by Rod Daniel for The Ravalli Republic, March 24, 2003

A family-owned wood-products business in Darby has risen from the ashes like a phoenix to carve a niche for itself in a rebuilding timber-based economy. After working as a building contractor in the Bitterroot Valley for 20 years, Larry Chinn purchased Pine Door Company from Mike Dembisky in 1994. At the time, the business was a one-person operation run from a room "about the size of a garage," according to Chinn.

Within six months Chinn and his wife, Mary, moved the business and its specialized machinery into a brand-new building up the West Fork only to lose everything in a fire, he said. "It was devastating," Chinn said. "We had barely got started when everything burned to the ground. We definitely had to make some hard decisions." The Chinns chose to regroup and rebuild. With the support of Farmers State Bank, they purchased two-and-a-half acres on Old Darby Road, remodeled the existing building, purchased new machinery and were back up and running by October 1995.

Since then, Chinn said, their business has grown steadily, producing custom-made, handcrafted stile and rail doors and architectural mill work. With high-tech, state-of-the-art machines, their 18 skilled workers produce truly customized doors and mouldings and give their customers personal and attentive service, a fact which, Chinn said, sets them apart from commercial mass production manufacturers. "We make our doors order to order," he said. "They place an order, and we build it. We're small enough to accommodate customer orders. That's our uniqueness."

Customers have a variety of softwood and hardwood species from which to choose, such as pine, cedar, fir, alder, oak cherry, maple and butternut, and may custom-order doors based on several designs. Most of what they make leaves the county and a good percentage leaves the state, Chinn said, but all of it is designed and crafted in the 7,500 square-foot building north of Darby by local employees.The success of Pine Door Company parallels the steady growth of similar businesses in a valley devastated by two decades of plunging lumber prices and mill closures, Chinn said. Such business have had to re-tool and retrain in order to carve a niche in the south valley. He said a number of his employees worked for Darby Lumber Company and several were loggers. "People who were out in the woods cutting trees are now in here working for me," Chinn said.

Judging by their efficacy with which they operate the machines and the quality of their finished product, the skilled woodsmen made the transition with ease. Most of the pine used in the doors and mouldings comes from Plum Creek Timber Co., he said, and much of the alder comes from mills in Washington and Oregon. Alder is the most popular wood right now, he said, replacing oak as the "wood of choice" nationwide. They've also worked a lot with recycled woods like fir, oak or pine, reclaimed from older buildings.

He cited a home built in Sun Valley, Idaho, by the Belgian ambassador which required 80 doors, all made from reclaimed Belgian oak. Such affluent homes, he said, represent a large portion of his business. Most of their business comes from home construction, he said, with an average home having about 20 doors. The "monster houses" like the ones in Sun Valley average between 60 and 80 doors. But home builders are not their only customers, he said. They've also made quite a few doors for commercial buildings, including the new Good Food Store in Missoula and a low-income housing project, called Gold Dust, also in Missoula.On average, he said, they produce about 80 to 120 doors a week. Chinn said despite the slow economy of late, the local building industry has maintained itself due the affluent nature of many of the people building in the valley. "Because we produce a product for higher-end individuals," he said, "it's going to last longer than a operation that builds tract houses."

Their business is fairly steady throughout the year, but does see a peak in the fall as builders hurry to finish their houses before winter. "That's when we get behind," he said, "from about August through December." In the eight years since he bought Pine Door Co., Chinn said he has moved from doing a little bit of everything to mostly doing design work and management from his newly remodeled office. "I very rarely work out on the floor anymore," he said. "Fortunately we have excellent employees." His biggest challenge in making the transition from worker to manager, he said, has been learning the computer systems now used for both the business and the cut work." Before 1995 I had never turned on a computer," he said. "But I took classes from Hamilton Computer Service and learned what I need to know." Because Chinn designs most of the products himself, he had to master the daunting task of learning the Auto CAD, or computer assisted drafting system. Fortunately, he said, Brent Holmes from the Hamilton High School shop class and Nate Menser, drafting instructor at Darby High School, tutored him in drafting. "Both of them were instrumental in my education on Auto CAD," he said. "I really don't think I could've done it without them."

Bolstered by his success in front of a computer screen, Chinn said he plans to eventually add computerized machines to his arsenal of jointers, moulders and saws, a move which likely will lead to further expansion. "That's the next step," he said, "putting computerized machines in the shop. That will be a big step forward."

Perhaps the easiest part of the business has been the marketing, he said, because he hasn't had to do much. "Basically the business just comes to us," he said. "It's mindboggling how people hear about us. I think we've only placed one ad, but our phone just keeps on ringing." They do have a Web site - www.pine-door.com - and a brochure, both of which they are updating in their spare time and both of which are pretty simple, according to Chinn. "I'm kind of a simple guy," he said.Chinn's educational background is well-suited to his business. With degrees in industrial arts and education from the University of Northern Colorado, his original intention to be a teacher has paid off in training his employees, he said.

"We've got some really good people and that makes it easy,"' he said. "We've had very little turnover. In fact the first employee we ever had is still here." His penchant for educating is also evident in the number of Darby and Hamilton school kids who regularly visit the small manufacturing company. "We try to help the schools," he said, "They come and do tours, and we donate materials to them. We also have a home-school kid who's been coming in and working for us for four years. Mostly he does clean-up, but he learns a little about the trade." Chinn said when he bought the business nine years ago, he never dreamed how fast it would grow. And when it burned to the ground in the first year, it was a tough decision to rebuild. But looking back, he's happy with his decision. "I was surprised at how fast it took off," he said, shaking his head in amazement. "Basically we've been playing catch-up ever since."