Jason Evans, Rafter E Dirtwork and Land Clearing

0:00The Woodprenor podcast where sawmill owners and lumber entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Every week, real stories from the timber industry, whether you're starting small or running a big operation, subscribe for real stories and insights from the industry. Hey, real quick before we jump in. You know, the work coming out of these shops and mills is incredible and it deserves a lot more eyes on it. So we built acres of timber, website, search, social leads all in one place. You keep doing the work, we get it in front of more people. It's at acresoftimber.com. Now let's get into it. Hello and welcome back to a brand new episode of the Woodprenor podcast. I'm your host, Jennifer Alger. And today's episode is just a little bit different because today's guest is my brother, Jason Evans. And he is the owner of Raster E in Northeast Oklahoma. And so Jason and I

1:02grew up in a forestry family together. Chain saws, logging, sawmills, heavy equipment lumber, those have been a part of our lives as long as either of us can remember. And Jason has some pretty serious credentials behind what he's doing today out in Oklahoma as he's a California licensed timber operator. And as you know, California has some of the most stringent timber operation laws in the world. He's also the responsible managing officer for far west California contractors license for our earthwork, logging road and underground work. Even though he's in Oklahoma, he's still the RMO out here. So he was also a very big part of far west forest products history. And for many years, he worked in just about every part of the operation back with our firewood business, logging, burling, running the heavy equipment, running chain saws, salvage, working with customers. He was involved in some of the most memorable projects that we as far west

2:06have have put out there like saving the giant Sequoia redwoods that fell in the storm, these massive 16 foot diameter giants. He was on the TV show with the rest of the family, the redwood kings on animal planets TV show. And back in 2010, Jason helped me open our store in the Monterey Bay area. And nearly a decade later, he helped me open the urban wood store here in Oliver's where where I'm now. So he's had this really unusual experience seeing the industry from the woods all the way through. So Jason's path to Oklahoma, after he abandoned us, had some pretty, there were some pretty major changes in our family. In 2017, Jason lost his home to one of California's wildfires out here. Family in the house barely, barely got his family out. My brother or older brother Cody came, and I believe he was contracting with Cal Fire on the fires at the time, or he might have just been

3:09there. I don't know, but he helped save Jason's shop. They lost the house. They rebuilt later, but some big, big life changes. And in 2019, we actually lost Cody, our brother. But there's a piece of him that's in the story that's in Jason's business that we're going to be talking about today, because Raffer E was Cody's cattle brand. And when Jason started his business, he actually asked our sister-in-law, Tiammi, if he could use the Raffer E logo as, it's a symbol that's really special to our family. We all have the little Raffer E logo on the back of our vehicles like we're advertising for Jason's business or something, because Cody branded each of our hearts. And so a few years later, Jason moves to Oklahoma, and he took this lifetime of forestry experience with him. All the heavy equipment, the logging, the contracting, the construction. But what he couldn't take with him was that network of relationships that he was able to build up. And so decades that he

4:16had spent here in California building these relationships, our family generations here building these relationships. And he couldn't take any of that with him. So he had to literally start over there in Oklahoma. So today, Jason, welcome to the show. Today I wanted to talk about kind of how how you did that, how you left all of this out here in California, all the networks, the connections. And what some of those first things you did when you started Raffer E in Oklahoma, like what did that look like? Yeah, so honestly, that was the scariest part about moving. Everything else wasn't that difficult except for the networks of people that I knew in and around our industry that, you know, you could always ask questions to or bounce ideas off of or so that was definitely the hardest part. The scariest part, I guess, it was actually easier to start building a network out

5:23here than I thought it would be based upon, you know, my years of experience and what I know and and what I do. First couple of things we did was join the chamber and we joined a church and we just started meeting people and it wasn't long before work got out that I knew how to do things a lot of other people didn't so yeah it didn't take long to start building trust and building a network and of course it's nowhere near the size of the network I had out there but it's growing rapidly so yeah and I noticed that when I go out there to visit I've been out I know three or four times and every time I'm out there you're and I see the connections that you have with City Council and you know and just different people in in you know official positions and like well you're rebuilding I mean you know some of what you had out here out there like I know when we opened our store our grand opening you were a big part of helping that come together out here I mean you

