacture specialised joinery profiles to match that old Edwardian villa, French doors or even more contemporary styles.

All products are made from plantation-grown radiata pine and can be supplied in solid timber for a natural or stained finish, or they can be finger-jointed and painted.

"Our focus is on quality and service. We aren't the biggest company but we carry a large range of our stock products so we can offer great service. Orders that are in by lunchtime can generally be delivered to our customers in the North Island the next day—although freight is making that a bit more difficult at the moment!"

Also crucial to the company is investment in the equipment and machinery it needs to make its cladding and fascia products. Daniel says the company has focused in the last ten years on buying top-of-the-line machinery from Germany, a country well known as a producer of the best woodworking equipment in the world. “This investment allows us to produce good-quality products efficiently and competitively.”

Clelands Timber provides its cladding and fascia joinery to major merchandising chains and it makes timber liners for supply to manufacturers of aluminium windows. Again, the company's flexibility is helpful here, as it can supply the liners for an extensive range of standard and speciality window sizes.

The company’s long history in Taranaki has enabled it to build up good working relationships and partnerships with suppliers. Clelands Timber has had a common shareholding with a sawmilling company for 30 years and a longstanding relationship with another sawmill for around 35 years.

"This ensures we have a continuous supply of top-quality feedstock for manufacturing our own products and we have certainly seen the benefits of this over the last 12 months or so; while many companies have had supply chain issues, we have been largely unaffected.”

As well as using sustainable timber for its products, the company is always looking to minimise its waste stream. Minimal packaging is used and recycled where possible and untreated timber shavings are supplied for animal bedding, which in turn is used as organic fertiliser around farms in the Taranaki region.

Learn more about the quality joinery products from Clelands Timber for your next home building or renovation project.