No dolly needed at this lumber yard

This drive-thru will not accept orders for hamburgers and fries. But workers here will gladly sell a customer sheets of plywood, strips of molding or boxes of screws. As Rhode Island’s only drive-thru lumber yard, Coventry Lumber offers a twist on the traditional method of buying lumber and associated products.
The drive-thru opened in October 2005 after years of planning, said owner and President Michael Durand. Designers constructed the football-field-sized, drive-thru warehouse to match the purchase patterns of Coventry Lumber customers. A U-shaped, three-vehicle-wide lane runs through racks of lumber four levels high.
“When we first built it everyone was saying ‘what are you doing that for?’ ” Durand said. “But in the end they are saying, ‘What a nice setup.’ ”
Durand said he decided to build the drive-thru after seeing the concept in a trade magazine. He visited similar structures in the Northeast before hiring a firm that specializes in designing drive-thru lumber yards. The perks appeared obvious to Durand. The enclosed area keeps both products and customers dry during rainstorms and harsh winter storms. Wood that warps when wet would stay dry from start to finish and the property would avoid the look of a hodgepodge of lumber piles scattered around a fenced-in yard.
Instead, Coventry Lumber keeps almost all its 10,000 products inside the 45,000-square-foot drive-thru and a neighboring 35,000-square-foot facility comprising a retail store, offices and a warehouse. The products come from around the world. Pine arrives from New Zealand, decking from South America, plywood from Canada and 2-by-4 pieces from Austria.
Computers track every order from the initial call to the pickup or delivery. The network of computers replaces slips of papers that workers once shuttled by hand among departments. Global positioning devices on Coventry Lumber’s fleet of delivery trucks provide management with real-time data so when a customer calls wondering when a delivery will arrive, management can provide an estimate down to the minute.
It’s a far cry from when Durand’s uncle, Lionel Beauchaine, started the business as Coventry Millwork in 1969 in a small garage down the street from Coventry Lumber’s present location. In 1972 Durand starting helping his uncle after school. The shop produced custom doors, windows, cupolas and such. On the side, Beauchaine would sell extra supplies to contractors arriving to pick up milled products. Durand soon realized the shop made more on the sales of products than the millwork. After two expansions, the business started going by the trade name Coventry Lumber in the 1970s. In 1985, Durand bought out his uncle, who was looking to retire. A friend purchased the mill part of the business, which still exists as Coventry Millwork. Twenty-five years later, Durand counts 60 employees, up from the eight he started with, and a sales region that includes three states and dozens of contractors building thousands of structures.
Along the way, Durand has worked hard to connect with contractors, who comprise about 75 percent of his business today, down from around 95 percent years ago. Durand makes it a point to visit job sites a few times a month and meet with contracts to talk about their needs, something he said sets him apart from the Home Depot down the street and other big-box lumber stores.
The store also handles custom orders by the truckload with sales coordinators arranging for the arrival and delivery of products ranging from custom windows to flooring. Trucks pull up to four bays in a part of the warehouse set aside just for special orders.
“It’s not just the small mom-and-pop shop,” Durand said gesturing to the warehouse and parking lot where the company keeps a fleet of about 35 pickup, box and flatbed trucks alongside forklifts.
Like many lumber yards, the falling economy hit Coventry Lumber. Sales have been level for a few years, but Durand said that’s far better than sales going below previous levels. And in an effort to cut costs he sold a former Warwick branch of Coventry Lumber to another yard a few months ago.
But regardless of the health of the balance sheet, Durand still harbors a special love for working with his hands. Durand, the grandson of a cabinet maker and the son of a machinist, said his job today comes naturally. Besides Beauchaine, at least two of his other uncles counted carpentry among their professions.
“It’s [fulfilling] when you can actually build something or make something from a piece of wood,” Durand said. •COMPANY PROFILE
COVENTRY LUMBER
OWNER: Mike Durand
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Lumber Yard
LOCATION: 2030 Nooseneck Hill Road, Coventry
EMPLOYEES: 60
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1969 as Coventry Millwork
ANNUAL SALES: WND