Jiří Buchal on successfully overcoming the challenges of the past year in RD Rýmařov

Multiple material and energy prices, high mortgage interest rates, double-digit inflation. RD Rýmařov had to deal with all this during 2023, where production was not restricted despite the unfavourable conditions. Despite the extreme cost increases, the company did everything possible to ensure that clients felt them as little as possible. “Where we could, we made a deal with our customers and made the houses more expensive by an average of seven percent. It should be noted that the prices of materials went up by 32.5 percent on average,” says Jiří Buchal, who has been the CEO of the Czech leader in the wooden building market for over two years.

In order to ensure that the price increase was felt by those interested in building as little as possible, the company had to make production and energy management more efficient. “For example, we have reduced the temperature in the production hall from 21 to 14 degrees, and we have invested massively in energy savings. We replaced old mercury lamps with LED lights, we insulated the weakest parts of the production building and we started up a photovoltaic power plant,” Buchal says. The company invested more than CZK 70 million in energy-saving measures over two years.

Controlled costs and a friendly approach to clients have started to pay off: “Since about May last year, we have felt a recovery. In November we had our biggest sales in eight quarters.” The company also achieved higher profits than in previous years thanks to customers from abroad, developers and also by entering the public procurement sector. How fast are Rýmařov houses being built, where can you see them everywhere abroad and what do developers value most? You can read (in Czech) the whole interview here.