从地面开始:马特·霍尔和克里斯·齐姆斯的高山木材

位于西弗吉尼亚州阿巴拉契亚山脉的中心, 马特·霍尔和克里斯·齐姆斯建立了一个木材帝国. The pair met while working together at Coastal Lumber Company in the 1990s and in 2002, they took their combined considerable experience and branched out on their own to form 高山木材 (HMT) in Dailey, 西维吉尼亚州, 从那以后，他们在哪里发展得很好.

Matt Hall is originally from Rockville, Maryland but he had family ties in 西维吉尼亚州. He graduated from 西维吉尼亚州 University (WVU) with a degree in Forest 资源 Management and began working for Coastal Lumber Co. 1990年大学刚毕业. 克里斯·齐姆斯来自托莱多, 毕业于格伦维尔州立学院的林业专业, then stayed to work for Hinkle Lumber Company in Buckhannon following graduation. Matt and Chris had the opportunity to get to know each other while buying timber together at Coastal Lumber Co. 大概五年了. Then they both transitioned to work for Appalachian Forest Products where they served as foresters, 买木材，管理几个伐木工人. 

In 2002, they decided to take a leap of faith and start their own timber company in Randolph County, 一个主要的工业中心. They were both very grateful to have the support of their families as they took this leap, HMT现在很自豪地聘请了梅根·霍尔, 马特的妻子, 作为办公室经理, 簿记员, 人力资源总监, 等. 萨曼莎·霍尔, 马特的女儿, 作为不断增长的副产品部门的销售和市场总监. 克里斯的妻子, 莎拉, has played a support role with Chris on equipment and yard maintenance over the years, 虽然他的两个孩子没有直接参与生意, 他们一直很支持我.

HMT实际上是从头开始构建的. 当克里斯和马特开始的时候, 他们开着皮卡车工作，在马特家里有一间办公室. 随着公司的发展，他们买了一间棚屋作为办公室. Finally, in 2013, they built an office building and were able to bring Meghan on full-time. 萨曼莎开始在HMT兼职，担任远程营销职位. 她也毕业于西弗吉尼亚大学, 拥有通讯和公共关系专业的学位, 所以她是团队发展副产品部门的一笔财富. 这个部门实际上是霍尔的大儿子创立的, 罗伯特。, and was born from a need to manage their waste when the company began debarking their logs to export. 罗伯特现在在力所能及的情况下帮助HMT，但他是一名全职教师. Since Samantha came on board full-time, she has been able to develop and grow the program. 地膜和柴火是主要的副产品. 从原木上脱落下来的树皮被分解成护根物, 而制造原木的木块变成了柴火. 

“我们试图利用整棵树，从饰面到纸浆，”马特说. HMT sells their mulch and firewood through both retail and wholesale outlets. 而副产品绝不是企业的主要收入来源, this facet of their company has allowed them to become more environmentally conscious while bringing in additional revenue.

除了总部设在戴利, 哪一个由办公室和主原木场组成, HMT还在南面几英里处拥有一个10英亩的院子, 除了数千英亩的土地, 他们从中获取木材. 然而，超过90%的木材是从私人土地所有者那里购买的. 马特和克里斯雇了一个护林员, 杰森·布洛克, who purchases all of the timber standing then runs three to four crews to harvest and truck the timber to the main yard for processing before the logs get shipped out. 杰森在当地侦察, 与私人土地所有者打交道, 巡游木材，并估计其价值的板英尺体积. 然后他会向土地所有者提出报价，并就合同进行谈判. After the purchase, he handles the log crews that come in to harvest the property,” shared Matt. 

Matt and Chris are in close communication with Jason throughout the process as he manages the different sites. 伐木工们把所有的东西都收割下来，运到主院子里, 然后在哪里排序, 按比例缩小的, 分级, 处理和, 最后, 出售. 克里斯的主要工作是清理原木并准备出售, while Matt primarily coordinates buyers and builds loads that are either exported or 出售 domestically, 虽然他们都身兼数职, 在需要的地方填写. 

