New life for old log home company

A remarkable turnaround has been achieved in the last year or so at NST, the Knysna-based manufacturers of solid timber kits for the home building industry.

An entrepreneur, Gene Kruger, some 24 months ago decided that he wanted to be involved fulltime in timber products of some kind. This was a surprising decision because he had spent most of his 30 year working life in the "respectable" white collar field of financial services, his last seven or eight years being given to the development of products for the insurance industry.

"I had, nevertheless, always worked with wood, doing whatever carpentry was necessary at our home - and for some time I had had this idea that I would like to set up a manufacturing operation in the timber business. To bring this about I started looking for good second-hand timber machinery - and that led me to Francois Naude."

In 1968 Naude had founded NST, the log home kit suppliers, and had expanded it to the point where for several years it was supplying well over 100 log home kits annually - both to the local and to the overseas market, particularly the Indian Ocean Islands.

Naude had planned to pass the NST business on to his son, Francois Junior, but, having visited Reunion on several business trips, the younger Francois opted to settle there and serve NST as their agent in that area.

As a result, from 2000 onwards Francois Naude Senior began winding down the business - a process he did not enjoy as he had always had great pride in the NST products.

When Kruger first approached him he was interested only in buying some of the NST machinery. However, in his own words, it soon became clear that "here we had a respected, popular, flourishing family business with great products and registered designs and it made no sense at all that it should cease to exist. NST was an industry leader with very high quality products."

The upshot was that Kruger bought the NST business through his company, Arborline Timber Products, and began the recapitalisation of the business. He later brought in Jonathan Heath as his partner. Heath had formerly been in financial/legal services.

"We initially revived the traditional designs, but we also liaised with RNI Design Architects to introduce a range of more modern designs with which timber homes are not traditionally associated. These have found an immediate response, especially with our younger clients."

Kruger stressed that the NST tongued and grooved solid logs are a quality product which is precision milled by Arborline at its factory in Knysna.

"A 140 mm thick tongued and grooved log," he said, "will provide heat and cold insulation equal to that of a 10" traditional cavity brick wall. The logs are also fire resistant - they will char on the outside but seldom burn through - and once treated thoroughly in the prescribed way with TBTO are rot, fungus, insect and damp resistant. Above all, however, for many people logs will always be preferable to brick because they are warm to the touch and aesthetically more interesting."

Both the interior and exterior surfaces of an NST wall, said Kruger, can be varied: although this company traditionally supplies the external walls with a rounded shape, the façades can be ship or weather lapped and they can have a variety of claddings, including brick.

Nor is it necessary for the buyer to opt for one of the 40 plus standard NST designs.

"The commonly held view is that Arborline simply sticks to the traditional NSTdesigns - but that is far from being true," said Kruger. "We regularly work with clients' architects, our only stipulation in most cases being that they stay with our 900 mm modular grid as most of our timber is supplied in that format."

Kruger said that Arborline's competition is not the other log homebuilders - like T & B, for whom he has considerable respect - but the timber frame builders.

"There can," he said, "be absolutely no comparison between a solid log home and a timber frame home, no matter how well built. You will feel the difference the moment you walk into the home. A log home creates its own pleasant climate, while a timber frame home is far less resistant to heat and cold and will never have quite the same solid feel as a log home.

"We are, however, a long way off getting the public to realise the difference between a timber frame builder and the solid log home supplier."

One of the big attractions of log homes, added Kruger, is that they lend themselves to an indoor-outdoor lifestyle.

"Decks are always appropriate on a log home and can sometimes be on more than one level and the flow between them and the living and bedroom areas can be enhanced by extensive glazing including full length glass doors. A log home is, therefore, particularly suited to South Africa and it is a little ironical that as yet the Europeans, Americans and Canadians make far greater use of timber frame and log wall methods than we do."

Since taking on the challenge of revitalising the business, Kruger and Heath have spent a further R1,5 million on new machinery and the upgrading of existing machinery and have increased their staff from 18 to 28. They have also upgraded the management systems, particularly those for accounting, and introduced slicker, faster computer packages.

NST used to have its own building teams, but Arborline prefers to work through reputable builders who become known in their areas as Arborline/NST agents. They do, however, make a point of visiting most building sites and checking on the quality. Unlike many timber home kit suppliers, they also treat and shape their own timbers - this work is not subcontracted out.

Recently, too, Arborline under its own banner moved into the supply of timber products - skirting boards, moulded ceilings, T&G flooring, exterior cladding and internal panelling.

These, said Kruger, were originally made only for NST but are now available on the open market and now comprise 20 % of Arborline's turnover.

Turnover will double this year, says MD.
Kruger and Heath's arrival has resulted in the company trebling its turnover and they are confidently expecting to double it in the year ahead. Significantly, at least 40 % of their buyers, said Kruger, are old customers who have been pleased to see "NST" back in business and eager to get more work. Exports to Mozambique, the Indian Ocean Islands and DRC have all risen recently and there is a strong chance that in 2007 Arborline will be supplying certain European countries with Mediterranean coastlines.

For more information contact 082 770 7319 or 082 333 3361 or visit www.nst.co.za or www.arborline.co.za

Readers' Comments
We feel there is a big need for log holiday homes set in holiday type parks along the coast line that people could buy for using for weekend get aways and holidays. Ironic with our climate that nothing is available yet the UK has many parks like that. - Jean Siddall

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