The history of Mathews Timber (MT) is embedded in a family history. Our business was founded in 1959 by Clem Mathews, and is managed today by his sons Greg and Tony Mathews.
We’ve always stocked specialty timbers from all over the world and today we carry stock from more than 50 species of timber. The business was established in Melbourne, Victoria, and today has an additional branch in New South Wales. The majority of employees have been with the company for 15 to 30 years, and some even longer!
After 50 years at Rooks Road in Vermont, Victoria, we had enormous yard areas, which was valuable land, but we were not using it efficiently. But now, at our new site in Knoxfield, we have side-loading forklifts, meaning we have been able to make our business more compact, and able to fit onto a smaller site without any impact on ordering time. In short, we have dramatically modernised our operation.
The biggest obstacle in recent times is that today, timber is not used as much it was previously in the furniture, shop fittings, and cabinet industries. We have found that goods imported from Asia and Europe have impacted upon local manufacturers, but at MT, we have a niche area that we can service.
We also have a solid reputation, built over 57 years in operation, and good old fashioned service offering that looks after the customer before and after their purchase.
If our customers have problems at any point, we pride ourselves on being able to fix them.
Today we supply shop fitters, furniture makers, antique restorers, builders, cabinet makers, stair builders, designers and architects, and even other timber merchants!
We say to timber yards, “When a good builder wants a specialty timber, contact us, and we’ll guarantee a margin for you, your builder, and your customer.” We have honest business ethics, and we make sure we stick to them.
Our new location has extensive racks, as we had at our old site, but the big plus now is that we can offer the customer a browsing location that is completely undercover. We feel confident that, moving forward, we will be able to offer better service to our customers at our new premises.
