Family lumber business thrives through 3 generations, 75 years

Like his father, Joe Sider, 58, began working as a teenager in the  family business celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. But that wasn’t his original plan.

It was only after he quit college after two years, and Frank Sider, now 81, sought his help, that Joe developed the commitment to the lumberyard started by his namesake grandfather.

“I started working for my dad when I was 13. Honestly, I never really liked it that much because it was very hard work. I wasn’t thinking about the work ethic that I was learning at the time,” said Joe, now general manager of Sider Lumber & Supply Co. in Nesconset. “I left for college in 1983, but two years later I came home, and my father had the foresight to think that this business needs a computer system, so that's what I did.”

In 1948, founder Joseph Sider opened a small homeowner lumberyard on a three-quarter-acre location. He died five years later, and his wife, Frieda, took over. But in 1961, she asked her son Frank to help save the business. 

“His mother had a business background, but was no match for unscrupulous salesmen and customers who took advantage of her,” said Frank’s wife, Sandy Sider, 80. “Frank had worked summers since he was 14 and always saw himself as being an integral part of the lumber business.”

Frank said the customers and salesmen knew him as a kid but learned to respect his initiative and hard work as an adult. The business succeeded, adjusting to industry changes, including the advent of big-box stores that knocked out some competitors.

Today, the company’s customer core is high-end home improvement contractors and custom home builders.

Reflecting on the decision to work with his father 38 years ago, Joe said, “I was lucky that he had confidence in me.”

The Siders spoke to Newsday recently; responses have been edited for space and clarity. 

Sider was one of the first lumberyards on Long Island to be computerized. That made all the difference for inventory control, accounts receivable, accounts payable. "And the experience changed me, giving me the spirit of wanting the business to succeed," said Joe.     

Our focus is on service. We’re known as a lumberyard that will go to the ends of the Earth to fill an order. If you need it, we'll find it for you and will supply it for you.

Our biggest issue is manpower. [Finding]  the quality of people that want to do what we do, like salesmen or work in the yard, makes it very difficult. But we also have two people who have been here almost 30 years.