S T O R Y
Travelling
contract
sawyer, Nick
Houghton,
converts
customers'
logs to boards,
cants and
other lumber
at their place
14
Nick Houghton cites the accuracy, easy
handling, sustainability, mobility and
quick set-up features of his Wood-Mizer
sawmill as important factors in the
growing success of his mobile sawing
business. Although he doesn't saw an
enormous amount of timber – 300
cubic metres per year – the mill
enables him to bring added value into
the equation from activities like
producing green oak buildings.
Nick Houghton, 38, bought a WoodMizer LT40 band sawmill when he left
the Royal Air Force in 2002, having
served as a propulsion engineer for 12
years. With his RAF severance pay he
paid approximately £21,000 for the
mill.
He had long envisaged a travelling
contract sawmilling operation,
WOOD-MIZER TODAY SUMMER 2011
converting clients' logs to boards, cants
and other lumber on customer sites.
However, initially, around his home in the
county of Wiltshire, demand for such
contract sawing was limited and already
satisfied. So for a while, part-time, he
undertook freelance aircraft and helicopter servicing and signing-off aeroplanes at
neighbouring Gloucestershire's small
Kemble airport, in parallel with cutting.
But the call of timber drew him more to
his band sawmill, especially as demand
gradually increased and additional
activities boosted income. Over the past
eighteen months income has grown ten
per cent. A move into timber framing and
a new workshop partly explain this and he
reveals:
"I have received more customer
enquiries over the past six months than