Timberlane
Timberlane, Inc.
150 Domorah Drive
Montgomeryville, PA 18936 USA
800-250-2221
sales@timberlane.com
http://www.timberlane.com
PDFs/Links:
The Paint Selection Guide
Cut Out Catalog
Timberlane, Inc. makes custom exterior shutters and period-specific hardware, renowned for exceptional quality. Timberlane products adorn many national historic buildings and homes; and are routinely requested by the highest caliber of architects, builders, historic preservationists and discerning homeowners. Timberlane’s Premium Wood and maintenance-free Endurian shutters can be customized to meet the most exacting needs and specifications.
Call 800-250-2221 or visit www.Timberlane.com for your free catalog.
The Finest Shutters Ever Made
How to Make Shutters
UMeasure from Timberlane
Meet the Sponsor: Rick Skidmore
1) What attracted you to historic preservation and traditional building and architecture in the first place?
That’s a great question. What drew me to historic preservation and traditional building was the architecture itself, and it’s how Timberlane was founded. I owned a historic home and was restoring it, and was able to work with vendors and manufacturers for most aspects of the project, to get specifications, designs, and renovations completed. But when it came to the shutters, I was on my own. I was not able to find any plans or companies that were able to reproduce with exact specifications the shutters for my home. Knowing the specificity of the Historic Review process, let alone my own need to have it perfect, I set out to find the solution. And through the search for a resolution, I built a company.
2) What are some of the projects your business has been involved with?
Timberlane has been involved with a number of Historic and period-specific projects over the years, including most notably the Lincoln Cottage, summer resident of President Lincoln, Sagamore, the Roosevelt Residence, and Hickory Hill, the Kennedy Residence. We also recently completed a very large restoration with the DuPont Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library. This project was particularly interesting and challenging due to very specific requirements to adhere to historical accuracy while changing source product materials to our Endurian maintenance free product. We’re also heavily involved in individual historic residences, from government to municipal, Universities and private homes.
3) What do you like about the Traditional Building Conference and webinars we produce and the magazines we publish?
These conferences, shows, magazines and all the entities surrounding the organization are really part of our core existence. We’re not just a business selling shutters, we’re craftsmen and artisans at heart. So the resources and events offered excite us personally as well as professionally. The resources also allow us the opportunity to understand the needs of our customers, by offering us the platforms and channels to communicate with them in settings that are collaborative and interactive, so no one is feeling the pressure to buy or sell. It’s truly a relationship of joint interest and understanding.
4) What types of clients do you work with? Residential, Commercial, Institutional? Do you work mostly with owners or with architects and contractors?
We are fairly unique in that we work directly with many types of customers, from homeowners to architects, historical preservationists, and builders of every size and scale. Because of the nature of what we do, we know that regardless of how many people we talk to during the project process, there are always at least three different perspectives: the homeowner, the architect, and the builder. Sometimes those are all the same person, deciding the design and look, the size and specifications, and the delivery and installation of the shutters. Other times, those perspectives can span into double digits. Our teams understand this, because they live this, so it’s second nature to them to really be able to know what is the most critical aspect at every stage of the project, and in the end, deliver products that meet everyone’s requirements!
5) Tell us about your crew or staff? What are they like in terms of skills and capabilities?
We have about 80 people who live and breathe shutters day in and day out. We’re a very close group in our company, strangely so for the varying teams, but we all have the focus on the craft, whether we’re selling them, marketing them, or building them. It helps that each job is custom, so we know that each piece of the project is for someone specific. This really personalizes the work we do and connects us not only to the craft, but also to the customer on an individual basis. In short, Timberlane has been a success because of the amazing team we have.
6) Do you have special approaches to work that you have developed of which you are especially proud?
It’s really all about “the people”. I believe in a basic leadership philosophy: assemble a team of the most talented and passionate people you can find, then make sure the mission is extremely clear and everyone on the team, I mean EVERYONE, is completely aligned, then make sure they have all the best tools and resources so they can do their best job, then (the most important part) get out of their way and let them do their jobs.