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About The Tree
A joinery manufacturer in Leigh, roughly halfway between Manchester and Liverpool. We bought an empty depot in 2020, fitted it out ourselves, filled it with machinery, and have been making kitchens, furniture, windows and doors out of it ever since — for homeowners and for the trade.
How we got here
In July 2020 we bought Progress Depot on Severn Street in Leigh: a steel frame, a lot of empty floor and no machines. Over that autumn we built a mezzanine, put in a staircase, boarded it out, fabricated and hung the extraction ductwork ourselves, and craned in the saw and the CNC machines. The first client cabinets came off the machines before the end of the year.
Since then it has mostly been a story of adding capability. A 5-axis machining centre so we could make windows and doors properly. A second nesting router so trade sheet work did not have to wait. A spindle moulder so we could copy any moulding a customer brought us. Cabinet Vision, then Cinch, then Fusion. Solar panels on the roof.
The work changed as the machines did. We started with furniture and fitted cabinetry; now roughly as much goes out to other joiners, kitchen studios, interior designers and shopfitters as goes to homeowners, and windows and doors have become a proper part of the business rather than a favour.
How we work
Everything is made here. We are not a company that buys carcasses in and puts its name on them — we cut the board, edge it, drill it, build it and in most cases fit it. That is slower to set up and much easier to get right.
It is owner-led, and that shows up in an unglamorous way: work gets inspected before it leaves, and when it is not up to standard it gets re-made rather than argued about. Occasionally that costs us a week. We would rather have the week than the phone call.
Some of the work on this site is our own. Some of the projects we show are our own or family homes, and are labelled as such, because a showcase that quietly passes off your own house as a commission is not worth having.
We are honest about what we do not do in-house. Painted and lacquered finishes go to our specialist finishing partner, who does nothing else. Stone worktops go to fabricators we have worked with for years. Glass comes through glass specialists. We would rather name the people who are better at it than pretend.
Progress Depot, Severn Street
Photographs from the 2020 fit-out through to the shop floor today. New work goes up on Instagram first — @thetreeuk.
Five things, and we mean them
Do it once
Measured properly, drawn properly, cut properly. The cheapest job is the one nobody has to come back to.
Say what is true
If a lead time is eight weeks we say eight weeks. If something is outside what we do well, we say that too.
Reply properly
By phone or email, promptly and in plain English. Being easy to deal with is a feature.
Own the detail
Dovetailed drawer boxes, scribed plinths, mitred inlay, edge tape with no glue line. Nobody notices any of it until it is missing.
Waste less
Nested cutting, offcuts kept and used, sustainable forestry where we can source it, and solar panels on the roof running the machines.
Sourcing and the environment
Where we can, we source raw materials from sustainable forestry and we recycle our waste. Cutting is nested rather than cut from a list, which measurably reduces the number of boards a job needs, and the rack of offcuts in the corner is genuinely used — samples, jigs, drawer boxes and small pieces come out of it rather than out of a new sheet.
We have adopted solar panel technology to help power the machinery on site and reduce our carbon footprint.
We do not hold a timber chain-of-custody certification, so we will not claim one. If a specification requires certified stock, tell us at enquiry stage and we will source and evidence it for that job.
Where we work
For surveys, fitting and aftercare we cover the North West from the workshop: Leigh, Wigan, Bolton, Warrington, Manchester, Salford, Liverpool, Preston and St Helens, and the towns between them. Most of our fitted work is within an hour of Severn Street.
Beyond that, we regularly manufacture for jobs in London and further afield, delivered by pallet or courier, and we have shipped complete door and kitchen packages abroad and gone out to fit them. For trade and supply-only work, distance is a delivery cost rather than a barrier.
Questions we get asked
What woods do you work with?
Most of what is commercially available: oak, ash, beech, elm, sycamore, birch, walnut, sapele and tulipwood among others, plus Accoya for external joinery. On the board side we work in Egger MFC and Perfectsense, oak-veneered and walnut-veneered MDF, Medite Tricoya Extreme for wet and external use, Finsa Hydrofogo for doors and frames, Riga Wood birch plywood and Valchromat. If you want something we do not normally stock, ask — we will price it.
What are the limits of what you can make?
Genuinely quite wide. Between a sliding table saw, three CNC machining centres — two of them 5-axis — a spindle moulder and an edgebander there is not much in wood or board that is out of scope. Curved, arched and one-off shapes are the things the machines are actually good at. What we do not do in-house is spraying (our finishing partner does that), stone worktops and glass — all of which we arrange through specialists.
Do you do supply only, or do you fit?
Both, and it is your choice on every job. A lot of what we make goes out flat-packed or assembled for somebody else’s fitters, including for other joiners and kitchen studios. If you want it fitted, it is fitted by our own crew rather than subcontracted.
Do you spray in-house?
No, not any more. We prime here, and we do the colour matching ourselves — to Farrow & Ball, Little Greene, RAL, Dulux, BS or an Egger decor, or from a wet or dry sample you send us. The spraying itself is done by our specialist finishing partner, in a booth that does nothing else. On trade jobs we are equally happy to supply primed or raw for your own sprayer.
Can you match an existing moulding or an existing kitchen?
Yes, and it is one of the things we are asked for most. Post us a 20 mm offcut of the profile — skirting, architrave, dado, cornice, picture rail — and we will model it, grind a cutter if needed and run any length of it. For matching an existing kitchen we will take a door away, match the profile and the colour, and make the new units to suit.
What are your hours?
Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. Closed at weekends. Enquiries that arrive over a weekend are picked up on Monday morning.
Do you ship UK-wide?
Yes. Our own vans cover the North West; nationally we send by courier and pallet network depending on size and weight. Vanity units, drawer boxes, flat-pack carcasses and machined parts travel well and go out regularly, including to London.
Can I come and see things in person?
Yes. There is a small showroom at the workshop with kitchen displays in it, so you can open a real door and pull a real drawer rather than judging a finish off a screen. It sits inside a working joinery shop, so visits are by appointment — Monday to Friday, 08:30 to 17:00. Ask when you enquire and we will find you a time.
Do you have an online shop?
No. Everything is made to order to your sizes, so everything starts with an enquiry. Email sales@thetree.co.uk or use the enquiry form.
How do I get a price?
Send as much as you have: sizes, a plan, photographs of the room, a drawing, a DXF, or a schedule. We will come back with questions first and then a written price with a lead time against it. We do not publish rates because no two jobs are the same.
What customers have said
I commissioned The Tree to create a standing work-bench for my IT team to utilise in our new breakout room. It was worth the wait, beautifully finished, very robust and looks amazing.Chris, Synextra, Winwick
We came to The Tree as we wanted a very specific look for our new kitchen. The team were great and we are both over the moon with the final result, we can’t wait to begin enjoying our new space!Mr & Mrs H., kitchen client
Come and see the machines.
Or just send us the room and let us draw something. Either way, it starts with an enquiry.