LAWA‘I — HPM Building Supply acquired Kaua‘i Lumber, a 19-year-old, family-owned and operated lumber company in Lawa‘i, a news release states. “What was attractive was that it is a very well-run business,” Jon Miyata, HPM’s senior vice president and director
LAWA‘I — HPM Building Supply acquired Kaua‘i Lumber, a 19-year-old, family-owned and operated lumber company in Lawa‘i, a news release states.
“What was attractive was that it is a very well-run business,” Jon Miyata, HPM’s senior vice president and director of distribution, said in the release about the Dec. 1 acquisition. “HPM and Kaua‘i Lumber are very similar. We, too, are a local company, and that’s how Kaua‘i Lumber will stay and how it will continue to do business.”
The former owner of Kaua‘i Lumber, Joe McEvoy, will stay on as general manager,and all nine employees will continue to work for the business, which retains its Kaua‘i Lumber name, the release states. Miyata said HPM doesn’t anticipate changes in the employment terms of staff members or the way Kaua‘i Lumber does business.
“HPM and Kaua‘i Lumber share the same core values such as respect, integrity and honesty, in how we operate,” HPM President and CEO Mike Fujimoto said in the news release. “We saw this as being a merger of resources and being good for the community, and also for our associates at both companies.
“The difference is that there will be a wider selection of products and services,” he said, “such as HPM’s metal roofing and wall panels.”
Customers will also be able to buy a broader range of products and services “at better prices,” he said. “Because we are bigger, we can buy direct from certain vendors that Kaua‘i Lumber wasn’t able to purchase from without going through a middleman.”
McEvoy was raised in the lumber business, the release states. His grandfather owned and operated McEvoy Lumber in Kirkland, Wash., and his father worked for and then owned Matheus Lumber, also in Washington. Joe worked for his father and then came to Hawai‘i to work at his brother’s company, Maui Lumber.
In October 1992, just a month after Hurricane Iniki devastated Kaua‘i , he opened Kaua‘i Lumber with two partners. He bought them out a couple of years later, the release states.
“I really believe that the two of us together, HPM and Kaua‘i Lumber, make a great team,” he said. “HPM has all the experience and buying power, and I bring along years and years of experience running a successful lumberyard on Kaua‘i. It’s a great opportunity to improve the market in Kaua‘i. I think it’s a wonderful thing for the island.”
Since starting out 90 years ago as a small, family-owned Hilo lumber mill, HPM Building Supply has grown to include three full-service building supply centers and four lumberyards on the Big Island, one building supply center and lumberyard on O‘ahu, and now one on Kaua‘i, the release states.