6:26had a assemblyman here you had a City Council members county officials that airport manager was here so all of those connections those were all connections that you brought in and and because you you integrate so well into things and so you're saying chamber of commerce was one of the one of the first steps for for kind of recreating some of that out there yeah it really was it it opened up a lot of doors to meeting a lot of people and and eventually finding the church that we wanted to join through a friendship that we made at the chamber and then of course other groups networking groups and and different stuff we've we've got to meet a lot of the big players I guess you could say in in local government and and other business owners and and especially in a small community like we are here it's everybody knows everybody so it didn't take

7:27as long as I had expected it would yeah yeah so tell me about this so most people know about far West for products and although many things that we do what has a Raptor E taken on that came from that experience with far west it tell me let me rephrase that what does Raptor E do in Oklahoma what what would people come to you for so we do of course all types of dirt work land clearing site prep you know that's where the logging background comes in and then of course operating machinery and doing that type of stuff and then that led into of course buying a sawmill for personal use and to start milling for other people wouldn't and doing custom orders so yeah so so you're land clearing and I know that was one of the things that kind of was our claim to fame out here and it sounds sounds like you've been able to recreate that out there is when you when you go and do land clearing so many other contractors to sleeve the logs and they don't see the value in

8:31those what what are you seeing in those and how are you capitalizing on that making Raptor E just a little more profitable right yeah so it it I remember when when dad bought his first sawmill and just because we were in the firewood business and and wasting that beautiful lumber material and cutting it into firewood and that's what I see when you know people are clearing ground and and of course not all of it's usable but but so much of it just gets pushed into piles and burnt so if I can get paid to clear the ground and then redeem the usable millable timber off of it I basically getting that timber product for free well I guess it's not free I mean there is cost all but yeah but I'm making a profit while I'm clearing the ground and that I have an additional profit on the backside yes so it's like gravy it just allows the rest of it to be more profitable

9:33right yeah so so what we didn't have what I would call a traditional child what are what are some of the what are some of the things that from our childhood that that you think helped you frame what Raptor E is today and and gave you the skill set to do what you're doing which one right yeah yeah I mean that you you could I guess say it was very untraditional I mean it was like any rural family back in the 70s and 80s I mean the kids had to help you know I mean Cody and I were running saws before we were way before we were driving or well I guess that's not true well before you were made the way to do it but I mean you know and and by the time we were in high school we were keeping up with the men on the job and it just all of that background learning how to I would say the biggest thing is as dad inadvertently

10:37taught us that anything can be done I mean he built a bridge across the barrier that everybody said was impossible to get wood out because it was the only way to get wood out like it was a can't do attitude like you just this is what we got to do let's figure out how to do it yeah that that's something that's something I think that that defines our childhood more than anything else is the word can't was not in our vocabulary and whenever dad heard can't it's like he went yeah let's let's watch us yeah and so we got we got the residual benefits from that so there is no can't you know people are always saying well how do you do how do you what made you think you could do this that or the other well dad said that's another option yeah dad said we could because can't did not exist yeah that that bridge and I remember and I got to say I am crazy thankful that I had brothers uh two brothers because I never had to fall a tree so I did have to run the chainsaw but I think he

11:43knew and Jason's my younger brother for those of you listening Cody's older brother than me then Jason and then we have a younger sister Michelle and and and then I had a few cousins in there that that helped with with the chainsaw work as well so I barely had to do any chainsaw work think thankfully Jason was outfalling trees Cody was outfalling trees and before I got my driver's license all I had to do was run the chainsaw I had to you know buck the logs cut firewood I think I had to cut a quarter firewood before I could go get my permit when I was 15 and um but but I think I got the pass because you guys were doing it and Jason's like what four years younger than me and and so I'm 15 and he's already running a chainsaw and so it was just kind of a kind of a different world than than what kids grow up in today and yeah and thankfully there was no ocean but but I but it gave us life experiences and I never felt unsafe you know dad made sure

