WEBBLog, by Craig Webb, Editor, PROSALES

Hurry! Just 3 Days Left To Take the Credit Card Policy Survey and Get the Report
With roughly 250 respondents already, it's clear that ProSales' special survey on credit cards will give dealers a great idea about the policies on cards that their peers are using. We will accept responses through Friday night, and plan next week to report the full results back to those dealers who took part and who identified themselves to us. If your company hasn't contributed yet, time is growing short. Click here to take the five-minute, 20-question poll. Individual results will be kept private. Please note this is a survey of pro dealers only. Contact me should you have any questions.

Texan Responds To Comments Against Spanish-Language Safety Instruction
John Smith, safety manager at Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Co. in Dallas, responded quickly to a comment in last week's ProSales Business Update regarding an article in our July issue on whether some yard safety issues stem from Hispanic workers' problems with English. Walter Wilhelmi, warehouse and buying manager at Dealers Building Supply in Salisbury, Md., said the story took "the wrong direction," adding: "Last I looked, we live in America, an English-speaking country." Smith sent us an April 17 interpretive memorandum issued by Assistant Secretary of Labor Edwin G. Foulke Jr., reiterating federal policy on training The memo says, in part: "an employer must instruct its employees using both a language and vocabulary that the employees can understand. For example, if an employee does not speak or comprehend English, instruction must be provided in a language the employee can understand." Then Smith added, "Our safety training and safety programs are intended to keep our employees safe and free from injury. We owe it to them to make sure they understand how to perform the job safely. We also owe it to them to follow up and ensure that they are actually doing the job safely." Smith's e-mail signature, by the way, includes the words: "Safety is a culture. Not a program." What's your view? Write to me with your comments.

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NLBMDA Joins Green Certification Debate With Comments on LEED
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) sent the U.S. Green Building Council July 13 three pages of comments regarding the LEED for Homes guidelines to promote green construction. NLBMDA said it was "not at all appropriate" to grant LEED points exclusively to wood products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, saying: "Providing an exclusive ‘right' to FSC within LEED precludes the use of products that are equally, if not more, environmentally friendly and supportive of sustainable forest management. … [R]ecognizing all ratings systems will greatly enhance the ability of dealers to provide builders with qualifying materials in a timely and cost-effective manner."

With Hayward's Ascension, a Lumber Guy Takes Over FSC's U.S. Board
Today marks the first day of service for Bill Hayward, CEO of Hayward Lumber, Monterey, Calif., as chairman of the board of the Forest Stewardship Council-U.S. Hayward—who also goes by the title of chief sustainability officer—runs what may be the most environmentally conscious LBM operation in the country. (See our ProSales article from last November.) He's not universally loved by his fellow pro dealers, and not all of his ideas are applicable across the nation, but what Hayward is doing does provide plenty of food for thought.

Encouraging New Numbers for Remodeling, Nonresidential Construction
Amid the depressing reports lately on the home construction market comes a pair of relatively upbeat news nuggets. First, Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies forecasts that homeowner spending for home improvement "will essentially remain constant through the first quarter of 2008." For this year, it now is expecting the remodeling market to grow 3% to $306 billion. And second, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday that the value of nonresidential construction put in place during June stood 14.1% above the level of a year earlier. In contrast, residential construction put in place was down 16.1% from June 2006.

Trex Numbers, Consultant's Forecast Suggest Decking Market Is Doing Fine
Trex Co.'s report Tuesday that net sales for the second quarter roughly totaled its year-earlier numbers ($118.8 million this year, $121.5 million in '06) might seem strange given how poorly the new-home market is doing. But a new forecast on U.S. demand for decking by The Freedonia Group clarified that when it pointed out that improvement and repair activity generates 85% of all decking sales. Freedonia predicts the decking market will show annual growth of 2.2% through 2011 to reach 3.6 billion lineal feet of decking worth $5.6 billion. Demand for wood decking will drop by 0.3% per year between 2006 and 2011 while demand for wood-plastic composites will go up by to 12.6% per year in 2006-11, Freedonia predicts.

An "Apocalyptic" Time for Home Builders, One Ex-ProSales Editor Says
"The last week has been an apocalyptic one for the home building industry," Boyce Thompson, former editor of ProSales and now editorial director of Builder magazine, said Tuesday in his blog column. "Public companies posted more than $2 billion in combined losses during the most recent quarter. Figuring that they might as well get it over with now, since no one expects the market to get better real soon, these companies took big impairments in land, and they abandoned option contracts. … Land write-downs partly explain how prices in that community of $320,000 homes suddenly dropped in the latest phase to $240,000." Thompson adds that the publicly traded home building companies are seeking to bolster cash flow, typically by making a sale as quickly as possible. He concludes: "This bloody week in July potentially speaks to even bloodier ones in the new home sales marketplace for the remainder of the year."

WebbThreads

Think there aren't any startup independent LBM operations anymore? Then travel north of Portland to Scappoose, Ore., where Kuiper Lumber Supply opened its doors a few months back. Owner Jeff Kuiper told me Tuesday that he started the yard because he "just wanted the freedom" after spending a quarter century working at other yards, including 12 years at Parr Lumber. He expects to expand operations dramatically sometime in 2008 after an adjacent company moves. … The building material distributor Parksite Inc. named Chris Johnson as director of purchasing. … Trex Co.'s Anthony Cavanna will retire as CEO effective Aug. 15 and will be succeeded by Andrew Ferrari, the current president and COO. … The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) was among the more than 300 supporters at a July 24 fundraising event to assist a small dry-cleaning firm in Washington that was sued for $54 million over pair of lost pants. Click here to see video coverage of the event, including comments by NLBMDA staffers Colleen Rocha Levine and Sarah Owen. … Louisiana-Pacific Corp. will sell its Meridian, Idaho, composite decking plant to Fiber Composites LLC. as well as hand over use of the WeatherBest® brand name. … Vendors exhibiting at the Do it Best May market donated $232,900 worth of products to the Muncie, Ind., Habitat for Humanity Home Discount Center after the event.

Reminders

• Check out the latest edition of our exclusive Web column "Rader's Edge," in which industry consultant Chris Rader argues that one price definitely does NOT fit all.

• Take advantage of ProSales' new, free Webinar on installed sales, "Five Pillars to Installed Success," created for us by ProSales columnist Mike Butts.

• Can't find your July issue of ProSales? Click here for the online table of contents.

Do you have a question, a tip, or a sage piece of wisdom? Feel free to contact PROSALES' editor, Craig Webb, at cwebb@hanleywood.com.

And don't forget you can find previous WebbLogs now online!