Many businesses in our industry have operated for years and it can sometimes be unexpected circumstances that lead a company into kitchen cabinet manufacturing. Such was the case for Troico who started out as a general contractor working next door to a cabinet company that eventually closed its doors. Clients came to Troico looking for work to be completed on their projects and so was the birth of Troico kitchen cabinet manufacturing.
While the company may have had to detract from their general contracting business, Troico found the cabinet business to be hugely helpful to their general contracting work being in house. With all their investment and effort, the cabinet side of their business has now overtaken the contracting division in sales.
Fast forward 13 years and today Troico is a 15,000 sq. ft. space complete with CNC beam saw, flat bed router and 4axis vertical for cutting. Their secondary machining and processing is done via numeric controlled dowel and they still utilize one of the original shapers and tools for tasks that don’t make sense on the CNCs. The company’s core business has been in full-home builder packages, but recently they have ventured into more retail work where they have capacity to do 12 to 15 kitchens per month. They are currently deploying an MRP system in the shop and looking at more multi-family and international shipping. Troico’s clientele is primarily builders and design firms, but they are seeing more retail with the reopening of their showroom.
The biggest part of their business that is expanding is the builder sales. They are seeing more homeowner-direct and less full home builder work. Troico thinks a lot of this can be attributed to the lengthy permit and associated build costs in the market. Troico sees how expensive it’s getting to build in Vancouver and that more and more renovations make sense. A “Love it or list it” scenario.
We sat down with Michael Richter, Owner of Troico to learn more about Troico.
- Our goal is to grow into some of the US markets and we are timing that with a likely move in 4 or 5 years.
- We finish nearly 90% of our projects at a top level given our skilled staff and bake system.
- Millwork is one of the most important pieces in the home. It demands detail and we like to see our finished work at the end especially in the renovation space where the before and after photos are always a favourite.
CKCA: Tell us a bit about some of the unique projects you’ve done.
Michael: One of the things we inherited from the previous company was their full face frame methods and equipment. While its not as popular as it once was, we still do a fair amount of heritage and traditional millwork. Recently we completed a 5,000 sq. ft. home in our Inset face frame construction which is always a nice change in the shop from the standard cut and tape products. Although we all hate to hear the planer running, it’s good to see solid wood in our shop. We still employ staff that like to make that and not just run the CNCs.CKCA: What sets you apart from your competitors?
Michael: Definitely our finishing and use of solid wood. We see more and more shops moving away from it and solely working on the cut and tape product.
We finish nearly 90% of our projects at a very top level (given our skilled staff and bake system). So I think it’s the draw for a customer that wants something unique.
CKCA: What are some of the lessons learned as your business has evolved?
Michael: I think the biggest one we’ve learned in this journey is that we need to constantly innovate. There are 100 plus cabinet shops in our province alone and we need to have products that excite people. We see it with our face frame as that’s unique, but doing that in the euro case construction is more challenging. So we try to be out front of the market with trends. We work with a lot of great designers and so they are helping us in what they bring in from inspiration photos to ideas.CKCA: How does the evolution of technology play into your business?
Michael: This is an area we excel. My background is from the software industry. I ran a company for 15 years prior in the mechanical engineering space specializing in CNC integration. This has been an old hat for me and I enjoy that part of the business most. We are using software and tech to enable us to compete and are putting a lot of our investment there.CKCA: What are some of the trends
and how is your company responding?
Michael: We are seeing the closet/storage attach rate go way up. People seem to want a little nicer than the white melamine organizers we all know. We are doing things in closets now that is often as nice as the kitchen and baths. Master WIC and mudrooms are the talking points in a lot our jobs. More sometimes than the kitchen. Laundry is also getting all sorts of attention. With urban intensification we are seeing some interesting spaces. We recently did a project of four units in one previously single family home. Vancouver is rezoning numerous neighbourhoods for multi family and so 4 – 500 sq. ft. apartments make sense financially in a previously zoned 2,000 sq. ft. home. Now they just need to figure out parking
CKCA: With the current market downturn, how are you navigating through it?
Michael: This is a much bigger problem than we have previously seen. Part of our goals to offset this is to pick up the lost volume in areas we normally didn’t work, like closets, storage, garage cabinets etc. Our investment in our latest CNC was primarily to address the closet game. We are able to put closets and pantry storage in our projects where we previously couldn’t compete. So while we will see less job starts this year, the hope is to increase the sales volume in the ones we do take on. Time will tell, but it seems to be working well as builders are liking the idea of one company to handle kitchen, bath, closets, storage etc.
We finish nearly 90% of our projects at a very top level (given our skilled staff and bake system). So I think it’s the draw for a customer that wants something unique.
CKCA: Where do you want to take the company in the future?
Michael: Our goal is to grow into some of the US markets and we are timing that with a likely move in 4 or 5 years. We can start the process here, but with our goals we will likely need to double or triple capacity inside of 5 years.
