Forest to Foyer

Lopez Contracting operates as a 100% Vancouver Island-sourcing business, transforming raw forest materials into finished furnishings through a comprehensive in-house process.

We partner with small-business forestry operators who share our sustainability values. Rather than ordering trees felled specifically for our use, we fill a necessary yet symbiotic role by acquiring lumber that was felled out of necessity — dead trees or specimens ordered removed by provincial authorities.

Ryan Smith at Ocean West Tree Service supplies spruce, arbutus, oak, and cedar from the Metchosin and Mount Newton areas, delivering freshly milled lumber directly to the shop. Willy Croll at Knoxville provides portable milling services both at felling sites and our shop location. And the Henry Family from Tsartlip First Nation sources maple from ancestral lands — Tsartlip in the Senc'oten language means Land of the Maples.

Once the lumber arrives, it goes into one of our three kiln-drying sheds featuring dehumidification technology. What traditionally takes one to two years through air seasoning alone, our kilns accomplish in one to two months — vastly more efficient, affordable, safe, and environmentally sound.

Our local wood selections include spruce, arbutus, oak, cedar, cherry, monkey puzzle, and maple. When projects call for exotic species — kayu batu, wenge, tigerwood, purpleheart, pau amarello — we source them from pre-existing island products rather than newly harvested materials.

From forest to foyer, every piece of wood we work with has a story. And that story starts right here on Vancouver Island.