Mass timber construction is transforming the modern construction industry, and CLT Toolbox stands out as a prime example of championing renewable and sustainable solutions. We are excited to delve deeper into this innovative and trending industrial approach and gain valuable insights from Adam Jones, Founder & CEO of CLT Toolbox.
Let’s start with your company introduction and advancements. How can CLT TOOLBOX be beneficial for the woodworking and mass timber construction industry?
Adam Jones: At CLT Toolbox, we develop mass timber engineering software designed to remove the challenges engineers face when working with mass timber. Traditionally, engineers rely on numerous spreadsheets to handle design automation and navigate supply chain flexibility. Our platform provides the infrastructure to streamline this process, making it easier to specify mass timber while saving engineers valuable time.
A key differentiator for CLT Toolbox is our commitment to transparency—we avoid being a “black box” solution. This approach aligns with feedback from our customers, who value tools that not only solve problems but also serve as educational resources.
We specialize in addressing the most complex aspects of design, such as connection detailing. Through partnerships with both member and connection suppliers, we incorporate advanced connection detailing based on supplier-specific properties and European Technical Assessments (ETAs), ensuring seamless integration into the design process.
What does ‘Sustainability’ mean to you, and how do you implement it efficiently in sustainable construction or designing mass timber buildings?
Adam Jones: To me, sustainability is about ensuring that our generation achieves abundance for all, while paving the way for continuous progress and innovation. It’s about maintaining a trajectory of improvement for the human condition while safeguarding resources for future generations.
When it comes to mass timber buildings, implementing sustainability strategically means designing with the material’s unique properties and strengths in mind. Too often, we see projects trying to fit a “square peg into a round hole”—forcing mass timber into designs better suited for concrete. Each material has distinct advantages, and truly sustainable design ensures the final outcome reflects these differences.
A critical component of this strategy is Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA). This involves identifying and addressing bottlenecks in the factory to maximize throughput, as well as streamlining on-site construction to enhance speed and reduce costs. By focusing on delivering successful, cost-efficient projects, mass timber becomes an obvious choice—not because of lofty sustainability goals, but because it’s a practical, economical solution for developers.
At CLT Toolbox, we also reduce the costs of projects. If an engineer needs to spend hundreds of hours building spreadsheets for the design of screws for example, and every engineering company needs to build these exact same spreadsheets, there is tremendous waste for the mass timber options. With software you can increase leverage of designers, save time in choosing the most cost efficient option, for smaller design fees. There are so many ways costs are eliminated and the mass timber option can be more desirable.
What are the most recent innovations you are focusing on, and how do they reflect current industry trends?
Adam Jones: As we’ve got a team of 44 just building mass timber software, we’ve internally isolated our bottlenecks to drive speed & quality in development. The product we’re most proud of is what we call the “infrastructure factory”, and is the product that builds the product. Every 3 weeks, we’re now putting out a new release of the software to public. Each release has world class calculators that goes beyond capabilities of spreadsheets and moves the industry forward.
In terms of calculators; in our company, we’ve got two teams including a member design team & connections design team. The member team is working on new innovations such as ribbed decks, timber concrete composites and CLT floor penetrations. The connection team is expanding with beam column connections, more connection details and advanced moment connections. There is so much more, but perhaps the above is what is requested the most
According to you, why mass timber is one of the most assured solutions to make the industry more sustainable? What can we really achieve through this?
Adam Jones: Mass timber has such a strong story on the triple bottom line.
Sustainability: the only material that is renewable and sequesters carbon with a robust supply chain to be used at scale.
Biophilia: proven benefits for human health (in the likes of schools, offices, hospitals etc)
Cost: when designed well, the option can be more cost efficient
All of the above gives every reason and more why we’ve got such a strong future.
Can you tell us, how is your market presence in Europe? Do you have plans to expand into other international regions in the near future?
Adam Jones: In January we’re launching our free version. We’ve got 12 EU partnerships with suppliers at the time of launch, and well over 1000 users. We’re just getting started and very excited by the traction we have and the commentary from both our supplier partners and users.
We’re beginning the USA / Canada beta program in March.
The same problems and gaps in mass timber design infrastructure are global. Hence we’re moving fast in this direction to provide it and do our bit to help mass timber continue to accelerate to be mainstream in all regions.
Last but not the least, what marketing strategies will you adopt to stay ahead in the evolving market?
Adam Jones: We’re very active on Linkedin. We’re also about to launch our own webinar series to run through lots of design worked examples. Additionally, we’re looking to expand our supplier partnerships to be a strong distribution channel for product suppliers into engineering companies.
