Wooden ladder factory makes its last stand
Rising property taxes, shifting market demands are too much for only facility of its kind in Canada
Allright Ladder has been making wooden ladders in Vancouver for a century. But on Oct. 31, it stopped.
“To me, a wooden ladder is the best ladder you could ever want,” said Jim Norris, who co-owns Allright Ladder with Stuart Evans. “But it's used by a certain age demographic. Young people have no idea what a wood ladder is. They go to the Home Depot and buy a fibreglass ladder when they have to be non-conductive or an aluminum ladder if they don't have to be.”
There has been a shift in the companies that sell ladders.
“2008 was one of our better years, and then came the big (economic) crash,” said Norris. “The electrical companies — the Westburnes, the Nedcos, the Eecols, Horsmans, etc. — used to move a lot of ladders. And finance (in the companies) said, `Don't carry inventory in that.' So production was cut by a half through 2009, and from there it's gone steadily down. Last year, it was probably 20 per cent of the production we had in 2009. (But) property taxes continue to rise, and labour costs just keep going up. So eventually, you've got to say, `This doesn't make sense anymore.'”
Norris said Allright was the last factory in Canada making wooden ladders. But it isn't going out of business — the company has another facility in Delta, and has a good business in metal and fibreglass ladders and scaffolds.
But the company has put its factory at 1481 Franklin St. up for sale for $14.99 million, along with adjacent properties at 1364 and 1370 Powell St. that are for sale for $6.39 million and $11.29 million, respectively. That sounds like a lot, but the three properties combined are almost 1.3 acres, which makes it one of the biggest industrial properties close to Downtown Vancouver. But it also comes with a big tax bill: $180,852, according to a listing by Avison Young.
“I don't want to sound negative, but the city likes to talk out of both sides of its face,” said Evans. “They want industry, but the property taxes have gone up by a factor of three in the last number of years. Trying to run a manufacturing business in Vancouver is very difficult.”
The staff at Franklin Street is now working to fill orders from big customers like Telus, which has still been using wooden ladders.
“The best wood in the world to use is Sitka spruce, which we have here,” said Norris. “Hemlock is No. 2. In the past we used to make every ladder out of Sitka. Recently, about 50 per cent were Sitka, 50 per cent were hemlock, depending on what you could find.”
There are stacks of ladders in the factory, a 15,000-squarefoot space that looks like something from another age. It is: the western part of the building dates to 1931-32, when it was constructed for Littler & Sons Iron and Brass Works.
The original address was 1375 Franklin St. — for some reason it was switched to 1475 in 1949. It's basically an enormous open space with twostorey-high ceilings, held up by giant wooden beams.
Amid the heavy-duty machinery and piles of wood and ladders are amazing industrial artifacts, such as a number of long tables/forms that are shaped like ladders.
“That's for making stepladders,” said Norris. “You put two side rails into the ladder bench. They would have the side rails separated at a certain distance, then you'd slot in the treads. Those would get stapled into place, and a rod would be put in place. Some of them would be very old, probably 50, 60, maybe 70 years old.”
Allright Ladder was incorporated in 1921, but the name was in use since at least 1913, when an Allright Ladder ad appeared in The Vancouver World. It has been in the current location since 1980.
The company has made all sorts of things over the years, from piano parts for Steinway to chairs and ironing boards.
“The company has grown and morphed in a lot of different ways,” said Evans. “And we'll continue to do so.”