About | Jim Carpenter Company

Our History

HISTORY

Jim Carpenter Company was founded in 1955 by James P. Carpenter. Mr. Carpenter saw a need in the Fredericksburg area for a full service lumberyard. The company grew and moved to its current location at 1 Joseph Mills Drive in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

The Lester Group was established in 1896 by G.T. Lester in Martinsville, Virginia. At the time, The Lester Group was known as the Lester Lumber Company. It originally consisted of a small sawmill and planning mill, with a small tract of timber land. Over the course of its first 100 years, the company has grown into a multi-faceted operation with the strength to survive two major fires and numerous economic highs and lows.

Today, The Lester Group, Inc. includes four building supply dealers, in addition to Jim Carpenter Company.

MISSION STATEMENT

Jim Carpenter Company is a leader in building customer loyalty and successes by combining teamwork, exceptional service, innovation, and professionalism balanced with quality, trust and integrity.

CORPORATE VALUES

We operate with honesty, integrity and respect.
We believe in earning a fair and reasonable profit.
We share time, service and resources within each community we serve.
We provide training and development to ensure the
growth and success of our company.
We offer service driven response to our customers by exceeding expectations.
We embrace the importance of employee ownership (ESOP) and accountability.
Quality provided—Setting the standard by which all others are measured.
We encourage a fun and innovative workplace that recognize and reward our customers and employees.
We empower our employees to make decisions that continue improvement critical to our growth.
We believe in Christian values guiding our decisions.

LESTER GROUP FAMILY OF COMPANIES

Lester Building Supply began operations in Martinsville, VA early in the company history.

New River Valley Building Supply opened in Christiansburg, VA in May 2020.

Building Supply of Manassas opened in Manassas, VA in the fall of 2015.

T aylor Brothers began operations in Lynchburg, VA in 1952. This store became part of the Lester Group soon after Mr. Taylor retired in 2006.

Lester Forestlands manages over 18,000 acres of timberland from planting, to thinning, to harvesting while maintaining hunt club leases on all tracts.

Lester Properties & Lester Development Corporation manage and develop commercial, retail, residential, and subdivision properties.

The Lester Group

The Lester Group is a diversified company founded in 1896 in Martinsville. Lester’s primary interests are in lumber products and real estate development in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia. The Lester Group has owned the Jim Carpenter Co., also in Fredericksburg, VA., since 1974. In addition to the Jim Carpenter Co., Lester has building materials operations in Manassas, Lynchburg, and Martinsville in Virginia and in High Point, Henderson and Elizabeth City in North Carolina.

The Lester Group, Inc. started Fortress Door Company in 2016 in Fredricksburg, VA. Lester Group hired a team of very experienced door manufacturers. The employees of Fortress Door have over 100 years of experience in the industry

The photo to the right shows founder G.T. “Cap’n Til” Lester with his son, the current CEO, George W. Lester, II, in the lumberyard.