ahead of time on equality and agility

1000 667 In Good Company | Northern Rivers
hurford_hardwood_logo

Hurford Hardwood
P.O Box 6366, South Lismore NSW 2480

www.hardwood.com.auu

Visit Lismore Northern Rivers-01
ahead of time on equality and agility

When Olive Hurford told the bank manager she’d be looking after the accounts of her husband’s new building company, the story goes, the bank manager could not hide his perplexity. A woman? Managing money?

It was 1932, in Lismore, and that modern spirit has stood The Hurford Group in good stead. 86 years later, the company is one of the Northern Rivers’ longest-running businesses. Responding to changes in trade, economy and style, Hurfords is now primarily a timber producer.

“We’re constantly looking for opportunities to expand business or to improve on things. We spend a lot of money on R&D and we’re always on the lookout for new products,” says Lexie Hurford, who, at 79, still advises her family’s business.

Her husband Rob, 81, one of the founders’ sons and Lexie’s husband, is a Director and many of their relatives work in the business, including their son Andrew who is also Chair of Timber for NSW, and their son-in-law Bob Engwirda, who is Managing Director.

For a company that deals with hardwood, built-to-last quality, and has four generations of stewardship, the business is remarkably agile and responsive. The GFC, Lexie says, gave the business a moment to reflect and be creative, adding that playing a part in industry bodies gives the company a “bigger picture”.

One of their many products is flooring and walls for museums, galleries and spaces that make an impact.

“Our number one priority is producing the best looking product,” she says, explaining that Hurfords makes specialised runs of products according to clients’ needs.

Today, the group has sawmill, forestry and wholesale offshoots and is located in every capital city across Australia, as well as in New Zealand, Europe and the United States. Its customers buy NSW hardwood from all over the world.

“We’re fortunate that we have pretty unique forests,” says Lexie of the region’s 20 or so kinds of commercial timber. “We have a product that people would be proud to feature in a building.”

But it’s not the region’s forests alone that make Hurfords. Being close to nature and the coast, and connected to the local community, Lexie says, is what has held family and business together.

“We’re able to live here and do this, the lifestyle and local community has kept us here.”

Share this story

Read more stories

putting the business into ‘show business’

 2560 1709 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Brainstorm Productions
You might think that COVID-19 would rattle a business that delivers educational theatre into schools. But the “show must go on” mentality runs deep for Brainstorm Productions’ founder and artistic director Jenny Johnson…

Osteria Casaurina Tweed Coast

overtures of romance and style

 1000 667 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Osteria
Mark Wilson, Lia Mason and Lee Middendorf all met when the three of them were working in hospitality jobs at The Sandbar …

Three generations of style

 940 627 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Scarboroughs
Running a small clothing shop in a country town is a fine art. It requires balance, delicacy and an open mind to serve the needs of locals, tourists, the area’s workers and more.

A walk on the wild side

 1245 933 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Vision Walks Eco Tours
Wendy Bithell has built her multi-award-winning eco-tourism business, Vision Walks – Eco Tours, by combining her two areas of expertise: ecology and technology. Her Byron hinterland adventures are as diverse as nature walks with night vision goggles, Indigenous bush tucker tours, and three-day women’s indulgence escapes.

tripadeal_byron_bay

fastest growing, remains humble and local

 1000 667 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

TripADeal
For TripADeal, the figures speak for themselves: revenue in excess of $100million for 2017; 75,000 travellers sent to various…

Spoiled stays for special pets

 2560 1600 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Skye Park Pet Resort
In 2014, a long-held aspiration finally came to fruition for Helen and Ian MacGregor when they purchased an existing pet boarding facility in bucolic Clarenza, with the dream of making it their own.

Spirit of Byron in a bottle

 2560 1707 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Cawarra Cosmetics
Cawarra Cosmetics has been a leading manufacturer of Australian skincare, personal care and cleaning products in the region for more than 40 years.

The dream team

 2560 1707 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Joel Jensen Constructions
Despite the pressures of running an award-winning construction company, there’s one thing Joel Jensen strives to do every day.

cape byron distellery 002

spirit of the rainforest

 960 540 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Cape Byron Distillery
Let’s forget the beaches for a moment, as the true lifeblood of the Northern Rivers landscape is surely its rainforests, some of the most botanically…

grafton_physio_business_story_001

let’s get physical

 2000 1165 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Grafton Physio + Sport
You know you’re in good hands when you visit your physiotherapist and she turns out to be a world-class athlete. That’s the case for those who…

grafton to yamba houseboats clarence

take me to the river

 2048 1536 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Grafton to Yamba Houseboats
The Clarence River, at the southern end of the Northern Rivers, is known colloquially as the ‘Big River’, while its Aboriginal name is ‘Breimbah’ or…

The Natural Rice Co.

 940 627 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

The Natural Rice Co.
The Natural Rice Co. (NRC) is a unique enterprise not just in the Northern Rivers, but in a national context too.

A fighting spirit … and great networks

 768 1024 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Five Sixty Farms
Stranded on the roof of his house with his wife and their eight children, Pepe Fassos watched helplessly as his beloved greenhouses smashed and floated away in a tsunami of floodwater.

Clean green superfood team

 768 1024 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Foods That Love You Back
Health activist Erle Astrup founded Foods That Love You Back in January 2021, and her business – which has created the world’s first affordable, alkaline shot of concentrated microgreens – is infused with the passion she has for driving it.

A planet of business diversity

 2016 1512 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Tropical Fruit World
It’s been almost 50 years since Robert and Valorie Brinsmead bought the 200-acre farm in Murwillumbah.

horizon motorhomes ballina 002

when opportunity knocks…

 1600 1067 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Horizon Motorhomes
When a campervan arrived on Clayton Kearney’s used car yard in 1995, and sold in seconds flat, he realised there was a gap in the market…

Position, people, poached eggs and a president

 2560 1920 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Caperberry and Flinders Rose
What makes an entire family move from three different cities to live together in a quiet coastal town? Great coffee.

nimbin valley dairy 003

love, peace and artisan cheese

 666 500 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Nimbin Valley Dairy
Not every goat in Australia has its own nutritionist and its own vet. But the goats at Nimbin Valley Dairy definitely do. Bill, the nutritionist…

planting natural beauty

 2048 2560 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Biologi
There was a little bit of the “weird spirit of Byron Bay” in the 2017 creation of the natural skincare range, Biologi, says co-owner Lucy Macdougald of her chance meeting with Ross Macdougald, who is now both her business partner and husband…

herb blanchard haulage

in for the long haul

 1024 682 In Good Company | Northern Rivers

Herb Blanchard Haulage
If you happen to be in the ‘jacaranda city’ of Grafton or its surrounds and you see a big blue truck out on the roads, the chances are its part of the…

Start Typing

X