The vision came from Donald Young who, from his position as a Sales Manager with Finnforest UK Ltd, had studied various independent merchants operating in Scotland. What he found consistently across all the independent timber merchants was their willingness to react quickly and responsively to their customers’ needs together with the management and staff’s hunger for success. This emphasised the need to bring in partners who were like-minded. From his time managing another merchant in Dumfries, Donald knew that Roger Thomson and Colin Cameron would fit the criteria perfectly. 4 years on with 18 members of staff and stocks of over £250k, an opportunity arose to take advantage of acquiring two Build Centres, one in Dumfries, the other in Ayrshire. The prospect was simply too good a venture to miss and the directors decided that this represented a wonderful opportunity to not only widen their product base of building materials but also to enter the Ayrshire market where a number of their customers already operated. 5 years to the day from when Dumfries Timber Company Ltd opened for trade, Dumfries Building Supplies opened on Huntingdon Road, Dumfries and one week later, Ayrshire Building and Timber Supplies opened on Portland Avenue in Irvine.
