Our Story
Two construction workers. A used pickup truck. And the stubborn belief that good wood shouldn't end up in a landfill. That conviction built a company.
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How It Started
In the summer of 2010, Marcus Rivera and James Callahan were working a demolition job on a row of abandoned textile mills in Kensington. The foreman told the crew to dump everything \u2014 brick, metal, wood, all of it \u2014 into the roll-off containers bound for the landfill. Marcus pulled a twelve-foot heart pine beam from the rubble, ran his hand along the tight grain, and said what both of them had been thinking for years: “This is better wood than anything at the lumber yard.”
That weekend they rented a storage unit, borrowed a circular saw, and started pulling usable lumber from every demo site that would let them. Within three months they had enough reclaimed stock to fill a two-car garage, and word had spread through the local contractor network: if you needed old-growth boards with character you couldn't buy new, you called Marcus and James.
Philadelphia Lumber Co. was never a business plan hatched in a co-working space. It grew out of the dirt, sweat, and splinters of two guys who simply couldn't stomach watching perfectly good material get buried. Fifteen years later, the splinters are the same. The scale is different.
Milestones
From a single truck to a two-location operation processing over a million board feet \u2014 here are the moments that defined our growth.
Founded in Kensington
Marcus Rivera and James Callahan, two construction workers tired of watching perfectly good lumber get tossed into dumpsters, pooled their savings, bought a used F-250, and started pulling boards from demolition sites across North Philadelphia. The operation ran out of a rented garage bay on Frankford Avenue.
First Warehouse
Demand outpaced the garage within two years. We signed a lease on a 6,000-square-foot warehouse on Townsend Road in Northeast Philadelphia — our current home base. For the first time, we could properly sort, stack, and inventory our growing stock of reclaimed heart pine, oak, and Douglas fir.
Custom Milling Added
We installed our first industrial planer and a horizontal resaw bandmill, allowing us to surface, dimension, and tongue-and-groove reclaimed boards in-house. Architects and contractors who previously had to send our rough stock to a third-party mill could now get finished product from a single source.
Expanded Delivery Fleet
A single pickup truck became a fleet of three: a flatbed, a 26-foot box truck, and a stake body. With reliable logistics, we expanded our delivery radius to the entire tri-state area — southeastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey, and northern Delaware.
Zero-Waste Certification
We achieved third-party zero-waste certification, diverting over 98% of all material from landfills. Sawdust goes to local farms for animal bedding and composting. Metal fasteners are separated and recycled. Off-cuts become kindling bundles sold to campgrounds or mulch for community gardens.
Green Consulting Arm Launched
Years of field experience taught us that most demolition contractors don’t know what’s salvageable. We launched a consulting division to advise builders, developers, and municipalities on deconstruction best practices, material reuse plans, and LEED credit strategies.
One Million Board Feet Processed
A milestone that felt surreal: we crossed one million cumulative board feet of reclaimed lumber processed since founding. That’s the equivalent of roughly 8,300 mature trees left standing and thousands of tons of CO₂ kept out of the atmosphere.
Second Location Opens
To serve growing demand from the western suburbs and Lancaster County’s thriving barn-conversion market, we opened a satellite yard and showroom in Chester County. The original Townsend Road warehouse remains our headquarters and primary processing center.
What We Stand On
Four values that aren't painted on a wall in our warehouse \u2014 they're embedded in every decision we make.
Sustainability
Every board we rescue is a tree that stays in the ground. Our zero-waste operation ensures that even the sawdust and metal extracted from reclaimed stock finds a productive second use. We don't offset our environmental impact \u2014 we prevent it at the source. That means prioritizing deconstruction over demolition, reuse over recycling, and long-lived products over disposable ones.
Community
We hire locally, source locally, and reinvest locally. Our crew comes from Kensington, Fishtown, Port Richmond, and neighborhoods across North Philly. We donate off-cuts and surplus stock to community woodworking programs, partner with vocational schools on apprenticeships, and sponsor habitat restoration projects along the Delaware River watershed.
