From Tree to House

What did it take to build this house?

For starters, an architect had to design it. It also required a lot of wood. Not all houses look this woody from the outside, but most are built with a wood frame.

Getting wood to build a house isn’t as simple as taking a trip to Home Depot and picking up some wood. Many skilled and knowledgeable people are involved in turning these:

into this:

First of all, we have to access the resource (wood). But we can’t do that without assessing the impact this will have on the forest. This is why we have foresters and forest technologists. These outdoors men and women combine nature walks with high tech computers and equipment to ensure a balance in our forest between human needs and the needs of a thriving ecosystem. In short, they make sure we never cut too much and always replace what we take.

Foresters and forest technologists are responsible for making plans that go up to 200 years in the future to ensure we are managing our forests sustainably.

Once the foresters have determined how much (and where) we can harvest, we need equipment operators to harvest the trees.

Harvested trees are then loaded onto log trucks and hauled to forestry mills by truck drivers.

Once at the mills, logs are processed into various forest products including lumber and oriented strand board (OSB).

This process requires a number of people, including:

Labourers to ensure production runs smoothly throughout the mill.

Skilled tradespeople, particularly millwrights, electricians, heavy duty mechanics, welders, and instrumentation technicians who keep the mill machinery in working order.

Power engineers to ensure maintenance and safe operation of power plants, boilers, engines, and other equipment.

Engineers who design machinery and efficient processes.

And that’s not all. There are many other people who work together to keep a mill running including supervisors, health and safety professionals, and accountants.

Finished building materials are then brought to the building site…

…where even more labourers, engineers, and tradespeople come together to build the house.

A whole lot of skilled people are required to locate the wood, turn it into lumber and or engineered products, and build a structurally sound final product. If you want to learn more about the variety of jobs that go into making forest products, have a look at our 42 Career Profiles. You can also apply for jobs on our Job Postings page.