America's biggest home builders want you to share their pain. In fact, they're demanding it. Read more
Just how diverse are the working conditions for LBM dealers in these United States? To find out, ProSales trekked to yards perched on the four corners of the continental U.S. From National City to Madawaska, from the Florida Keys to the Emerald Kingdom, we found that when you want to sell building supplies, geography truly is destiny. Read more
Nearly a year after Microsoft introduced its latest operating system, IT consultants say small and midsize businesses can afford to wait to upgrade. Read more
Returns: One Reader's View of the Dangers of 'Big Men'
Craig Webb's "Little Big Man" column (Editor's Notes, October) urged LBM dealers to stop employing relatives or neighbors if they were doing so out of some obligation to be a community or family leader. That column prompted the letter below from a longtime LBM veteran. Because listing his name would make it easy to know who he's talking about, we're running this on a "name withheld" basis. Read more
Dan Coleman
Dan Coleman is well past the qualifying age for Social Security but still works 10-hour days running Zarsky Lumber Co., a 10-store operation that covers 300 miles down south Texas' Gulf coast and 200 miles up the Rio Grande Valley. Founded in 1928, Zarsky Lumber made much of its early income providing oil-field timbers and drilling mud for oil wells across south Texas. Coleman grew up in the business (his father was a partner of the founding Zarsky family), became president of the Victoria operation in 1976, then president of the entire company in 1985 when its six branches consolidated. Read more
Engineered Lumber
Whether claiming to be greener, straighter, or lighter, these engineered lumber products boast improvements over solid wood and other lumber of their kind. Read more
Manufacturing
While the down housing market affects its customers, manufacturing equipment makers want to help them increase cost savings. Reduced manual labor, money-saving buying options, more flexibility, and faster production aim to give building component manufacturers more value in investments and more incentive to buy expensive technology. Read more
Editor's Pick / People Read more