1 minute read
BUSINESS PROFILE
THE WOODSMAN COMPANY IS IMPROVING ON NATURE
When Josh Richards founded The Woodsman Company almost 40 years ago, he was driven by a love of the outdoors and wood. Today, both continue to motivate him through the painstaking work of collecting wood, sometimes in 100-degree weather, all over the hill country.
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A lifelong lover of the outdoors, Josh found his last job stifling. “I didn’t like being cooped up in a machine shop—I wanted to be outside,” he says. Eventually, his frequent trips to the lake and a fascination with the wood around him turned into a business selling driftwood. “I was seeing all this beautiful wood and thought, my gosh, I’ll see if some people want to share my vision and do something with it. It’s the same thing now. I just love the wood.”
The Woodsman Company took off thanks to the help of his co-owner and wife Jaquetta, and it wasn’t long before their business expanded to the point where they couldn’t keep up with suppliers’ demand for wood. To manage growth, Josh and Jaquetta began collecting wood from ranches in the area and continue to be on the lookout for more properties in need of wood removal. The Woodsman Company is based in Taylor and serves Williamson and Travis counties and the surrounding areas including Round Rock, Georgetown, Hutto, Pflugerville, and Taylor.
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Plus, customers can rest easy knowing they will always see the same faces while working with The Woodsman Company. “They’ll be dealing with me or my son or wife. It’s not like you’re getting hold of someone who might be gone the next week.”
Once the wood is collected — one or two trailer loads make up to 26,000 pounds a week — then sawed and tumbled, The Woodsman Company passes it on to suppliers to be used for anything from taxidermy to floral arrangements. “It’s neat for me to take something that seems worthless and process it in such a way that people can do something with it and enjoy it,” Josh says.
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