Staff members at Pacific American Lumber are proud of their knowledge and experience in the flooring industry. Shown here: DJ Alfapada.

When Pacific American Lumber opened its doors in 1992, its mission included the following goals: “We wanted to be recognized as a leader in the industry for supplying quality interior finish products, and we wanted to always be able to enjoy what we were doing,” says company co-owner Chris Nied.

The staff continues to meet—and exceed—this goal today, thanks to their experience (most have been at work in the industry for 20 years or more) and their ability to lead the industry with innovation and creative thinking.

That thinking includes a newly revamped showroom where homeowners and industry professionals alike can browse through a variety of tried-and-true—and brand-new—products.
“We’re a leading distributor of interior finish products in the state of Hawaii. And we specialize in hardwood products,” says Nied. “Any kind of lumber, hardwood plywood, hardwood flooring—any type of architectural millwork packages.”

The company has been thinking ahead since the beginning, offering engineered flooring (plywood with a solid wood veneer) ahead of its time. “When we opened up in 1992, there was hardly anyone in this state who knew what engineered hardwood flooring was,” says Nied, “so we had to tell the story about why it was a better product, environmentally. You can get the same appearance as a hardwood floor using an eighth of the material.”
The exploration continues. Just last year, the company added the Parasti architectural molding line to its collection, giving consumers a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly wood-product option.

“It’s veneer-wrapped architectural molding,” says Nied. “It’s vacuum-pressed over a pine substrate, so what you get is a room that looks like 100 percent koa, but it’s really 99 percent pine with a 1 percent koa veneer on it,” he says. “People are getting koa crown molding, a koa baseboard, koa casing—whatever they want to do—for about 50 percent of what it would cost to do it with solid wood.”  

Alfapada and the rest of the Pacific American Lumber staff are committed to excellent customer service.

Nied also points out that the company uses one-tenth of the koa wood it would normally use to manufacture a solid product, thereby saving on resources, too.

In addition to the Parasti line, Pacific American Lumber continues to expand its representation of Bretts flooring, a company that features mostly Australian woods. Bretts also manufactures Pacific American Lumber’s Hawaiian Exotics engineered flooring line, which features koa, ohia and mango options, to name a few.

In possibly the company’s biggest endeavor yet, Pacific American Lumber has become FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. This means that, from the forest to the floor, Pacific American Lumber has the ability to supply sustainably harvested wood—and it can track and prove it. “We are committed to this program,” says Nied. To date, Pacific American Lumber remains the only FSC-certified wood flooring company in the state of Hawaii.

Certification, innovation, knowledge—they’re all part of Pacific American Lumber’s plan to keep the business thriving. “Ninety percent of our salespeople’s job is to educate the consumer on the right product,” says Nied. “We’re progressive. And we’re committed.”