Craftsmanship
Reclaimed lumber demands more skill than new stock. Every board must be inspected for hidden fasteners, checked for structural integrity, and carefully processed to preserve the patina and character that make it valuable. Our milling team has a combined 60+ years of woodworking experience. We take time to do the work right because a shortcut on a 150-year-old beam is a 150-year-old beam ruined.
Honesty
We grade our lumber conservatively and price it fairly. If a board has a structural deficiency, we tell you. If new lumber makes more sense for your application, we'll say so. Our reputation was built one honest transaction at a time, and we protect it fiercely. No greenwashing, no inflated species claims, no hidden fees. What you see on the quote is what you pay.
Rooted in Philadelphia
Philadelphia is one of the oldest industrial cities in America. The factories, warehouses, row homes, and churches built between the mid-1800s and mid-1900s were framed with some of the finest lumber this continent has ever produced: old-growth heart pine from the Carolinas, white oak from Appalachian hardwood forests, massive Douglas fir timbers shipped east by rail. That wood is still sound, still beautiful, and still structurally superior to nearly anything milled today.
But Philadelphia is also a city of reinvention. Neighborhoods like Kensington, Fishtown, and Brewerytown are experiencing rapid redevelopment. When older structures come down, the default is demolition: a wrecking ball, a dumpster, and a landfill. We exist to change that equation. By partnering with developers and contractors early in the process, we can deconstruct rather than demolish \u2014 extracting reusable lumber before the rest of the structure is cleared.
The result is a closed loop that benefits everyone. The developer gets a cleaner site and potential tax incentives for material diversion. The lumber gets a second life in a new home, restaurant, or office. The neighborhood retains a material connection to its industrial past. And the landfill loses another truckload of waste it didn't need.
We think of ourselves as part of Philadelphia's long tradition of making things \u2014 and making them well. Every beam we process in our Townsend Road warehouse carries a piece of this city's built history forward into its built future. That responsibility isn't lost on us.
Work With Us
Whether you need reclaimed lumber for a renovation, want to sell salvaged wood from a demo site, or are exploring green building strategies, we'd like to hear from you. Every project starts with a conversation.
Meet the Team
Philadelphia Lumber Co. is powered by a crew of dedicated professionals who bring decades of combined experience in woodworking, construction, logistics, and environmental stewardship.
Marcus Rivera
Co-Founder & Operations Director
Marcus grew up in Kensington watching factories come down and good wood go to waste. After 12 years in commercial construction, he co-founded Philadelphia Lumber Co. in 2010. He oversees day-to-day yard operations, salvage crew scheduling, and vendor relationships. His ability to identify species on sight and estimate board footage by eye is legendary among the crew.
James Callahan
Co-Founder & Sales Director
James handles all customer-facing operations: quoting, order management, delivery coordination, and consulting. A former framing carpenter with 15 years of field experience, he speaks the language of contractors, architects, and homeowners alike. James built the company's consulting division from scratch and personally oversees every LEED documentation package.
Elena Vasquez
Head of Milling & Processing
Elena joined in 2014 when the company installed its first planer. She now manages all milling operations, from equipment maintenance and blade selection to quality control and custom profile development. With 20 years of industrial woodworking experience, she is the reason our tolerances rival new-lumber mills.
Derek Thompson
Lead Grader & Inventory Manager
Derek can identify over 30 domestic wood species by sight, weight, and smell. He grades every board that enters our inventory using our NHLA-adapted system and maintains the digital inventory database that tracks species, dimensions, grade, moisture content, and yard location for every piece of stock we carry.
Carlos Mendez
Salvage Crew Supervisor
Carlos leads our field deconstruction crews on barn teardowns, factory salvages, and residential recoveries across the tri-state area. OSHA-30 certified and trained in hazardous material identification, he ensures every salvage site runs safely and maximizes material recovery. He has personally supervised the deconstruction of over 200 structures.
Amy Chen
Sustainability & Consulting Coordinator
Amy coordinates our green building consulting engagements and manages sustainability reporting. She holds a degree in Environmental Science from Temple University and is a LEED Green Associate. Amy has contributed to documentation on over 40 LEED-certified projects and developed our annual environmental impact reporting methodology.
