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Asset-based loans can be a valuable lifeline to dealers in profit-challenged times.
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Before you go out seeking cash, survey the capital landscape, Matt Ogden says.
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Even as we recover from the housing crash, we should keep in mind some key lessons that can help us prospect in the future.
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This whitepaper, commissioned by ECI Advantage, addresses types of financing available to dealers when housing market indicators are down, the cost and risks associated with different kinds of financing, and recommendations for contacting potential financing sources.
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Survey: America's biggest builders have been increasing their share of the nation's home sales.
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Even as new construction lags, dealers shy from expanding their install services to remodeling.
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The differences between one-steppers and lumberyards aren't always big, but they may be worth copying.
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Risk. Reward. Putters. Plywood. It's all the same for the Ganahl family and, for that matter, just about everyone who ends up thriving at Ganahl Lumber, the Orange County, Calif.-based construction supply juggernaut that is ProSales' newest Dealer of the Year.
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Just over two years ago, Chris Costello left his position as vice president of a Gloucester, Mass., building material dealer and purchased Timberline Enterprises, a small lumberyard nearby that was flying under the radar.
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Got a margin policeman? If not, your LBM operation could be letting profits slip away, veteran lumberyard manager Don Magruder says. Here are his tips on how to enforce pricing margins.
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As the economy continues to sputter, expect as well a continued slowdown in decision-making.
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A new web site is looking to connect suppliers with contractors that are hoping to save money and find the best price available for materials.
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Tom Wolf ran his family's company, The Wolf Organization of York, Pa., from 1985 to 2006, when he sold controlling interest and got involved in politics. Now he's back, as chairman and CEO as well as as an investor. Here's how the head of this distribution and p.r. operation views the landscape.
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Legendary country music songwriter Harlan Howard called what he did "three chords and the truth." That formula might seem overly simple, but Howard found enough complexity in it to pen more than 4,000 songs. One of them, a hit half a century ago, could provide the soundtrack for LBMs' financial...
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The housing and credit crises are compromising efforts by some pro dealers to keep open lines of communications and credit with their banks, especially now that there's not much borrowing or lending going on.
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Golf pro-turned-lumberman Steve Chelf and his big brother Dave run a yard 220 miles southwest of Denver amid a half-dozen mountain peaks that top 14,000 feet. Here's how he adjusts to the area's ever-changing climate.
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A combination of financial, ownership, and competitive factors could combine with pressure to innovate that could yield a major realignment within the building supply chain when the housing industry recovers, the consulting group Principia Consulting predicts in a recently published analysis of the...
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New year's resolutions can be stark and depressing things, ashes from the rosy warmth of the holiday season. Many prove so uncomfortable or unworkable they get tossed within the month. But here are some resolutions I hope you'll consider following throughout this year.
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Scherer Brothers Lumber in Minnesota could be the poster child for pro dealers that find themselves in extreme survival mode. Housing starts in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metroplex have plummeted more than 80% from only a few years ago. That falloff necessitated a "disaster recovery plan," as COO...
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The president and CEO of a large Southeast LBM operation has been quoted as saying that his installed sales program adds 11% to the bottom line each and every month. Other clients of mine feel the same way. As a side note, 80% of my business this past year has been working one on one with LBM...