The first rendition of the iconic Master’s golf tournament, Babe Ruth’s 700th home run and the inception of the Bank of Canada – all of them hallmarks in the year that was 1934.
It also marks the founding of a cornerstone in Vancouver’s business community.
Since its inception in 1934, the British Columbia Door Company (B.C. Door) has thrived as a family-owned and operated business with four generations that have carried on the family's tradition of prime quality millwork.
Founded by Les Palmer and now co-run by brothers Jeff and Steve, B.C. Door is one of the largest solid-wood raised-panel door manufacturers in the province, specializing in meticulously crafted residential entry and interior doors.
“When we have clients say, ‘Wow, that's beautiful,’ that’s a great feeling,” Steve Palmer says. “It's always nice to hear that what we have done has surpassed their expectations and that they're thrilled by it.”
Working with contractors and homeowners, B.C. Door’s vast network of dealers – think Home Hardware or Windsor Plywood, for example – extends across B.C. and Alberta with an online inventory north of 700 doors, while the company's flagship location in South Vancouver has roughly 70 doors on display.
The doors themselves are built with any number of different wood types: Douglas Fir sourced from Vancouver Island; maple, red and white oak that comes from eastern Canada and the U.S.; or imported mahogany, among others.
“Hardwoods are really starting to grow in popularity while Douglas Fir is the mainstay of our business,” Palmer says. “White Oak, flat cut and rift cut are also on point and on trend right now.”
And while those trends are worth paying attention to, part of the B.C. Door success story is its adherence to timeless, age-old traditions: a commitment to quality and innovation, exacting standards, originality in design and exceptional value. In practical terms, that means mortise and tenon construction, solid lumber as opposed to veneers, tighter joints and high-quality lumber.
And getting your dream door entails a seamless ordering process that follows five steps. Clients first reach out to a B.C. Door dealer for a quote, followed by the spec process -- it’s here that styles, sizes, wood types and all other particulars are sorted with ease. Once the client accepts the quote, an invoice is prepared along with a deposit. Orders are usually completed with a three-to-four-week turnaround.
“With us, you're not paying all the shipping fees and the container costs and all that sort of stuff to get it here,” Palmer says.
A cursory look across the Metro Vancouver landscape illustrates the company’s breadth of clientele and expertise: from humble laneway-houses and traditional single-family-homes, all the way to prestigious West Vancouver waterfront residences, West Coast fishing Lodges and ski resorts at the peaks of Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Some doors have been installed further afield in countries as far away as Japan and New Zealand.
“Our big claim to fame is we still do things the traditional way,” Palmer says. “We've been here for 90 years and we know what we're doing,”
To learn more about the British Columbia Door Company, visit bcdoor.com
