How a Bad Deck Started Timbosite

Sometimes a new business begins with a carefully prepared plan, but sometimes it starts with a product that simply disappoints you.

For Chris Saxby, founder and Managing Director of Timbosite, the idea began after he experienced problems with composite decking at his own home. Within around nine months, the decking had started to cause concerns, which prompted a simple question: surely there had to be another way of doing things?

That question eventually led Chris into the decking industry and, ultimately, to the development of Timbosite.

In this article, Chris explains how the product came about, why he wanted installers to have more freedom on site, and why building a family business remains central to his plans.

Coming into the decking industry with a blank canvas

I came into the decking industry with relatively little experience of decking itself, which, looking back, was probably an advantage. I did not have years of established thinking telling me how a decking product should work. As a result, I could look at the market with a fairly open mind and question things that other people may have accepted as normal.

What I did know was that I wanted to build a family business around a product that we could genuinely call our own. At that point, I had no idea that the product would eventually become Timbosite. The idea really began after a poor experience with composite decking that we had bought ourselves. Within around nine months, we were already experiencing problems with it.

I remember looking at the deck and thinking that there had to be something better available. That thought started the whole process.

Looking at what could be done differently

Once I became interested in decking, I started looking much more closely at how the industry worked.

I wanted to understand how decking boards were manufactured, what materials were being used, and how installers actually worked with the products. At the same time, I began looking for areas where things could perhaps be done differently. Factory visits became an important part of that research because they allowed me to see the manufacturing process first-hand.

However, I knew quite early that I did not want to produce another conventional plastic composite decking board. The composite market already contained a huge number of brands and products. Therefore, adding another board only made sense if we could offer something genuinely different.

I kept returning to one question: what would our product actually add to the market? That question shaped many of the decisions that followed.

Why timber became an important reference point

The more research I carried out, the more I found myself looking back towards timber. I was not trying to reproduce timber exactly. Instead, I was interested in the freedom that timber gives a skilled installer.

An installer can cut timber, drill it, router it and shape it to suit the detail in front of them. They can also make adjustments on site without relying on a catalogue of specialist components. That flexibility became increasingly important to me. I wanted a product that installers could work with, rather than a product that dictated exactly how every part of the deck had to be finished.

As a result, the ability to machine and adapt the board became an important part of the thinking behind Timbosite.

Why should decking need so many separate trims?

Another area that kept bothering me was the number of additional components required by some decking systems.

An installer might need one product for the edge of the deck, another for a fascia and another again for a step detail. If the correct trim has not arrived, the installer may have to stop work until another component is ordered. I kept asking myself why the installer could not simply make those details from the decking board itself.

That question became another important part of the Timbosite concept. For example, an installer can create a fascia from the board when a fascia is required. They can also form an edge detail or router a bullnose where a step requires one. That approach makes the installation process more flexible and, in my view, more practical.

It also means that the person building the deck has more freedom to solve details on site. Rather than relying entirely on pre-manufactured accessories, the installer can use their own skills to produce the finish they need. The same thinking has since carried across into Timbosite cladding and fencing.

Creating a product with its own identity

The name of the product was also important to me from the beginning. I did not want to create a business that simply sold another type of decking under a generic company name. Instead, I wanted the product to have an identity of its own.

Over time, a strong product name can begin to represent more than the material itself. It can become associated with a particular approach, a particular way of working and, hopefully, a particular standard. That was the thinking behind the name Timbosite. We are still a relatively young business, so naturally we continue to learn as the company develops. However, the product is gaining traction and the business is growing quickly.

Coming into the industry from outside has probably helped me in that respect. I have never been afraid to ask why something is done in a particular way. Sometimes there is a very good reason for it. On other occasions, the answer is simply that the industry has always done it that way. Those are usually the areas that interest me most.

Building Timbosite as a family business

Although the product is important to me, the family side of Timbosite matters just as much. One of my reasons for starting the company was the opportunity to build something that could become a genuine family business.

My 19-year-old already comes out with us to meet builders’ merchants and is learning that side of the company. My 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son also spend time in the warehouse. They help with samples, tidying and whatever else needs doing at the time.

At the moment, they probably see it as helping Dad at work. However, I hope that one day they will look back and realise that they were there when the business was still at the beginning. That is probably one of the things that excites me most about Timbosite. Of course, I want the product to succeed and I want the company to grow. At the same time, I would love to see my children become part of the business as they get older. Perhaps one day they will even take it forward themselves.

From one disappointing deck to a new business

It still feels strange to think that the whole journey started because we bought a composite deck that began causing problems within around nine months.

However, problems often make you question things that you would otherwise have accepted. In my case, that experience made me start looking at decking in much more detail. From there, one question led to another until the idea behind Timbosite began to take shape.

The original question was very simple: “could we make something better?”

Timbosite is where that question has taken us so far.

Chris Saxby is the founder of Timbosite, a UK business supplying decking, cladding and fencing products.

Connect with Chris Saxby on LinkedIn.