Gem State Lumber

The business

Gem State Lumber & Pellets, formerly Honco Lumber, remanufactures lumber into pallet stock and processes residuals into heating pellets. The public story on their site is specific: more than 80 years of history, Jake Gorbet’s ownership for 15-plus years, a no-waste model, custom dimensions for manufacturers and brokers, and bagged or bulk pellets. Family-owned. Emmett, Idaho. Hours Monday–Friday 8–4.

This is not a boutique firewood Instagram. It is a production business that needs to look like it can fill an order.

The problem

Industrial Idaho companies either get no website or a site that talks like a sustainability brochure. Gem State’s actual buyer is a pallet manufacturer, a lumber trader, or someone who needs pellets that burn consistently. They needed a public face without waiting on a full custom rebuild. The first version had to be affordable, live, and honest: pallet stock, remanufacturing, pellets, and a way to call.

Project goals

Launch a budget Squarespace starter site so the mill is findable and contactable now. Keep the structure clean enough to build on later — more pages, more product detail, more photography — without throwing the first site away.

Design direction

Material, not marble. The copy already on the live site is blunt in a good way: “Remanufacturing Wood. Redefining Waste.” Visuals should be mill, product, and Idaho industrial, not stock forests. A starter site still has to look like a company that can fill an order.

Website strategy

This is phase one. Home states the two offers. About covers history without turning into a museum. Product blocks list what buyers actually order. Contact is hours, address, email, phone. That’s the conversion path for this kind of company: call or write, not a fake checkout for custom 1-by. Later work can add depth on the same foundation.

SEO work completed

Publicly, the site already speaks in the language of pallet stock and heating pellets, the searches a real buyer uses. No ranking numbers are claimed here.

Key features

A live starter Squarespace site: product storytelling, about, and contact with real hours, address, email and phone. Built to expand, not to be replaced.

Outcome

gemstatelumber.com is live as a budget site to get the mill started. It is the first version, not the last. Revenue and traffic figures are not published.