March 17, 2010

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84 Lumber Closes 10 Locations, Exits Idaho, Wisconsin

84 Lumber told ProSales late yesterday that it closed 10 more locations as of Monday. The latest round of consolidation includes closings in Post Falls, Idaho, and Wrightstown, Wis., Those moves mark 84's exit from both states. In addition, 84 will cut one store each in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, and Illinois. The move pushes ProSales' list of facility closures since January 2008 to more than 900.
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ProSales' list of facility closures

Dealers To Congress: Yes on Retrofits and Estate-Tax Relief, No on Obamacare

Scores of LBM dealers, distributors, and window and door manufacturers appealed in person on Capitol Hill yesterday and today for Congressional action in favor of home retrofitting incentives, against Democrats' health care proposals, and for permanent estate tax relief. Among the dealers and association representatives shown in the photo above was a contingent that met with Rep. Mary Fallon, R-Okla. (third from left). The dealers’ visits followed a Louisiana Republican senator's warning that the Obama administration threatens small business and a political analyst's prediction that Democrats could lose up to 30 House seats and up to eight Senate seats in the November elections.
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Lenders Protest National Home Center's Plan To Sell Itself to Stock

A second financial institution filed objections yesterday to a bid by Stock Building Supply to pay $15 million to buy National Home Centers, the Arkansas-based dealer that ranked 26th on last year's ProSales 100 and now is in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
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Construction Costs Took 59% of Total Home Price in 2009: NAHB

A change in surveying techniques combined with lower land prices and profit-taking in 2009 to the point where building materials, lot preparation, and building permits accounted for 58.9% of the typical single-family home price, the highest percentage in 15 years, the National Association of Home Builders said.
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NLBMDA, Others Seek Delay in EPA Lead Rule

The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association and 11 other associations and institutions joined in urging two Senate committees to seek a delay in the Environmental Protection Agency's Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule. They argued the EPA lacks the adequate preparation needed to enforce the change, and that if it did proceed, it could hurt the government's weatherization and retrofit programs.
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Wood Groups Dislike USGBC's 3rd Try To Write Rules on LEED Points

The two major green certification groups for lumber are continuing to attack--for much different reasons--the U.S. Green Building Council's third attempt to create a system by which multiple wood certification schemes would qualify for points under the LEED rating system.
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Builders See Customization as the Key to Riding Out the Recession

Historically, home builders have fallen into one of two camps: custom craftsmen specializing in one-of-a-kind homes or volume builders who build houses en masse, and have fine-tuned their systems and pro formas to a T. But all that’s changing now. Thanks to digital technology, we’ve entered an era of hyper automation and extreme personalization. Even in these lean times, buyers still crave tailored spaces that look and feel like unique expressions of themselves. But they don’t want to get bogged down by minutiae when it comes to selections, and they don’t want to pay the premiums associated with custom design. (BUILDER)
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WebbThreads

• Arrowhead Building Supply plans to open a branch in Hollister, Mo., next month, a local newspaper reports. Story
• ABC Supply Co. has won the Gallup Great Workplace Award for the fourth straight year. In addition, the company Jeff Farrell controller of manufacturing operations.
• Richard V. Wolohan, who founded and led Wolohan Lumber Co., one of America's 10 biggest LBM operations before becoming part of what is now ProBuild, died last Wednesday, The Saginaw (Mich.) News reported. Story
• Foxworth-Galbraith recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Deming, N.M., location. Story
• Happy 50th birthday to Michigan’s Spring Arbor Lumber. Story
• Amarillo Hardware, a distributor based in Texas, has closed.
• The Lumber Association of California and Nevada has joined a coalition that promotes an initiative seeking the temporary suspension of AB 32, the state law requiring California to reduce emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. The initiative would suspend implementation of AB 32 until the state’s unemployment rate is at 5.5% or before for four consecutive quarters. It’s now at 12.4%.
• James E. Hershey joined Buck Lumber & Building Supply in Charleston, S.C., as a vice president of sales and operations.
• Richard C. Post joined Wolf, the distributor, to serve as sales manager for New England and upstate New York.
• Housing construction fell in February as winter blizzards held down activity in the Northeast and South. Starts fell 5.9% from January but were just ahead of the Feburary 2009 rate. Story

• Activant Solutions announced it has completed the initial installation of Activant Catalyst software at 15 US LBM locations in Wisconsin, Connecticut, and New York.
• Propex Operating Co., maker of the Opus Roof Blanket, signed its first stocking dealer: Marvic Supply of Doylestown, Pa. Marvic serves eastern Pennsylvania, central New Jersey and northern Delaware.
• Fiberon introduced the new Inspirations Railing System, which it says gives homeowners customizable options and is engineered to cut assembly time.
• Bellavita Tile has revamped its Website, www.bellavitatile.com.
• Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. unveiled the Hackzall M18 Cordless One-Handed Recip Saw.
• CertainTeed Gypsum introduced BIM objects for building, design and construction professionals’ use in project design, specification and scheduling.
• L.S. Starrett introduced the ProSite 505P-7 Miter Saw Protractor.
• Masco Cabinetry will unite and move its corporate headquarters to Ann Arbor, Mich. Its brands include KraftMaid, Merillat, and QualityCabinets, plus several private label product lines and DeNova countertops.
• Dow Building Solutions announced it has converted its Riverside Plant in Pevely, Mo., to produce its new zero ozone-depleting , no-VOC foaming agent technology.

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And don't forget you can find previous ProSales Business Updates online!