March 31, 2010

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ABC Supply Reaffirms Its Heritage as It Plans a Robust Future

ABC Supply, the No. 3 company on last year's ProSales 100--and likely to rise to No. 2 this year--used its national meeting in February to declare a core purpose and vision that it has embraced for decades but never needed to write down while Ken Hendricks was CEO. In an exclusive interview with ProSales, ABC CEO David Luck also discussed the ambitious market goals ABC has set for the coming years, including robust branch growth and nearly a doubling of annual sales.
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Senators Seek OMB Involvement in EPA Lead Paint Rule

Ten senators have urged the federal Office of Management and Budget to help make certain that it will be possible for Americans to comply with a soon-to-be-enacted Environmental Protection Agency rule designed to control the spread of dust from lead paint when old homes are renovated. But the senators' list of suggestions only included at the end what LBM dealers would like to see done first: delay the rule's April 22 enforcement date. Dealers' hopes for a delay are complicated by the EPA's firm belief that dust from lead paint is a big environmental problem. A report Tuesday by New Hampshire Public Radio quotes James Bryson, the EPA official in New England charged with implementing the new lead rule, as saying: "If you're not doing this, you're not protecting your work area, you're releasing dust and debris in the work area, then you could have a child that could be lead poisoned. And that's something we don't want. No cost is too high for that."
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New Hampshire Public Radio Report

Canada’s Pine Beetle Damage Will Affect Lumber Prices for Decades, New Studies Suggest

Some new studies of the damage to British Columbia forests caused by the mountain pine beetle suggest the area’s timber industry will take the rest of this century to recover. The reports also indicate the lumber prices will begin shooting up in the middle of this decade. A blogger for Builder magazine believes one result will be even more pressure on home builders to implement value engineering, plus a scramble to put even more plastic and composite materials on homes.
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Three Exec Changes at Boston Cedar

Boston Cedar announced three executive changes today at the building materials distributor that take effect tomorrow. Co-founding partner Rob Ankner will take the newly created postiion of chairman, Joe Cusack will become president, and Paul Colliton will take Cusack's former title of vice president of sales and marketing.
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NILCO Moves into Indiana

National Industrial Lumber Co. has begun operating in Indianapolis, the 10th location for the Ohio-based wholesaler.
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Case-Shiller: Home Values Inch Upward in January

Home prices just barely moved upward in January, according to the monthly S&P/Case-Shiller data. Its 10-city composite index increased a seasonally adjusted 0.4% in January compared to the previous month. The 20-city composite, which covers those same 10 cities plus Atlanta, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Detroit, Minneapolis, Phoenix; Portland, Ore.; Seattle, and Tampa, saw an even smaller gain of 0.3% for the same time periods. (BUILDER)
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New-Home Sales Drop 2.2% in February

Commuting Costs Make 60% of All Communities Too Pricy, Study Finds

Even with market corrections bringing the cost of homes down in recessionary times, the United States remains in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. And a new study by the Chicago-based Center for Neighborhood Technology, some 48,000 American communities that are currently considered affordable to those making the median family income may actually not be affordable when you factor in the transportation costs necessary for homeowners to get to work, school, and the other locations that shape their daily lives. (BUILDER)
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Debate Over Sprinklers in New Homes Becomes a Hot Issue Across The Nation

The ongoing battle between builders and fire service officials over building codes that mandate the installation of fire sprinklers into new homes is being played out this spring in statehouses and courtrooms. Recently, Georgia’s House of Representatives voted for a bill prohibiting government agencies from requiring sprinklers in one- or two-family dwellings. (BUILDER)
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This Yard Pet Knows How To Get Around

The recent flooding in Fargo, N.D., got us to thinking about Cookie, a cat we met at Crane Johnson Lumber Co. This 7-year-old female first arrived at Crane Johnson’s Fargo headquarters when she was a few months old and was named for a former window shop employee. She’s such a part of the company that she has her own timecard and her own workplace—an inbox in the office for dispatcher/foreman Jeffrey Jevne. Cookie is pretty adventurous, Jevne says; last June, she climbed aboard a lumber load being shipped to a resort area 85 miles from Fargo, jumped off when the truck arrived, and ran away. Employees were so disconsolate they held a wake for her. But a month and a day later, she was found. She hasn’t roamed too far since and has returned to a contented, plump shape, thanks to a diet of cat food supplemented by the mice and birds she catches, kills, and leaves at Jovne’s door. “She’s probably used up a couple of lives now,” Jovne says.

WebbThreads

• Norvell & Wallace of Nashville, Tenn., has closed after 130 years in business, citing the housing slump. The facility has been purchased by new management that has renamed it Nashville Lumber Co. Story
• Somerville (Mass.) Lumber Co. has special reason to celebrate when it holds it annual Home and Deck Expo on April 17. It’s the company’s 75th anniversary year.
• The Arab (Ala.) Chamber of Commerce honored Arab Lumber and Supply with its 2010 Circle of Excellence Business Award. Story
• Two former Ply Mart employees created Barnett & Cheeves Building Materials in Coweta County, Ga., earlier this year. A recently published report says they’re relatively optimistic about their prospects.
• The Michigan Lumber and Building Materials Association has put its headquarters building in Lansing, Mich., up for sale. “Rest assured, there will be no lapse in your great MLBMA services and programs as a result of this decision,” MLBMA told members in an e-mail. “Rather, it is being done to make MLBMA stronger so that we can continue to enhance and expand our service offering.”
• Do it Best Corp. has deployed a mobile website for doitbest.com, the co-op’s e-commerce site. The mobile website will make it easier for smartphone users to shop online and find nearby Do it Best members.
• A number of industry groups are up in arm over President Barack Obama’s decision to appoint Craig Becker to the National Labor Relations Board. In doing so, Obama took advantage of rules that let him appoint people to federal jobs when the Senate is in recess. Becker is regarded as a staunch advocate of the Employee Free Choice Act, the so-called “card check” legislation that would make it easier for unions to organize workplaces.

Industry/Product Briefs

• Makita unveiled a 5-inch Random Orbit Sander that features a more powerful 3-amp motor an adjustable front handle.
• Wind-lock announced several weatherization solutions for Benjamin Obdyke: The Home Slicker, a vertically-channeled device that provides a continuous space for drainage and drying; Home Slick plus Typar; and Rainscreen Stone & Stucco, a rainscreen designed for use with manufactured stone, natural stone, stucco, and masonry.
• LifeTime Composites LLC, maker of LifeTime Lumber, added privacy fences and pergolas to its product line.
• Ultra Aluminum has created the Revolution Gate, a gate opener where the actuation mechanism is contained entirely within the frame, so movement of the gate has little to no effect on long-term performance. The sleek and efficient design can reduce the need for costly system maintenance and repair of the gate and operating mechanism, the company says.
• CertainTeed’s Restoration MillworkPVC Exterior Trim now meets ICC Evaluation Services code requirements for exterior trim used in residential and light commercial construction.
• PureWood expanded its product line to include additional railing components, two new profiles of fencing, and PureWood Porch Flooring.

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