By Kerri Pepoy,Staff Writer

OXFORD – Getting your lumber just got easier.

Record Building Supply Inc. recently completed construction of its new drive-through lumber building, a 17,000-square-foot structure next to the company’s two warehouses and retail showroom on Route 26.

The $250,000 building took six days to construct, although plans for it have been in the works since last year, said Dick Record, the company’s manager.

“It will be a convenience for the customer as well as for us,” he said Monday. “The salesman follows the sale right through. The customer comes in, we wait on them and help them load it.”

Record Building Supply is a midsize, family owned lumber supplier that sells 2-by-4s, 2-by-6s, 2-by-8s, and 2-by-12s to contractors and the public.

The new building has two, 27-foot alleys in the center plus two outside aisles, which Record said will allow for efficient loading and also protect lumber during harsh weather.

“We’re going to have everything we sell here under cover,” he said. “It should help the customer out for product. There will be less of a chance that it will twist, now that it’s under cover.”

Despite competition from large lumber retailers, Record Building Supply is receiving a steady amount of business. The company’s owner, Merle Record, Dick Record’s uncle, also owns a sawmill, Record Lumber Inc., in Oxford.

Merle Record’s son, Michael, is vice president of Record Building Supply.

“Having our own sawmill is an advantage. We have a lot of personal knowledge and service,” Dick Record said.

Merle Record began the sawmill in 1979 and built Record Building Supply nine years ago. The company has since expanded its product offerings beyond lumber and now sells a variety of Benjamin Moore Inc. paints.

Merle Record said Record Building Supply also may expand one of its warehouses, and plans are in place to increase the size of the retail store. “We’re going to make the store a little bigger this winter,” he said.

Record Building Supply and Record Lumber employ a combined total of about 26 people.