Ten senators have urged the federal Office of Management and Budget to help make certain it will be possible 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. More
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., urged the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay the April 22 implementation date of a new rule intended to reduce the creation of lead dust when renovation occurs in homes built before 1978. More
We're coming out of the busiest time of year for introducing new products and deciding which should be on your shelves, and this season certainly didn't disappoint. After a recession-induced slowdown in product rollouts, the flurry of new goods we saw displayed at the International Builders' Show signaled that companies are ready to advance thescience of homebuilding with products that are cheaper, greener, and more targeted to contractors' specific needs. Similarly, our Editors' Choice awards showcase--highlighting the best products introduced in the past year--abounds in innovative yet practical thinking. Now it's your turn to decide which products should go on display in your yard. And to help in that process, we lead off this special report with advice on the best ways to pick and then sell new products. More
Stock Building Supply Holdings LLC hired Nigel Stobart as vice president of sales. Stobart, formerly senior vice president and chief operating office for Wire One Communications, will lead Stock's sales teams as well as sales-related initiatives. More
ProBuild announced it has reorganized itself into six regions and created a new "shared services" model that controls where decisions get made in America's largest LBM operation. ProBuild also tacitly revealed it has eliminated roughly 80 facilities in the past 15 months. More
John was a well-qualified, substantial lead. He walked through our door the fi rst thing Friday morning, and I became very upset about it. More
Long an outlet for designers and homeowners to express their personal aesthetics,... More
It's the LBM equivalent of the old phrase Think globally, act locally. For dealers, this means that local housing demand isn't the only factor driving prices for many building materials these days. Dealers also need to keep an eye on currency fluctuations, production capacity, global demand, trade agreements, and the cost of crude oil. Copper and steel prices are high right now because of global demand for metals, not U.S. home building, says Bernie Markstein III, director of forecasting for NAHB Economics in Washington. At the same time, a new and looser (if not completely open) trade deal regarding Canada's lumber exports into the U.S. has, with housing's slowdown, helped drive lumber prices to their lowest level in five years. More
Door hardware has become jewelry, and finish and style choices have become a... More
