In this episode of the Woodpreneur Podcast, host Jennifer Alger welcomes back returning guest Mike McGarry of Urban Lumber in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. What started as a one-man pilot project to prove to three levels of government that diseased urban trees could be safely salvaged has grown into what may be one of the largest urban tree recycling and hardwood production operations in the country, processing three to four thousand trees per year with a team of eleven employees.

Mike walks through the early days of navigating government roadblocks, building chain of custody tracking, and developing disease mitigation protocols for working with Dutch elm disease wood. He explains how the elm bark beetle carries the fungal spores, why getting the bark off within five days is critical, and how Winnipeg's brutal winters actually work in his favor.

The conversation shifts to how Urban Lumber evolved from a sawmill operation selling raw lumber into a fully vertically integrated company. Today, ninety percent of the lumber they produce stays in-house for custom furniture, architectural millwork, boardroom tables, and floating shelves sold online across Canada. Mike talks about the equipment upgrades that made this possible, including a modified Wood-Mizer LT40 extended to handle massive urban logs and an iDry Turbo vacuum kiln that finally solved the challenge of drying American elm without excessive degradation.

Jennifer and Mike also dig into the business side: why your next hire should be a dedicated marketing person, how to build a company culture that keeps people around, the economics of smaller bandsaw blades when you're hitting metal every day, and why staying nimble keeps Urban Lumber insulated from market volatility. They close with a candid conversation about the economic climate between Canada and the US, cross-border tariffs on blade prices and shipping, and shifting species trends from maple to walnut to white oak.

Chapters

00:00 The Origin Story: From Forestry Student to Urban Lumber Founder

02:29 Government Roadblocks and the Pilot Project

04:19 Disease Mitigation: Dutch Elm, Bark Beetles, and Chain of Custody

08:03 Scaling Up: Equipment, Employees, and Closing the Waste Loop

13:46 Kiln Drying Breakthroughs with the iDry Turbo

15:05 From Sawmill to Fully Vertically Integrated Operation

19:01 Custom Furniture, Architectural Millwork, and the Shaper Origin

21:04 Building a Team and Keeping the Culture

25:20 Marketing, Inventory, and the Business of Running It All

29:01 AI in the Shop: Time Savings and Cautionary Tales

30:56 What Keeps Mike Coming Back Every Morning

33:15 Economic Fears, Tariffs, and Staying Nimble

35:38 Species Trends: Elm, White Oak, and Shipping Challenges

The Woodpreneur Podcast brings stories of woodworkers, makers, and entrepreneurs turning their passion for wood into successful businesses - from inspiration to education to actionable advice. Hosted by Steve Larosiliere and Jennifer Alger 

For blog posts and updates: woodpreneur.com

See how we helped woodworkers, furniture-makers, millwork and lumber businesses grow to the next level: woodpreneurnetwork.com

Empowering woodpreneurs and building companies to grow and scale: buildergrowth.io

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You can connect with Mike at:

https://www.urban-lumber.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/urban_lumber_mb/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-mcgarry-967152166?originalSubdomain=ca