Dublin Millwork
■ Year opened: 1987; has been part of Strait & Lamp Group of Hebron since 1990
■ Employees: about 30
■ Products: makes wood mouldings, door frames, interior doors, along with custom wood products and other interior trim for houses
■ Top executive: Steve Arnold, president of Strait & Lamp Group; Ray Duval, general manager of Dublin Millwork
■ Annual sales: Strait & Lamp Group sales are more than $50 million; Dublin Millwork sales not disclosed
■ Website: http://straitandlamp.com/our-companies/ dublin-millwork/ to work in the morning. His bedside alarm is set for 4:50 a.m., and he’s usually started work by 7.
He does not often talk about how he was a cofounder and co-owner of Dublin Millwork. He and a partner had a woodworking business in Grove City starting in 1985. They relocated to the Dublin area and called the business Dublin Millwork, starting in 1987 because much of the region’s building was happening in the northwestern portion of the Columbus metropolitan area.
In 1989, Daley sold his share of the business to Strait & Lamp, a deal that allowed him to focus on what he enjoyed most, which was working in the shop.
The company makes wood trim by feeding lumber into a big machine whose cutting heads have blades that make a custom shape.
One of Daley’s jobs is to make the blades, which he calls knives.
A customer selects the shape of trim or brings in a sample of a shape to be duplicated. Daley then uses the sample to make a thin metal mold of the shape. Next, he uses the mold to make each blade in a process that looks like making a duplicate key, with a guide following the curves of the mold and using them to move an attached grinder that is making the blade.
Dublin Millwork has a Dublin-area showroom upfront that is built to look like a house. There, the sales staff meets with customers that range from homeowners to builders. The shop floor is in the back, with about 50,000 square feet of space for making trim, doors and doing other custom work.
The general manager, who oversees sales and production, is Ray Duval.
“What Jim does is takes raw wood and turns it into art,” he said.
Looking ahead, Dublin Millwork will continue to ride the growth in homebuilding and remodeling. And Daley will be there. At some point, he will retire and focus on his own projects at home, but that day is not here yet.
“I love what I do,” he said. “I’d do it for free.”