12:48we knew how to do things he knew that it was not gonna be safe for me to fall a tree and so wise wise Leo we were all speared from that but it's like I can't remember a time when you guys weren't operating the equipment or the chainsaws or any of that was there ever a time where you wanted to leave the wood industry and go no more I'm done oh yeah well what we're similar what we're some of your big life goals you know I from early age I always of course as a kid you always enjoy running the machine we're more than doing the manual labor but it you know it it was a lot of work and I mean I'm I'm thankful now but as a 13 14 15 year old kid it was definitely thought I had different different goals ahead of me than the at-bite here I am yeah but here you are

13:52we say same we we both we both wanted to leave and then came back so what was one of the most I had totally forgotten about the fridge building and that gosh you were I was young you were young yeah really young on that what what are some of the more memorable jobs or projects that that we worked on I shoot those so many it we've we've done everything from clearing large tracks to land like commercial logging projects to small residential projects to building golf courses to I mean oh yeah turkey creek preparing that and then the second version of turkey creek as well yeah and then trucky and big fird yeah oh and trucky yeah so yeah lots of different projects and then you were very you were very active in the and I think most of most of the listeners have seen on on far west facebook page and even on yours

14:56if if they're following you the giant Sequoias those windfalls still in a storm what what were some of the most challenging things about that or memorable that was that was a crazy project yeah I was actually in my not north Dakota doing storm cleanup when Cody got called me in said we we need help out here on these trees and yeah that was a that was quite the project I don't remember exactly how many months it took us to get those three big trees pulled up I mean because they were it was steep country and they were massive trees yeah yeah they and and we didn't have the right size equipment to get them out you couldn't rent anything at that point because so this to to back up and I forgot you were in you were out of state I knew you were somewhere but I couldn't remember where but the reason you were out of state is it was following it was following the great recession and we were putting in we we did the

16:02pre-development on a big big housing community big furt of states in in Lincoln that was backed by Lehman Brothers and we had a lot of subs on that we we'd done all the work and we didn't get paid so bankruptcy happened we didn't get paid and we owed a lot of people a lot of money and problem is is all those people that we owed money to we knew their kids we you know we we we went to church with them or or or we shopped with them we you know we saw their kids on the baseball like we couldn't not pay them and so we were like it was rough it was a bad everybody I'm sure has the same stories but it was bad it was rough and so you and Cody what dad and I stayed here and tried to you know and just kind of focused on the wood side and building that up and you and Cody went out doing you know storm cleanup yeah storm cleanup just just taking care of okay well there's

17:04income here and we had all the equipment from all the all the equipment credentials and know how and so you and Cody went off and did that then you came back in for that giant Sequoia project and then kind of things I think that was maybe 2010 and things kind of started to write themselves again after that but that was that was a rough period and that what what what did what did that teach you about what's possible and reinventing yourself did did that ability to pivot there help you decide to move halfway across the country and make it a little easier you know like oh I can do this I think maybe it did yeah it was I mean that was scary I'd never done anything out of Northern California before then and we just packed up with three little kids and left and that was definitely definitely taught us a lot yeah yeah definitely so so you moved out there right after you you have a woodmizer

18:10what what are what are some of the lumber projects or products that that you're supplying as with Raptor E. That's far I've done I've done a few projects for myself of course I don't know anybody that follows me on Facebook seeing that big pavilion that I built in our backyard for an outdoor kitchen and then I do I do a lot of custom milling for people they'll bring their logs in and I'll and I'll mill them to their dimensions and a lot of trailer decks and then a lot of custom mortars for walnut or cedar different stuff like that I don't remember what the total question was no just kind of what what how you're using your sawmill as part of your business because you're you're doing the very very similar to to how far west got it start so so you're you're salvaging wood that would have gone to waste and reinventing it into lumber and I know I follow you on on Instagram and and Facebook and I've been watching these amazing walnut logs that

19:18you got from a salvage project how are you inventorying those? Well selfish question yeah so we've been using the ancestry which is phenomenal it's great because when you're doing a lot of different stuff like I'll go and do like little storm jobs we'll get some storms come through in the in the spring and knock some trees down if if I'm not able to mark them I forget when when they blew over when I cut them when I brought them home and then also when I milled them so it's it just makes it nice to be able to track where where the material came from which for me personally isn't as important as how long it's been down and how long it's been mill those those are the the primary you know because as you know you you can't just throw a green lumber and a kiln which I don't I don't have a kiln yet but we we have some people around that I that I do yeah you've got some kilns pretty close to you which part of that networking and and connections yeah that you've built there so yeah that's

