Timber Truss closes Orange plant

By Hannah Wever
Review Staff Writer
Published: April 10, 2008

One of the county’s major employers has closed its doors, leaving the majority of its workforce without jobs.
Gary Saunders, president of Timber Truss Housing Systems, Inc., said the lagging construction industry forced the hand of company executives. The Orange County production plant, located near the airport on Route 20, was set up to serve the housing and construction industry of the Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. areas. But now, according to Saunders, there’s no industry to serve.
“That’s one of the hardest hit areas in the nation,” Saunders said. Some estimates, he added, estimated that construction in the region had diminished by as much as 80 percent.
“It just got to the point where we had lost business up there,” Saunders explained. “We really had an inefficient situation.”
All production has been stopped at Timber Truss, at least for the time being, Saunders said. But engineering and sales operations will continue.
“We’re mothballing the plant in anticipation of reopening when building activity recovers,” he explained. “If the activity is not there, you have to do something.”
Saunders said there are similar shutdowns within the truss system industry, specifically at production plants in Culpeper and Fishersville.
“We’re not the only ones,” he said.
Saunders said Timber Truss officials are optimistic that a return to operations at the Orange production facility will be “when,” and not “if.” But it will require an improved economy to restart production.
“It just depends on when the housing market swings back,” Saunders said.
In the meantime, as production ceases and only engineering and sales staff still have jobs, the workforce at Timber Truss has diminished from around 60 to just 12 or 13, according to Saunders.
“We’re trying to treat people right,” Saunders said. Laid-off employees were given severance pay. “It’s a tragedy that it happened. We feel like we let them down,” he added.
At the time of its auspicious opening in 2005, it was generally accepted as good news for the county when Timber Truss built and opened a $5.3 million manufacturing and sales facility near the Orange County Airport.
Timber Truss was expected to generate approximately $48,000 in real estate, and machinery and tools tax revenue. And ultimately, company officials projected the plant would employ up to 70 people. Back then, those job opportunities were especially good news for folks who had recently found themselves jobless after the General Shale shutdown.
Several years ago, as part of an ongoing campaign to attract industry—and jobs, to the area, county officials convinced the Timber Truss company to relocate in Orange, and sweetened the offer by pledging to provide water and sewer service. 
Orange County Director of Economic Development Julie Jordan said the county was appreciative of its partnership with Timber Truss, and regretted seeing the company experience difficulties. But Jordan was optimistic that Timber Truss would reopen its production facility, she said.
“We look forward to Timber Truss restoring full-scale operations,” she added.