Community Involvement
Philadelphia Lumber Co. was born in a neighborhood, and we have never forgotten it. Our commitment to Kensington, Fishtown, and the broader North Philadelphia community is not a corporate social responsibility initiative bolted onto a business plan. It is embedded in who we are, where we come from, and how we operate every day.
We donate surplus lumber and off-cuts to community woodworking programs in Kensington and Port Richmond, where residents learn basic carpentry, furniture-making, and home repair skills. These programs serve primarily low-income adults and at-risk youth, providing both practical skills and a sense of accomplishment that comes from building something with your own hands.
Through our partnership with the Philadelphia Vocational Training Alliance, we host two apprentices per year from local trade schools. These apprentices rotate through every department — salvage, milling, grading, delivery — over a six-month program, gaining hands-on experience in a working lumber operation. Several of our current full-time employees started as apprentices.
We are active participants in the Delaware River watershed restoration effort, contributing both funding and volunteer labor to riparian buffer planting projects along the river and its tributaries. Our zero-waste operations ensure that we add nothing harmful to the watershed — no chemical runoff, no sawdust in storm drains, no contaminated waste streams.
Each year, we supply reclaimed lumber at cost to Habitat for Humanity Philadelphia for use in affordable housing construction. We have contributed over 15,000 board feet of material to Habitat builds since 2016, enough to frame and finish interior details in more than a dozen homes for families who need them.
Awards & Certifications
Recognition from industry organizations and environmental bodies that validates our commitment to quality, sustainability, and community impact.
Zero-Waste Certification
2018 — PresentThird-party audited certification confirming that over 98% of all material entering our facility is diverted from landfills through reuse, recycling, composting, or biomass energy recovery. Re-certified annually by an independent environmental auditor.
FSC Chain of Custody
2019 — PresentForest Stewardship Council chain-of-custody certification for our new lumber product line, ensuring full traceability from sustainably managed forests to our customers. Certificate number available upon request for LEED and other green building documentation.
Philadelphia Green Business Leader
2021Awarded by the Philadelphia Sustainability Office in recognition of our environmental practices, local hiring commitment, and community education programs. One of only 12 businesses recognized that year across all industries in the city.
USGBC Industry Member
2020 — PresentActive membership in the U.S. Green Building Council, keeping us current with evolving LEED standards and connecting us to a network of architects, developers, and sustainability professionals across the Mid-Atlantic region.
Pennsylvania Environmental Excellence Award
2023State-level recognition from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for outstanding performance in waste reduction, resource conservation, and pollution prevention within the construction materials industry.
Better Business Bureau A+ Rating
2017 — PresentMaintained an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau for over eight consecutive years, reflecting our commitment to transparent pricing, honest grading, responsive customer service, and fair dispute resolution.
Our Vision for 2025 – 2030
We are proud of what we have built over the past fifteen years, but we see the next five as the most consequential in our company's history. The demand for sustainable building materials is accelerating — driven by municipal green building codes, corporate ESG mandates, rising landfill costs, and a generational shift toward environmental consciousness among homeowners and developers alike.
Our strategic plan for 2025 through 2030 focuses on four priorities. First, we intend to double our processing capacity by expanding our Townsend Road facility and adding a second kiln, a wider planer, and a CNC router for architectural millwork. This expansion will allow us to serve larger commercial projects without sacrificing turnaround times for smaller customers.
Second, we are investing in a digital inventory platform that will allow customers to browse our current stock online — filtered by species, grade, dimensions, and availability — and request quotes or reserve material directly through our website. We believe the reclaimed lumber industry has been slow to adopt technology, and we intend to change that.
Third, we plan to deepen our regional salvage network by formalizing partnerships with demolition contractors, municipal building departments, and historic preservation organizations across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. A broader network means more consistent supply, greater species diversity, and better pricing for our customers.
Finally, we are committed to carbon-neutral operations by 2028. Our processing footprint is already minimal, but we plan to offset the remaining emissions from our vehicle fleet and facility energy use through a combination of electric vehicle adoption, solar panel installation at our yard, and verified carbon offset purchases from regional reforestation projects.