“Story in Every Board.” — Urban Reclaim
I’m Leo, co‑owner at Urban Reclaim. We turn salvaged beams and barn boards into
modern tables and casework. Every piece carries a past life—nails, checks, carpenter’s
pencil marks from 1956. Our challenge was predictability: yield swings wrecked our
margins, and the story we loved to tell wasn’t finding its way onto quotes where it could
justify price.
The old way
We’d buy a gorgeous stack of joists and guess yield. Metal‑detect notes, moisture readings,
and defects lived on scrap paper. By the time we hit the jointer, our cut plan was a wish and
our price was a hope.
The Woodshop Master way
Provenance & prep logs. Each board gets a card with source, metal‑detect results, moisture, and photos. The notes follow the parts, so defects aren’t surprises.
Rough‑mill yield calculator. We model final parts before a single pass. The system tells us the price floor and which boards to save for rails vs. tops.
Material substitutions. If a board blows out, suggested alternates update the BOM and price—no silent margin loss.
Narrative tags on quotes. Clients see the beam’s origin and photos on the estimate. The story isn’t just in our showroom; it’s in the proposal.
Outcomes we can bank on
Yield up 11% across dining tables.
Quote‑to‑close up 14%—the narrative sells as much as the dimensions.
Overbuying down 20%; cash isn’t trapped in “maybe usable” stock.
Remake rate down 27% because defects are documented before glue‑up.
The why beyond numbers
We didn’t start Urban Reclaim to make perfect lumber; we started it to honor imperfect lumber.
Woodshop Master didn’t sanitize our material—it protected our margins so we can keep telling better stories with it.