We got our start as a framer’s yard.

Founder Steve Finden first started DCL after working ten years in the industry on both the framing and the supply sides of the industry. He knew that if he could build loads and deliver materials with the needs of the builders in mind, business would thrive.

We’ve stuck to that principle ever since: getting our customers what they needed, when they needed it, and delivering to maximize efficiency on the jobsite became the core of what doing good business was all about.

It’s 1984…

Steve started the business in 1984 with a single truck, a $7500 loan from his father in law, and an idea of how he could do business differently.

He worked as a framer and then in sales and management at a lumberyard in Northern Minnesota. When it was time to start a family, Steve moved back to his hometown and set up shop—on the very same street as his boyhood home even—with the goal of improving on what he had seen in the market and building something that would sustain his family and add value to his hometown of Farmington, Minnesota.

Hardships & Triumphs

Exponential growth with little access to capital was one thing Steve had to overcome. He tells stories of writing letters and pitching to nearly every banker in the metro area before finding someone that would take a chance on a high school-educated carpenter from a small town.

The Great Recession 2007–2009 was a considerable challenge for us, as well as everyone. It cut our revenues in half and set us in a major hole we had to dig out of. While other companies laid off employees or closed their doors, Steve and his wife poured their own retirement savings back into the business in order to retain every single employee.

That level of compassion is our gold standard for ownership and care for our employees to this day.

Awards & Accolades