Voorhees family members believe a love of lumber runs in their genes.
It was passed down to Ed Voorhees from his father, who was an architect and professor at the University of Virginia. Voorhees’ passion for woodworking and architecture led him to study at the National Hardwood Lumber Association School in Tennessee after serving in the Air Force in the early 1960s.
In 1981, Voorhees established his own lumber company on a 9-acre property in Greer. The company, previously named Ed Voorhees S4S, originally focused on crafting boat parts but transitioned into selling customized interior trim and other wood products.
The company was renamed Tidewater Lumber and Moulding Inc. in 1996 and now sells more than 30 species of lumber along with high-quality, specialized wood products for residential and commercial projects.
“It was all built on the love of wood and the feeling we got from wooden buildings and architecture — that’s always been the backbone of the company,” Voorhees said.
Generational growth
Louis Voorhees inherited his father’s passion and began working for the company in 1994. Thirty years later, he now oversees Tidewater’s operations and a 24-person team as the general manager.
Other family members and close friends have worked for Tidewater, including Ed Voorhees’s wife and daughter, who both worked as company bookkeepers. Tidewater Lumber and Moulding also became a third-generation family business after Louis Voorhees’ son, Luke, joined the company in May.
“My dad had a great platform,” Louis Voorhees said. “I got lucky to come in and work for him when he already had a great foundation. Hopefully, I took it to the next level and then I hope my son will take it to the next level.”
Over the years, the Tidewater Lumber and Moulding product line has evolved and expanded. The company continues to manufacture interior trim along with hardwood flooring, doors, countertops, shutters, paneling, cabinetry and more.
Louis Voorhees explained that Tidewater’s extensive and high-end wood-product line helps the business stand out from other lumber companies. The team at Tidewater works with architects and interior designers to customize wood products for their projects, even making specialized carving knives in house.
“It keeps it interesting and makes us more versatile and hopefully more appealing to the builder because, you know, they can get more than one item from us,” Louis Voorhees said.
A majority of the company’s lumber comes from within 150 miles of Greenville. Louis Voorhees said it takes approximately four months to prepare the lumber, which includes air drying and kiln drying the wood before it goes through processing.
The lumber selection includes red cedar, maple, cherry, hemlock, red oak, poplar, white oak, alder, walnut, hickory and more. Louis Voorhees said Tidewater is also known for being one of the largest distributors of cypress in the country.
Tidewater customized creations
Tidewater Lumber and Moulding completes around 250 projects a year. Louis Voorhees said Tidewater’s networking efforts and 45-year reputation in the lumber industry allowed the company to complete projects in 24 states last year.
Approximately 70% of the projects to which Tidewater supplies products are high-end, custom homes. These residential projects span across South Carolina, and into North Carolina and Georgia.
“We’ve always enjoyed helping people and loved to make something they could enjoy the rest of their lives, seeing it in their home,” Ed Voorhees said. “That gives us a lot of pride knowing that we’ve done things that people enjoy.”
The lumber company also creates products for commercial and educational institutions including Clemson University. For example, the company made custom wood tabletops, flooring, trim and feature wall paneling for Clemson’s Wilbur O. and Ann Powers College of Business using recycled lumber previously located on the property.
“Some of the classroom buildings that we’re doing at Clemson, they’re all concrete,” Louis Voorhees said. “By adding a wood feature, it just warms up the building.”
Tidewater’s wood products can be found in other notable places across the Upstate, including Greenville’s Unity Park, the Greenville Country Club and Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport.
Looking toward the future, members of the Voorhees family hope to see Tidewater grow its footprint and open additional brick-and-mortar stores in other towns. Louis Voorhees imagines these stores selling finished-wood products created at the central manufacturing hub in Greer.
“We’re always doing something new and always trying to learn how to make new parts and to make new products and help people,” Ed Voorhees said.
What’s in a name?
The name Tidewater Lumber and Moulding comes from Ed Voorhees’s love of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. Voorhees drew inspiration from the area’s simple architecture and would create products from a catalog called the Tidewater Colonial Moulding Series that showcased this style.
Louis Voorhees said that when he started working for his father, no one knew the company was named Ed Voorhees S4S. S4S is an abbreviation used in the lumber industry that stands for “surfaced four sides,” meaning lumber that has been smoothed on all four sides.
“Architects and builders were familiar with Tidewater Moulding because they bought them before from us,” Louis Voorhees said. “I was like ‘Dad, nobody really knows our company name, but they know your catalog. Can we change the name?’”
Sales percentages
Louis Voorhees broke down Tidewater Lumber and Moulding’s sales into three categories. Each category is a third of the company’s total sales:
- Hardwood flooring
- Molding
- Lumber
Did you know?
Tidewater Lumber and Moulding is known as one of the largest distributors of cypress in the country. The company has sold the species of lumber for over 35 years. Cypress is grown in the wetland areas of the Southeast where it’s hot and swampy. The wood has a soft blond color and can be treated to use both indoors and outdoors.
