Jason Spigner, 40, owner of Spigner Inc., sounds glad to see 2009 in the rear view mirror. He says it was the worst year he has seen in his 10 years in the business, primarily due to the weather. Rain days combined with weak demand delivered a one-two punch, but Spigner is still on his feet and looking forward to better days to come in what he thinks will be a gradual recovery in 2010.
“It seems like about Thanksgiving of 2008, the brakes got put on everything,” he says. “You started seeing paper mills slow production down, idle machines for periods of time. Up until then, the pulp and paper folks were running pretty strong and sort of keeping the whole industry propped up because solid wood has been off for three or four years now with the housing market.”