Building in the San Juans
Locals deal with challenging logistics

While Whatcom County contractors are busier than the proverbial one-armed paperhanger with local projects, many of them are also working in the San Juan Islands. Those projects often pose some interesting logistical problems that most builders don’t have to face.

Joseph McKenna-Smith is director of the San Juan County Permit Center.

“I wouldn’t call what’s going on here a boom,” he said, “but permits are running slightly ahead of last year. Through June 30, we had issued 85 permits for single family residences, five more than last year. We’ve issued three for multi-family residential units as compared to two last year. Mobile/manufactured home permits are down to 13 from 25 last year. We’ve issued 22 permits for commercial construction as compared to 12 for the same period last year.”

Many Whatcom builders are working on islands not served by the state ferry system. McKenna-Smith said his office is issuing permits for those unserved islands, but not an unusual number. Working on islands not served by ferries just adds to the logistical headaches.

Terry Buzzard, owner of Island Mariner Cruises, feels their pain. He just had a small landing craft style barge built to address those problems.

“John Edling out on Smith Road built it for us,” Buzzard said, “and we call it the Tin Boat II. We’re just now getting our marketing going, but we hope to serve Sinclair, Eliza, Johns, Waldron, Speiden, all those islands without ferry service.”

The new vessel has a drop gate and a box length of 25 feet.

“It’s got twin MerCruiser diesel V-8s that will push it to about 30 knots empty,” Buzzard said. “It should do 17-18 with an 8,000 pound load can haul up to 25,000 pounds. It’s got outdrives that can be raised so you can slide it right up on the beach and drive your rig on and off.”

There’s more to this service than just a boat.

“We offer the use of a small crane truck for loading and unloading,” Buzzard said, “and we also have a Unimog.”

The Unimog is an all-wheel drive DaimlerChrysler vehicle with an articulated frame that will go places no Jeep or Hummer would dare.

“Lots of people have been getting stuff to difficult sites by helicopter,” Buzzard said. “The Unimog can get to most of those places for a lot less than a helicopter.”

Obviously, Buzzard expects construction in the San Juans to keep booming.

“We’ve had four or five jobs already,” he said, “and eventually, we’ll have the vessel licensed to carry 12-15 passengers. We’re also going to add a hydraulic telescoping boom and winch.”

The service will utilize current employees of Island Mariner rather than new hires.

“We’re charging $350 for a round trip to Eliza with a half hour layover,” Buzzard said. “Longer layovers run $50 per hour. That’s sort of an introductory special. We’ll probably raise those rates once we get going. There’s lots of building going on at Eliza and we’re getting lots of calls. We can get there in a half hour. No one else can get there as fast.”

One of Buzzard’s satisfied customers is Jim Maushak of True Log Homes. He has been doing business in the San Juans for 25 years and owns a home on Eliza Island.

“I’ve been using an outfit out of Anacortes,” Maushak said, “but this new service is great. It’s a lot less expensive because they’re using a smaller barge.”

He has built homes along the shores and in the uplands of the islands.

“It’s a lot of fun to work out there,” Maushak said, “but it’s pretty labor intensive transporting materials. If I do a job on Orcas, I use Builders Alliance. They’ve always provided good service.”

Builders Alliance is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Drew Orem’s family has been at the helm for about 40 of those years.

“We’re refocusing the business on relationships,” Orem said

Eight five percent of those relationships are with building professionals. He agrees that logistics in the San Juans can be a challenge.

“Most of our material goes out there by ferry,” Orem said, “and that means you’re at the mercy of their schedule.”

You’re also at the mercy of unanticipated breakdowns like a recent incident in which one of the larger vessels lost a propeller. The backups were staggering.

“It costs $180 to put a truck on the ferry,” Orem said, “so we obviously try to run full trucks. But you can’t let that interfere with customer service. If we run trucks that are less than full, we have to increase markups. We try to avoid running out there on Fridays, Mondays or holidays.”

It also requires constant communication so that the customer knows when to expect the delivery.

“For smaller shipments, we use West Isle Air. Most of our work is on Orcas and we go out there usually two days a week. There are about five key contractors that keep us busy. Orcas has a lumber yard, but a lot of the builders look off island. Some are pro-local, but others don’t feel like being forced to buy on the island. It’s quite a bit more expensive.”

Orem has seen a change in the nature of island building projects over the years.

“It’s not just beach cabins any more,” he said, “but huge estates. The expectations of those customers are higher. Partly because of that, we are stocking environmentally safe lumber as approved by the Forest Stewardship Council. You have to understand the expectations of customers.”

Most of the projects Builders Alliance is involved with are fairly large.

“We have higher margins on those projects,” Orem said, “and that helps us distribute risk, helps us maintain a steady level of business. The stock market woes caused a blip in the San Juan business, so it’s not booming the way it was a few years back. But it has been coming back steadily in the past four to six months.”

In addition to transportation, weather can be a hazard during the fall and winter months. Despite the challenges, many local businesses are finding it profitable to do business in the San Juans. It’s also keeping them very busy. Most of them didn’t have time for an interview.