HMT面临的主要挑战是劳动力和运输. 多年来，劳工问题一直是该地区的一个问题, so they have had to maximize efficiency within their team when they’ve been unable to hire more labor. 卡车运输公司也面临着劳工问题, 这给运输和交货时间表带来了压力. HMT利用了诺福克的弗吉尼亚港, 以及位于皇家前线的弗吉尼亚内陆港, so trucks come to the yards multiple times per week to take logs back to both ports for export or domestic distribution. 许多高端单板出口, 而大多数锯原木停留在三到四个状态半径内. 这种分解还取决于不断变化的市场, 关税, 利率和房地产市场. Right now the timber market is a bit unsteady, which has been hard on the smaller companies. 上一次经济衰退是在2008年, 许多木材公司倒闭了, 包括海岸木材公司. HMT的大部分产品最终都用于地板, 家具, 装饰和橱柜, 因此，需求与房地产市场密切相关. 

很明显，马特和克里斯都对自己的工作充满热情. 他们都从小就想进入林业行业. 随着业务的发展，他们的工作重点也发生了一些变化. They are content with their current production level and understand the challenges in buying more land and the competition that exists in the region. The business has been around long enough at this point that Matt and Chris are starting to log areas again that they harvested when they were first starting out. They are happy to see the business come full circle in that way and to see that the management practices put in place have allowed the land to produce. 

Matt and Chris have enjoyed a great working relationship with Farm Credit over the years. 马特•共享 “农业信贷了解我们的行业，他们并不害怕. They know agriculture very well, but they also understand timber and its long-term nature. It’s hard to explain to people that we’re going to manage land throughout our lifetime and get one, 剪下两三根, 然后为下一代的收获做准备.” 

当被问及他们最喜欢的业务方面时, 马特和克里斯给出了截然不同的答案, 但正因为如此，他们才成为如此出色的合作伙伴.

“I really like managing the business end of it – dealing with other businesses, 建立关系, 了解他们的需求, 然后把产品从树林运到市场. 试图协调记录器, truckers and buyers to get your product all over the world is challenging but also very rewarding,马特回答说。.

“我喜欢这份工作. I keep saying I’m getting too old to do it, but every day I go out there and do it. 我什么都要做，开电锯, 开挖掘机, 运行debarker, 装载卡车, 卸下卡车，做大部分的维护工作,克里斯回答道.

Matt and Chris both shared some advice to young foresters or people interested in the industry. “你最好愿意每天生活、吃饭和呼吸它. 如果你有疑问，就不要去做. 努力工作是有回报的。”马特说. “没有尽头——你一直在为下一件事做准备. 你必须承诺，”克里斯说.

Matt and Chris are proud of the business they’ve built and the fact they built it in a highly competitive market, 就在几家大公司的眼皮底下. They credit their success with staying flexible and being able to adapt to changes quickly. Building HMT from the ground up was extremely risky and Matt and Chris put their all into it. 而不是第一年给自己发工资, Matt and Chris chose to re-invest almost everything they made back into the business. 值得庆幸的是, 梅根和克里斯的妻子, 莎拉, worked full-time and provided their families with a steady income as HMT got off the ground.

今天, 他们在院子里雇了四个人, 除了在办公室的梅根和萨曼莎, 和大约18个人一起工作. 未来的计划包括更多来自原木场的相同产品, 随着副产品部门的增长, 在过去两年中已经增长了50%. They have even started purchasing other companies’ waste to generate more supplemental income. HMT is comfortable at their current level of harvesting and processing timber, 有三四个船员, 尽管他们的院子可以容纳六个人. Matt and Chris feel they are most efficient at their current level and they have found a groove there. 没有放缓的迹象.

了解更多关于高山木材有限责任公司的信息: http://highmtntimber.com/

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