20:25that's huge and what's what's interesting about ancestry if everybody has a different reason for using it you know everybody wants to track different data and when something was cut the walnut we don't like to put into the into the kiln dripping wet grain some some people do but they've they've got different different different things that they're working towards we like to air dry just a little bit first so so once you get that dry or even if you don't end up drying it you just wanted to sell it to maybe somebody else who who was drying it do you plan to use the ancestry marketplace that's coming out so yeah we're really excited about that being able to because like I was saying we're we're in a real small community though we have some some large towns close to us you know Benton does an hour away 12s an hour and a half it's it makes it more difficult to move high-end materials but having a having a an app that we can upload our material on

21:26and and people wherever can see it and and be able to access that material that we would otherwise be trying to sell locally or or finding a way to market in those larger areas it it's definitely we're we're very excited about being able to to use that yeah and we definitely thank you for helping beta test that and get that get that going so that'll that'll be coming in the in the fall you know a place to be able to list your products that are urban salvaged reclaimed or local on one wood site very similar to Amazon so very excited about that little plug for ancestry but it's gonna make it really nice too I know you've got to schedule your on but be able to like and I know because you know helping far west out there there's a lot of times that one or two small producers like me couldn't fill a large order whereas to be able to aggregate all

22:26that into one spot so eight or ten producers have the same wallet that I have and some architect needs you know ten thousand board feet well now they can get it from one spot right right that's going to be a huge game changer yeah especially especially as you know and and vetting each of the suppliers to to I mean the architect can do that or one of the one of the benefits of ancestry is ancestry will be able to do that and verify if this this has been countered yes they have a kiln that reaches the a certain temperature and and just following a certain set of standards and and it's it's just invaluable so we're very very excited about about that what what what what are some of the contracting jobs I know you guys have like crazy tornadoes and storms and different things like that what what are some of the places that you're getting that you're getting your logs now a lot of that like it like I say every spring we either have some isolated small tornadoes

23:29and and usually I mean they're not all like job when I mean there's some small ones that come through and just take out some trees here or there plus I do a lot of site development so any of that type of stuff like if you're building a new house of course you can't build it on top of a tree unless you're George of the jungle but it you know I mean so you got to go any clear that out clearing for roadways right away is different stuff like that so yeah we we get them from all different types of jobs okay okay and what how do you how do you market after eight so you went out there I know you've joined the chamber you're building your network what are some other things that you do to market I we lean really heavily on of course Facebook coming for business it's been it's been a huge asset for our business our website and then like you were saying of course chamber of commerce were involved with some networking organizations and a lot of word of mouth and

24:34then I've I've got to meet a lot of the larger contractors and if you've been subbed for a lot of them around the areas so we do a lot of their site prep and land clearing that they you're not set up or qualified to do we get to come in and and do that for them as well so it's I can't pinpoint any one thing that I would say has been our biggest asset as far as marketing who we are is it's everything just kind of all works together and integrate so so what is your somebody wants to connect with you what's your website what's your Instagram and your in your Facebook so we are a raft raft re LLC on Facebook and Instagram and then our website is wrapped re LLC dot com rafter e LLC dot com and then a raft re on Facebook and Instagram very rafter I'll see on on both of those LLC got it got it okay yeah easy on all platforms to be able to find us yeah so so

25:34rafter e if you are not already following go follow I know we had gosh was it last year a year before we had we were making we we had sold a bunch of cookies to some museums and different things overseas and and big sports owners on those massive giants to koi a cookies actually this one was an as it was maybe 10 foot diameter and we needed to cut a lot of them and and so we flew Jason in because I didn't want dad like we needed to cut them we need we had a very tight schedule and I'm like well if dad gets several done and and can't finish the rest of them plus it's kind of a two person three person job to get all that together I didn't want someone who didn't understand what dad's next moves were going to be and so it's Lou Jason in to help with that and I know you've been you've been able to share a lot of those videos from that on your social media so so a lot of times you'll see some stuff and you're like wait is that far wildest is that well that's because

