Sawmill replaces treadmill

Published on April 9, 2003
© 2003- The Press Democrat
BYLINE:    ERIN ALLDAYTHE PRESS DEMOCRAT
PAGE: E1
COLUMN: Small Business Profile

Fifteen years ago, Merle Reuser was co-owner of a million-dollar-a-year trucking company and on the verge of a personal and professional breakdown.

Running a business that size -- dealing with a dozen employees, trying to keep hundreds of customers happy, keeping up with finances -- was proving to be too much.

So Reuser gave up and tried a new business, manning a portable sawmill for cutting usable lumber from fallen trees. And today, as the owner of a company barely a 10th the size of his first business, Reuser is infinitely happier.

"The truck business had turned into a round-the-clock thing and I just said to heck with it. I was burned out severely," Reuser, 55, said. "What I do now is hard, physical work. But I need to be outside, getting dirty and wet and cold. I love my work."

Reuser is hardly alone in his escape from the tension of running or working in a large company. In fact, his son joined the business after becoming fed up with his job in sales at a telecom company.

One of the most common reasons people start their own businesses is because they're fed up with their current jobs, said Lorraine DuVernay, director of the Redwood Empire Small Business Development Center.

"Sometimes people just get burned out, especially if they've worked for a company for a long time. They need to do something different," DuVernay said.

Still, she doesn't recommend that corporate escapees consider a change of Merle and Dave Reuser's scope without giving it serious thought.

"What people find is there's no guarantee of a monthly paycheck," she said. "Earning enough to maintain the lifestyle that they had before often proves to be a lot more difficult than they anticipated."

Potential small-business owners should do their research first, DuVernay said, and make sure there is a market for the service or product they want to offer. In the Reusers' case, it helps that they offer a one-of-a-kind service, plus they can tap into growing consumer interest in conservation and recycling.

While the sawmill still is not a huge money-maker, Merle Reuser and his son said they're pleased with the amount of work they're getting, which means they are booked full time during good weather. And both father and son said the work is more fulfilling than anything else they've done before.

" My job got frustrating because I was always depending on other people who were letting me down," Dave Reuser, 28, said. "I had helped my dad in the summers, and then one day I realized that was exactly what I wanted to do."

The portable sawmill was a natural business for the family, Merle Reuser said. He grew up in Cloverdale in the shadow of the once large and busy mills there, and the trucking business he ran with his brother hauled mostly sawmill byproducts.Business was slow in the first few years that Merle Reuser had the sawmill. He only worked a few months out of the year, and he and his wife relied on her income from selling cosmetics to support the family.

But business has picked up in recent years, almost entirely through word-of-mouth.
Most customers, including individual homeowners and large companies with lots of land, use the sawmill to create lumber from dead trees on their property. It generally takes about six months for the lumber to dry before it is ready for use.

The Reusers don't own the only portable sawmill in Sonoma County. In fact, anyone can buy a smaller sawmill for a few thousand dollars. But Merle Reuser said he is the only person in the North Bay making a full-time living with his sawmill. The portable mill itself costs about $24,000 and has to be replaced every four years.

Customers usually save money on the lumber, Merle Reuser said. He and his son charge $90 an hour, which generally works out to about 35 cents per board foot of lumber. Store-bought lumber would cost 50 cents to 70 cents per board foot, depending on the type of wood, Merle Reuser said.

The 24-foot-long sawmill can handle logs nearly as long as the mill itself, but most of the lumber is smaller than that. For a project in Healdsburg, Frank and Elva Lewis had the Reusers mill 2-by-6 and 2-by-8 lumber from Douglas firs on their property. They then used that lumber to build a the frame for a new house.

"It was the ultimate in recycling," said the Lewis' son, Frank Lewis Jr. "And the wood was wonderful. The carpenters just loved it."

Dave Reuser said he often meets people who want to mill lumber from beloved trees that are dying, just to preserve the memory. He knows of families that have built decks or furniture from trees that grandparents planted decades ago.

"People want the wood for sentimental reasons," Dave Reuser said. "They hate to see a tree sit and rot."

You can reach Staff Writer Erin Allday at 521-5494 or eallday@pressdemocrat.com.