Contractors have been our primary focus since we opened for business in 1952. But, oh how we and they have changed since then! In those early days, anyone with a car and samples in the trunk called himself a contractor. There really were “Tinmen” in Chicago, not just in Oz. We had to take care to sort out the incredibly high credit risks from the just risky. But, our founder built the business on making personal judgments and taking credit risks with companies and individuals who could not secure a line of credit with our competitors.

As we grew, many of our fledgling accounts were growing too. Numbers of them remain loyal to us to this day. As our inventory and fleet of trucks grew, we did business with contractors of all sorts and sizes. In the high-rise, office building boom of the early 80’s, we sold thousands of interior, Architectural doors to some of the biggest contractors in the country.

Today, our customer base of contractors in incredibly diverse. We are as pleased to work with a handyman as a high-rise developer. We make custom molding patterns for Gold Coast rehabs and we supply Cabinetry to entire new Condo buildings.

At this point in time, Lee Lumber is proud to be the largest independent lumber yard based in Chicago. If you are a contractor, we ought to get to know each other if we don’t already.