Graham Montgomery serves as vice president and director of preconstruction at Timberlab and is based out of the company’s East Coast mass timber office and fabrication facility in Greenville. A licensed structural engineer, Montgomery focuses on project‑driven, efficient design while advancing mass timber through ongoing research, testing and industry collaboration.
A South Carolina native, Montgomery began his career in consulting engineering at Britt Peters and Associates in Greenville. He is a two‑time Clemson University graduate, earning his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil engineering. His work integrates technical engineering expertise with construction and business insight, contributing to the continued growth and scalability of the mass timber market across the United States.
Montgomery and his wife, Anna, reside in Greenville with their five children.
Behind the brand with Timberlab
Q. Mass timber and glulam (glue laminated timber) have experienced tremendous growth as an industry in recent years. What has been driving that and do you see it continuing?
A. The differences in the qualities of mass timber versus the historic timber industry are why mass timber has been expanding. Its extra strength, clean look and faster construction speed compared to other building materials are game changers. A big part of what is driving growth is prefabrication from advancements in digital modeling, robotics and automated manufacturing, and mass timber components can be fabricated offsite with an extremely high level of precision. The invention of cross-laminated timber has made it possible to produce large-format timber panels from standard dimensional lumber, dramatically expanding what timber can do structurally. Really, timber has risen to a new level, creating opportunities to gain advantages across a host of building types.
When you look at the growth on a graph, it looks really impressive, but in some ways, it’s been more of a steady, intentional climb. That’s normal with any adoption of something new — it takes time for people to realize it, for the word to spread and for people to gain experience with it. Mass timber works in so many building applications and is not a niche market of the past, and I truly believe it is still in its infancy. There is an endless supply of projects waiting to be built with it.
Q. It seems much of the demand for mass timber products has come from commercial building projects. Are there opportunities on the residential side of the market and what might that look like?
A. Yes, we have built several residential projects from the Heartwood project in Seattle, Washington, which is the first Type IV-C mass timber building to adopt the new IBC building codes, to over 1 million square feet of living space in Charlotte, North Carolina, and to the tallest timber-hybrid tower in the world, Ascent in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Residential is a different market and really takes early involvement and experience from the mass timber partner to do well. In our experience, 12- to 18-stories works best for fully mass timber residential structures.
Q. Are there specific types of timber that are more suitable for mass timber applications? If so, does that create any constraints or opportunities for market growth?
A. There are three main timber species that make up most of today’s mass timber production. southern yellow pine, which is grown from East Texas through Virginia; Douglas fir, primarily from the Pacific Northwest and parts of Canada; and spruce, largely from Canada and Europe, with limited availability in the U.S. These species are used widely because they’re well-suited for mass timber applications. They’re commercially available at scale, sustainably abundant, and offer the strength and consistency needed for engineered-wood products. All three of these species are on display at full scale in our Greenville office and fabrication facility so that people can touch, see and understand the structural and aesthetic differences firsthand.
Q. How much of a role does aesthetics play in driving demand for mass timber products? Are tastes and preferences changing as more people see mass timber used in high-profile projects?
A. It plays a large role. Just look at the fact that almost every mass timber project is leaving most of the timber exposed. People inherently love being in timber buildings. It is hard to describe the feeling and experience. We say that you don’t understand it until you have walked through one. I always get the comment, “I don’t want my building to be like a log cabin,” and I haven’t yet seen a mass timber building that looks like one. That is partially why there is a new name for this type of construction. It is not old-school heavy timber; it is mass timber. Clean lines, precision cuts, engineered wood and larger spans make these spaces feel completely different.
While high-profile buildings and public projects have helped introduce mass timber to a broader audience, that’s not where the story ends. Mass timber is being used more frequently in everyday, highly functional buildings — maintenance facilities, libraries, museums, sports complexes, transit centers and many other structures. Even in those uses, the benefits still resonate: better working environments, sustainability, faster construction, promoting regional supply chains, local timber industries, and a level of pride and durability that people don’t often associate with those types of buildings.
Q. For people who may not be familiar with mass timber’s use as a building material, can you highlight a couple of notable projects and what aspects of those projects make them stand out?
A. There are so many great projects in the Southeast and beyond. One is Live Oak Bank’s fourth office building in Wilmington, North Carolina. To me, it’s similar to our first project on the West Coast for First Tech Federal Credit Union, right outside of Portland, Oregon. Both have similar stories of valuing their employee experiences and use mass timber to create a warm, inviting workplace designed to reinforce company culture, and retain and attract talent.
In Charlotte, (North Carolina), Space Craft has developed several hybrid mass timber apartment buildings. These are excellent examples of creating unique spaces that utilize the structure for aesthetics as well as efficiency, through thinner floor structures that allowed an extra level on these buildings.
The Andy Quattlebaum Outdoor Education Center in Clemson is an excellent example of a higher education use, reinforcing its connection to nature. The building provides lounging and event space, as well as its other uses as a teaching environment and a space to facilitate a connection to the outdoors, starting with the building itself!
Lastly, the T3 West Midtown office building in Atlanta, Georgia is a part of Hines’ nationwide T3 portfolio. Its success helped demonstrate that mass timber is a scalable, repeatable solution that works across different major U.S. cities.
