Entrepreneur dedicated to the production of wooden houses in the region: I pay no less than 600 euros to employees

Founded together with a German

When we meet A. Katauskas, at first he takes us directly to the production workshop and points out the finished product: a set of wooden houses ready for packing.

“It gets like a lego,” he says, remembering one of them standing with a colleague in 15 minutes, albeit without finishing, because it takes longer to put together.

“We will send these houses to France. The French like not to have to paint more. The customer is French, basically lazy. They ask for a low price, and the houses they ask for are smaller, lower,” he says, adding that the Germans or Dutch are completely different customers, they need quality and the money can cost more.

In general, the manager explains that he has been in business for 20 years and that this company, which is dedicated to the production of houses, has existed for a decade.

“I knew a German who had such a retail chain, he traded in similar houses. And today we are the co-owners of this company ”, he says.

The average salary is 850 Eur

Showing the raw wood stacked in the field, the businessman says that he brings it from Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Estonia and a bit from Lithuania itself.

“We transport sawn timber, process it ourselves and produce the end product: cabins. We want to purify operations. Lithuanians, they say, can do everything from lighting a light bulb to building a house, but we can’t do anything very well,” he thinks. .

Today, the male-run company has about 110 employees, and when asked about their salaries at the company located in the region, A. Katauskas boldly names them.

“With us, worker-specialists can earn up to 1.4 thousand. Eur after tax. In general, the average is about 850 euros on hand (according to Sodra – 1553 euros before taxes – ed.), But nobody really receives 600 euros, because I cannot keep people working for a minimum. I need to do a good job, ”he says openly.

Prices go up to several thousand

The company, as specified, can produce a total of more than 100 different models of cabins, which can be converted into summer houses, gazebos, garden cabins.

“We produce in batches, according to orders. We try to have at least one truck.

There are three large buyer-wholesalers that have sales networks in Germany, the Netherlands, and France. We still sell to Poland, Lithuania, but there are more resellers here, ”he says.

It is true that the prices of such houses vary and depend on the equipment and size chosen. According to the manager, the house can be separated from both 300 euros and 2000 euros.

“The average house in the store costs around 1000 euros, it is 9-16 square meters. To facilitate its capture, specifies A. Katauskas.

For example, in a company it says that it does not have a built and built house, but shows a catalog to form an image.

According to him, the company produces about 100 sets of wooden houses per day, and this number becomes 20 thousand per year.

With the Belarusians – difficulties

When asked if the company has no difficulties in importing timber from Belarus, which accounts for half of the company’s total timber imports, the current situation there, the entrepreneur says that there are always difficulties there.

“It just came to our attention then. Today we are not affected by politics, but people speak very loudly.

We have employees who have relatives there, because we are only one kilometer from the border with Belarus, ”he says.

The immediate plans of the company are in development.

“We have almost reached the full potential, we are planning development, because there is a great demand. We can no longer meet the needs of the same markets we are in today,” says the manager.