lystn

Today we have Sean O’Brien from Pacific Coast Lumber. The business is located in San Luis Bispo, California right between LA and San Francisco on the Coast. The business has been around for almost 23 years but Sean bought it only 2 ½ years ago from Don Seawater. Dan owned a commercial lumber yard where he was selling commodity lumber until he realized it wasn't working for him anymore. He decided to generate a new industry of urban forested lumber. He had noticed that bio mass resources were being underutilized. They were left to decay or were used as firewood or wood chip which was a high waste of resources as far as Dan was concerned. He then bought a lumber mill and started retrieving the materials locally and developed the demand for it. When he was ready to retire, he approached Sean and his wife to buy off the business which they gladly did. Before buying the business, Sean had been a software engineer for 25 years with no milling background. His wife on the other hand was an auditor for about 23 years and didn’t have the passion for her work anymore. She therefore decided to follow her passion and started a company called The Place to Grow where she takes reclaimed doors, windows, wood and metal elements and creates outdoor lifestyle structures. Her shop was located opposite of Don Seawater’s business and that’s how he sold the business to the couple when he was ready to retire.