26:38even though you're out there in Oklahoma sometimes we still need some help and and bring you back in and and so thank thank you for doing that and it's it's amazing how when you work with somebody for so long you just learn like you don't have to say oh do this like you just you anticipate the next move you're there you do it how how have have you had any situations out there in Oklahoma where you're just like where's where's where's my people that just do the next thing oh yeah it takes a long time working with somebody to understand how they're doing it and how to be helpful in that without being in the way yeah yeah exactly and and like with with with the saws and handing the next saw or hearing it you know when when dad was cutting those and he ended up I think probably cutting all of the cookies himself but but you were there and and anticipating the next move and making sure the saws were ready and that you know that everything was together and and that's just

27:40not something you can train overnight so you know it's it's something that a lifetime of skill builds up and what what what else in your background do you feel like as as just really helped you out out there with Rector E and and starting the the business out there once again I'd have to go back to just how we were raised like yeah just take take the bull by the horns and and run with what life gives you because when I started Raptoree I didn't exactly know the direction that I wanted to go out here I mean it it's kind of God has kind of led us the way that we we had a plan but it's it's kind of drifted and morphed into where we are now and yeah I know complaints it you know I mean just because you want something really bad or you want something to look a certain way really bad doesn't mean that's the way it's gonna turn out and yeah definitely so so what did you learn it

28:45far west store what benefits at far west did you have what when when you were out here that you didn't fully appreciate and tell you were kind of on your own out there even though we'd been in the logging and in that business you know from the time of very young age that being around the mills and learning because it's different than just the logging side of it and that stuff learning how to cut how to find the best get the best lumber out of a log and then I help with woodmizer tech support for quite or not tech support servicing for quite a while so I learned you know how to maintain the mill how to line the mill all the things that have been hugely beneficial having my own mill out here you know not having to call somebody for every little thing and be able to line it and and do the little things that that maybe

29:47somebody knew wouldn't wouldn't have that ability to do yeah but you don't have a fully stocked shop full of parts that you can just invoice yourself quickly yeah that is definitely a downside yeah yeah so what what are some tips and tricks that you might be able to give other people who are starting a brand new lumber saw milling business that others could steal from what raftery has done because yeah you had the you had a lifetime of experience but the business itself that's that's fairly you know in that location that's that's fairly new what what are some tips and tricks that somebody knew coming to the table might be able to steal from yeah I mean like like I said that the benefit of me have a my own machinery and doing the lengthering is is huge if you're already doing that anyway you have a tree service lengthering company something like that why not have a mill to be able to produce something that your competitors can't be able to

30:51have that little bit of winter gravy that they may not have and then you know as far as as far as the the the marketing of the material stuff I mean I'm still learning a lot of that stuff out here ancestry is going to be a game changer for me to be able to market my material in a lot of ways that I couldn't before so that would that would be a huge game changer and then yeah I would say you know especially if if you're already if you're already taking material with their trees out in some way a mill is is the next option I mean it it will change your business yeah yeah definitely definitely anything else you want to share with the listeners about Router E some types of projects that you really enjoy working on anything like that I mean I I love running the mill I love seeing opening stuff up I also love I've done a few like

31:55mountain bike hiking trails those are a blast because you get to run down real steep country with the machine rain and there's not as much wood come off of those but they're really fun to do and then of course land clearing you know taking my experience and being able to go in and and pick out the trees that should come out and the ones that should stay because a lot of times homeowners are like I just want all these gods you really don't like when you when you get done when you get your house done you're gonna want those couple of trees because they're beautiful and they're healthy and but so having that you feel like home right yeah right so yeah a property without trees just doesn't feel very homie to me and I know our property or parents property when we moved out there there were no trees and now it's covered in trees yeah no trees no house and and yeah now now it's got all that so so well thank you so much for being on today sharing your

32:58story and and and some of our our background is still mad because you left us but you know whatever if you are not already following Jason and Rafter E go to his Instagram page go to his Facebook page Rafter E LLC or go to his website if you're there in northeast Oklahoma or surrounding areas and want to have some earthwork groundwork pre-development done and really want to save those trees and turn those back into something else for your property maybe some benches table something like that that's something that Jason can help you out with so thanks again for listening to another episode of the WoodPrenure Podcast and remember a new episode drops every Thursday morning so make sure you like share and subscribe we'll see you next week thanks