Direct marketing of wood products to home owners allows forest owners to acheive the maximum income from their annual timber harvests.    Cutting out all of the traditional "middlemen" can multiply the income of the wood producer by 100 times or more.  People like to buy direct from the grower so that they know where the wood came from and can call with questions or problems.

Direct marketings lets the forest owner sell what ever comes out of the annual harvest.  Good wood sells    itself, once people see it.  Word of mouth sales keeps advertising costs low.  Wide-Plank, Rough-Sawn, Mixed-Species, and Character-Grade flooring are very popular today.  Unique looks are in high demand and wood offers tremendous variety that adapt to most any situation.

Small local producers can take advantage of their own unique situations.  The flooring on the right is from a small    village at the edge of the rainforest in Ecuador.  The farmers actually mill the logs into lumber with chain saws - right where the tree falls.  The saw marks add a special character to their flooring that no modern machinery can duplicate.

When the forest owner sells their wood as installed flooring - they earn the  maximum possible income.  The wood becomes more valuable at each step of the  process, the work is easier at each level, and the profit increases quickly as the wood becomes more valuable.  The final sale to the customer (the retail sale) is the most profitable of all the steps. 

Forest owners have little experience in selling trees or logs and are at a great  disadvantage when selling timber in the traditional timber market.  Forest  owners are quite familiar with flooring and other wood products they have in their own homes.  They actually have the    advantage when dealing with        another homeowner who wants to buy wood  flooring.

Forest owners who choose to market their wood products direct to customers also get the satisfaction of actually seeing their trees put into their final use in someone's home.  Controlling the entire process and recieving an excellent    annual income encourages the forest owner to care for their woods for the future success of their business.                           
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