A recipe for success

Bliemeisters’ Wood Works has been a fixture in Sequim, Wash., since 1979 and the reason is simple, according to Jason Doig, the company’s president and CEO.

The shop specializes in commercial and residential custom cabinets and countertops.

Sequim (pronounced Squim), west of Seattle, gets very little rain and an abundance of clear, sunny days. It’s described as one of the state’s best kept secrets and Bliemeisters is growing right along with it.

“I’d say about 80 percent of our work is residential. The other 20 percent is commercial and some of those are really big jobs. We do a lot of work for healthcare facilities in the area. We'rereally the only acrylic, solid surface fabrication shop, so that gets us into dental offices and hospitals. We get a ton of work from them.

“We regularly work with about eight to ten general contractors, high-end home builders. That’sour bread and butter here. We’re in a finite geographic area. It’s very affluent. There’s lots of money here.”

Born and raised in Sequim, Doig, 52, is a experienced woodworker and carpenter. Working as a general contractor who frequently had Bliemeister cabinetry installed on jobs that he ran, Doig relished the opportunity to buy the business from his friend and colleague Darrell Joslin in 2017.

“Darrell and I were very good friends and both competitive golfers. I was a general contractor and dealt with him on many projects over the years. Back in the day, you put Bliemeister cabinets in your advertising, you put Bliemeister cabinets in your house. Those were the two key words people looked for.

“I was just enamored with what came out of this place. Then I built my own house, prior to owning the shop, and went to Darrell for the cabinetry. Just to see with my own eyes what came out of this place over the years was just amazing. So, when the opportunity came when Darrellwanted to retire, he came to me. Part of his vision was to sell to someone not out of the area. He wanted a local guy. He cared so much about everyone that worked here and wanted to retain all the employees. We kept every single one.”

Long-standing employees include lead designer Dave Horvath, production supervisor Adam Caudill, production manager Todd Manchester, estimator Rick Knodel, finishers Bob Spence and Greg Decker, cabinetmakers Dave Winans and Micah Needham, installers Carl Ludwig and Trey Mannor, and office manager Heidi Handshumaker.

The business operates out of three buildings, including the main production area, offices and showroom in the center of town, a three-bay finishing facility nearby, and countertop fabricationa few miles away.

Doig retooled the shop with automated equipment to expand the client base and accommodate a higher volume of work.

The service area includes the Olympic Peninsula and beyond. “We go all the way from Forks to Bainbridge Island, which is a huge area,” Doig explains. “We do some commercial projects in Seattle. We have gone all the way to eastern Washington and worked on the border patrol office in Bellingham.

One of the shop’s hot spots is Bell Hill, an affluent community that’s constantly under development.

“We’ve done lots of the cabinetry in the homes there. It has the most incredible views. You can see all the way to Victoria. We deal with 3,000 to 5,000 square foot homes there with cabinets in every room.”

The shop also offers general contracting services for remodeling jobs. “About 15 to 20 percent of our volume is more than just cabinetry,” says Doig. "That’s all-inclusive for us. We step into the interior and exterior, all the flooring, siding, windows, take it all the way. Darrell did a lot of remodels and they’ve been a good part of this business for a long time.”

The shop has an average of 30 to 35 jobs in the pipeline at any given time. "Those are current active jobs with people who’ve given deposits and are waiting patiently for their cabinets,” Doig.

He sees an influx of more work in the foreseeable future as the area continues to expand.

“This area, when I grew up here as a kid, was almost strictly retirees, which it still has a lot of.Now we’re more of a hub. We’ve got big box stores and all that here in Sequim which draws more people in. All the people to the west of us have to drive here to the grocery shop, pick up lumber, visit medical facilities. Sequim has retained a small-town feel, but it’s growing, which is great.”

Doig says he wants to take on more volume but isn’t necessarily interested in adding more employees.

“This is kind of a sweet spot for us. I’ve had up to 18, been down to 11, and somewhere in there is the magic number. It gets stuff out the door.

“We don’t have a lot of ‘rover-type’ employees. Everybody has their own designated thing. Occasionally we do get some overtime people to do the rover thing if we need to. We’re also very set in our ways here about the right way to build cabinetry.

"We work four 10-hour days, and the rest of the time is ours to enjoy with our loved ones and family in this beautiful area we call home,” says Doig.

If he were to change anything, it would be consolidating the three buildings into one if the space becomes available. Doig says one building with 20,000 to 25,000 sq. ft. would be ideal.

"The only challenge would be our footprint. We’re honestly looking for a different location if it arises. I was really close to getting us into an old Sears building, but it didn’t have a sprinkler system.

"Space is a premium for us here. We could always use a bigger shop.”

Learn more at bliemeisters.com.

Festool KS 120 EB chop saw • SawStop 10” cabinet saw • Bleeker Bros. spray booth • Ritter & Rockwell shapers • Ironwood P-600 helical planer • Belfab & Dustkop dust collectors • HomagCenateq N-300 5x12 CNC • SCM Olimpic K560 edge bander • Altendorf F-45 slider • Kreg face-framing table • Laguna & Delta band saws • OMAL hinge borer • Castle TSM 21 pocket screw machine • Denray downdraft sanding tables • Thermoforming solid surface oven • Timesavers Series 100 wide belt sander • Ritter edge sander

Originally published in the September 2024 issue of Woodshop News.