In the history of Southgate Timber, we have never experienced such tight supply since opening in 1984. Prices from our sources are wildly varied and have been on a continual rise with the demand for supply rapidly increasing. Luckily, Southgate Timber is always one step ahead of the game as we have been making massive stock investments since the start of last year.

Typically, Southgate Timber holds £1.65million – £1.75million worth of stock on the ground, but due to the extensive amount of extra sales we received in early 2020, we made the strategic decision to increase our stock to £2million. To top that, we are further increasing our stock for spring 2021 to £2.5million. Because of this, we are managing to keep the growing price rates at arm’s length which means we’re able to consistently provide regular stock to our customers. Not only that, but the comprehensive and extremely diverse supply chain we have built over the years has put Southgate Timber in the best position possible where no competition can compare.

How do we have space for all this extra stock? Well, we made the timely investment in an entirely new warehouse in 2020. It’s completely kitted out as we have equipped it with plenty of racking to better organise our stock, making order pick-ups easier than ever. Furthermore, this new warehouse has huge external hardstanding for fast artic offload. But, of course, safety comes first which is why it’s located away from our main office hub, so customers don’t have to worry about a thing!

Unfortunately, we are expecting some shortages, particularly on the Meranti mouldings. But not to worry, Southgate Timber will never allow an order to go through if we can’t supply the stock. And, if there is ever a mistake made, customers are contacted immediately with the most convenient solution to their problem. As Cedar remains our top seller, and Larch being relatively new to Southgate Timber with a growing popularity, the quality of our stock on these products are second to none. We also keep an impressive standard of stock for hardwood decking.

There is currently a severe issue in our trade with container shortages and shipping delays which we hope will be resolved in the coming months. This has massively impacted our trade as multiple contracts for containers of decking and other items have been put on hold or cancelled due to the lack of available containers. Every business in the timber trade is in the same situation, but Southgate Timber has gone above and beyond to overcome this issue where possible by going in the market and sourcing landed UK stock to fill the gaps. If you browse our website, you will find our fast thinking has put us in a unique situation because we have stock on all products we promote, including the full range of length for 99% of them. Southgate Timber proceeds to thrive where other companies are seriously limited with our unrivalled range of length options in full swing across our wide scale of species and profiles.

Furthermore, we have created an unbeatable automated stock control system for hardwood decking, Cedar and Larch. Our system informs us exactly what supply we have in stock and the second an order is placed, that stock is immediately reserved for the customer ready and waiting. This allows customers to order stock in advance with a guarantee that their product and my team is ready to go whenever they are. So, if you have a project in mind for the spring, now is the time to act! As I mentioned before, prices will inevitably continue to grow during 2021, but our purchasing team is working day and night to keep on top of the unprecedented situation and take advantage of the impressive rates we have secured stock at.

So, happy shopping! Because we have plenty of stock to go around.

Thanks
Mark