By Patricia Hudson
Like most young couples, Tim and Madeline Buchanan are working hard to achieve the American Dream: a lovely house, nice cars, a beautiful family, and a good job, bringing in a comfortable income. Doing so in a pandemic has brought its own challenges, but together, with diligence, sleep deprivation and faith, the Buchanans are making it work.
Prior to becoming a mother, Madeline was the director of sales and marketing for a senior independent living community. She is currently staying at home with daughter, Aubrey, and is helping out with the business, Merica Metal. Tim has worked in the oil and gas industry for over 20 years. His primary positions have focused on quality control, inspection, fabrication, and project management. He is currently the Quality Lead for Total, Mozambique LNG project.
Madeline first moved to Fairfield in 1998 with her parents, Zeffrey and Mindy Lucas, and siblings Merrick, and Maggie. “When we got married 10 years ago and were trying to decide where we wanted to plant roots and raise a family, the decision to be in Fairfield was a no brainer! The incredible sense of community and knowing that your neighbors will have your back is such a rare and wonderful thing,” comments Madeline.
For Tim and Madeline, their two-year-old daughter, Aubrey, is their “biggest blessing and gift from God.” Madeline reflects, “She is so full of life and we love to watch her learn new things every day. She is happiest whenever she is spending time outside, playing in water, with her babies, or hanging out at Da-Da’s shop with the beep-beep, aka the fork lift.”
Madeline’s mom, Mindy, is a talented seamstress who has hand-smocked clothing for her daughter and granddaughter. Madeline’s fondness for this style of clothing ensures that Aubrey is usually dressed “Very Southern,” in smocked clothing and a big matching bow. “My motto is ‘The bigger the bow, the better the mom,’” laughs Madeline good- naturedly. Tim’s grown daughter, Abby, lives in town and enjoys spending time with Aubrey. “Despite their significant age gap, Aubrey has a special bond and the sweetest love for ‘B,’” shares Madeline.
With entrepreneurial aspirations, Tim started Merica Metal in 2017, “…with nothing more than an idea in our 3rd car tandem garage. I jumped in full force researching and creating my own website and after countless hours and sleepless nights, I had something I liked. The next quest was purchasing a CNC Plasma machine. I had never operated a CNC Plasma machine, nor knew anything about the design side of things; I am 100% self-taught, based on my research and lots of trial and error. With the help of our best friends Derek and Carol Crandall, and working after-hours and on weekends, Merica Metal was able to grow extremely fast. I am also thankful for the support of my in-laws who have been my main business mentors.
Most of our orders come from our website, www.mericametal.com. We have a wide variety of standard products, and have completed lots of custom projects for customers. One of my favorites was redoing the butterfly garden signs at Ault Elementary.”
The pandemic brought a new set of challenges. “In 2020, I had to make a choice to step up the production, as the CNC Plasma machine was just not giving us the production speeds and overall quality we needed to process orders fast and continue to grow. The best option was to take a huge financial risk and purchase a CNC Laser machine, move out of the garage and into a commercial space. One of the main reasons we were able to do this is because 100% of all profits have been rolled back into the company; I have yet to pay myself a dime because the end goal was to build a business. This was especially risky since we were in the beginning of a global pandemic with so many uncertainties. We relied on our faith in God, and worked harder and longer hours than I have ever worked in my life. Unlike a lot of business during the pandemic, we did not slow down. We were extremely blessed to continue growth during such a difficult time. I am thankful that with a lot of Americans working from home, they had extra free time to find us and place orders,” comments Tim gratefully. “The dream and goal is for Merica Metal to be Tim’s only job in the near future,” adds Madeline.
“During Covid, we started to do some additional and more aggressive marketing, and things took off more than I expected,” recalls Tim. “With orders piling up and working solo, I had many late nights at the shop. After completing a bunch of orders at 4 am, I was exhausted and needed to take a nap before reporting to my ‘day job’ at 7 am. I went into work wearing the same clothes, (no one even noticed), got off work, and went back to the shop to wrap things up. I slept really well later that night!”
Tim and Aubrey have a tradition of going to get donuts together most weekends. “She enjoys spending one-on-one time with him, and especially loves riding in Da-Da’s truck with the windows down and music on! My hobby is buying and selling Aubrey’s clothes on smocked Facebook groups. Smocking Hot Mama’s is one of my favorites! My favorite guilty pleasure usually includes a trip to Sonic for a Route 44 Diet Coke with lime wedges,” says Madeline.
Photos by: Eye Candy by Candace
