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Our Approach

Zuber Singh 534

At Lopez Contracting, Our Team is in Love with this Planet

Wood Sustain Us, but do We Sustain it?

Lumber is all around us, be in the framing of your home, or the cedar siding upon your walls. Wood keeps our society afloat and uplifted. Wood sustain us, but do we sustain it?

At Lopez Contracting, our team is in love with this planet, we treasure, honour, and celebrate our pristine island home; and one of the ways we express this is through our lumber souring. As a team of wood workers, we understand how to acquire wood through our local network. We further recognize that in an environment so abundant there is no reason we can’t ensure our supply chain is ethical, reliable, and sustainable.

Our supply ensures we get our hands on wood that is otherwise predestined for waste. Much of our lumber comes from our small business arborist partners, and though our lumber may be a byproduct, Vancouver Island in its richness ensures that this wood is of the highest quality, be it hardwood for a delicate furnishing, or ‘run-of-the-mill’ posts for framing (pun intended).

Our lumber arrives to us freshly milled and green, and we’re proud to host this wood in our state of the art kilns for seasoning. Green lumber contains much internal moisture and sap which makes subject to warping and gumming, making it unusable for construction.

With the help of our kiln facilities, however, we are able to do in just a month what would otherwise take a year or more to do via air seasoning. Once our lumber is brought to interior grade, it is ready to be brought out into the field. At this time, our wood is not only usable but a blank slate for any project it is destined for, be it a fine-milled and sanded live-edge table, or the load bearing posts for your future home.

The best part of our kilns is not just their central and easily accessible location in downtown Victoria, but the fact that we always have plenty of room to spare! If you just felled a tree in your backyard and would hate to see it go to waste, or if you are in need of lumber seasoning but can’t afford the time to truck it up island, then our services are perfect for you!

Our kiln rates are offered at competitive contractor rates, and our kilns have proven time and time again to be incredibly efficient. As well, whatever designs you have on your seasoned lumber, we are equipped on site to fashion into fruition there and then. Through our one-stop-shop, you need to account for just one point of contact to see the story of your piece be immortalized through our beautiful and practical craft.

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Our Triple Crown Philosophy


Some years ago, I innately understood that a building structure should have three important attributes. First, it should be structurally sound. Second, it should be aesthetically pleasing. Third, it should be attainable or affordable. Ever since, I have strived to make everything I do worthy of this triple crown of excellence.

During a ferry ride to Vancouver, I saw my young son had drawn Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vitruvian man in my notebook. To my surprise, my son’s sketch led me to discover the historic importance of this idea. This world-famous sketch of a man in a circle, his arms outstretched in two different overlapping poses, has become iconic. A Wikipedia search showed me how Da Vinci was inspired by proportions described by Vitruvius in his ancient treatise of De Architectura.

Vitruvius was arguably the greatest architect in history. His work is the only major surviving publication on architecture from classical antiquity. It was written for Emperor Augustus, made famous in the Bible for his census which brought Jesus’ parents to Bethlehem. Eminent Roman architects such as Vitruvius were skilled in engineering, art, and craftsmanship. As an army engineer himself, Vitruvius had overseen all manner of building and construction for wars and settlements across Europe and North Africa.

The most famous maxim of Vitruvius was that architecture should embody three qualities: utilitias, firmitas, and venustas. In English, this means that great handiwork should be useful, sturdy, and with beautiful proportions. (Just imagine what Venus, the goddess of love, might look like.)

I was delighted and not disappointed to find out that my idea was old and not new. It gives me more motivation than ever to offer you the product of a triple crown craftsman: sturdy, useful, and beautiful work at a reasonable price.