One of the United States’ top contractors is insulating itself from Trump’s tariffs by establishing a domestic lumber supply chain by busily acquiring and developing manufacturing facilities on both coasts. That is according to a spokesperson from Swinerton Inc., a California-based general contractor who, through the specialised mass timber brand Timberlab, fabricated the Portland International Airport’s nine-acre mass timber roof.
Timberlab, which earlier this year announced plans to construct a new 190,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, is growing its footprint in all key markets, including the South and Northeast, where it is also building facilities in Greenville, South Carolina.
“Timberlab’s objective is to remove the pinch points in the mass timber industry,” Chris Evans, Timberlab’s president, said last year (concerning the Greenville, South Carolina facility), with the acquisitions “focused on expanding the supply chains for mass timber.”
Tariffs could add millions to the cost of timber skyscrapers…
The pivot to shore up domestic supplies comes after Wood Central reported that tariffs on timber and other at-risk materials could see the cost of the Edison, a 31-storey timber skyscraper in Milwaukee, rise by more than $4 million.
That is according to Nate Helbach, founder and CEO of Neutral—the developer of The Edison and a 50-story timber skyscraper on an adjoining site—who said that under a worst-case scenario, tariffs could lead to a $4m increase in costs (or 2.4% across affected trades).
According to Mr Helbach, Neutral – which has three projects – in Milwaukee, Maidson and San Fransico under construction – has an active watch on mechanical systems, appliances, facade assemblies, mass timber and special interior finishes, which are all at greatest risk to tariffs: “For (these) projects still in planning or entering construction, we’re actively exploring domestic alternatives and continuing risk assessments for any imported components,” he said.
And when it comes to The Edison – which will use 100,000 cubic feet of lumber in 23-storys of mass timber over an 8-story concrete base – materials are not expected to arrive at ports until the Spring of 2026.
“With 13 months between now and the expected delivery window, there is still significant uncertainty regarding how trade negotiations will evolve,” Helbach said. “For example, during our recent webinar, Forest Economic Advisors suggested that mass timber may be exempt from new tariffs under the Trump administration’s executive order on reciprocal tariffs. That’s because policy continues to shift daily, and it remains challenging to accurately predict where things will stand a year from now.”
Last month, Wood Central reported that the United States’ mass timber industry was operating at 39% capacity (down from 47% last year), with significant capacity to ramp up production in the coming years. New pieces of legislation like the Mass Timber Federal Buildings 2025 Act help to remove several barriers to market adoption.
