Wisconsin Retail Lumber Association Inc.
Serving the retail lumber industry in Wisconsin and the Michigan U.P.
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Wisconsin Retail Lumber Association Inc. Serving the retail lumber industry in Wisconsin and the Michigan U.P.
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Send mail to wrla@wrlamsi.com with questions or comments about this web site.
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The housing industry continued to struggle in May, as statistics released by the Census Bureau show. Overall, housing starts fell 3.3 percent, to a seasonally adjusted rate of 975,000, compared to the previous month. Year-over-year, total starts are running 32.1 percent behind May 2007.
Permits, a forward-looking indicator of building activity, also slowed. Compared to April’s figures, total building permits dipped 1.3 percent, to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 969,000. This level of activity is more than one-third (36.3 percent) slower than the same time last year, thanks to a housing market struggling with oversupply.
In terms of single-family numbers, those permits sank 4 percent to 623,000. That represents an (ouch) 41.4 percent year-over-year drop. Regionally, single family building activity as measured by permits dropped everywhere but the West, which posted a 0.7 percent gain.
“The numbers point to further drops in single-family housing starts over the next two months nationally and in three of the four regions,” predicted Patrick Newport, a U.S. economist with Global Insight, a research firm in Lexington, Mass., who believes permits are the figures worth watching. “The key statistics in this report are the single-family permit numbers, since these estimates have a small margin of error, are leading indicators of future housing activity, and are not influenced by weather nearly as much as starts,” he said.
Single-family starts also decreased in May, to a seasonally adjusted pace of 674,000 homes. While that qualifies as a yearly drop of more than 41 percent, it’s only a minor dip (1 percent) when compared to April 2008’s starts numbers.!
Certified Green Dealer Program
The Certified Green Dealer™ Program announced that eight regional lumber associations, including the WRLA, will now co-market the program to their members.
This program is a web based “distance learning” program which certifies that sales personnel at building material dealers have received training on green building techniques and green products.
Created under the auspices of LBM Journal, certification of lumber dealer locations is not affiliated with any particular national standards-setting organization. Certification of the lumber dealer is based entirely on demonstrated mastery by the lumber dealer personnel of “best practices” building science and green building basics. A lumberyard or building material dealer location can become a Certified Green Dealer if 75% of its sales personnel view a series of web-based training videos (and pass eight individual quizzes) about building basics, green building, and green building products.
To learn more about this program, click the link from the WRLA website –www.wrlamsi.com; call 877-LBM-GREEN, or email them at operations@LBMJournal.com! Flood Victims Several members have notified the WRLA office that their businesses have been affected by the recent floods here in Wisconsin. If you were a victim of these floods, please contact your insurance company, your local county government to see if there is any assistance for your business.
The Wisconsin Emergency Management website (www.emergencymanagemetn.wi.gov) is directing homeowners, renters and business owners who have sustained losses or damage and may be eligible for disaster aid to call FEMA at 1-800-621-3362 or go on-line at www.fema.gov.!
Under Water A weekend of heavy rain led to the 15th Annual WRLA golf outing scheduled for June 12th at Devil’s Head Resort, Merrimac, Wisconsin to be washed out. At this time the outing has not been rescheduled. Members will be notified if a new date is set. Thank you to all those who signed up for the outing and to this years sponsors. Sponsorship and registration fees have been returned.
Members are encouraged to attend the WRLA District golf outings. 4 WRLA District III Golf Outing-July 23rd at Cedar Creek Country Club Onalaska, Wisconsin. Contact Phil Hutchison, Amerhart (608) 781-1250 to register. 4 Southwestern WI Golf Outing-August 20th at Hickory Grove Golf Course, Fennimore, Wisconsin. Contact Jim Kolenberg, Jim’s Building Center (608) 822-3741 to register. 4 WRLA District IV /Amerhart Golf Outing- August 28th, 2008 at Timber Ridge Golf Club, Minocqua, Wisconsin. Contact Mike Graume, Amerhart (800) 236-2211 to register 4 Brown County Lumber Dealers & WRLA District II Golf Outing-September 15th, 2008 at Royal St. Patrick Golf Link, Wrightstown, Wisconsin. Contact Tom Glaser, Bay Lakes Mfg. Inc. (920) 434-0881 to register.!
2008 Scholarship Winner Congratulations to Matthew D. Theisen of Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, winner of the 2008 WRLA /Cloverland Scholarship.
Matthew is currently attending University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point pursuing a degree in business management. Matthew is the son of Theisen Lumber & Millwork Inc owner, Randall Theisen.
Funds used to start the WRLA/Cloverland Scholarship were donated by the former Cloverland Club, a group of lumber dealers in Northern Wisconsin and the Michigan U.P.
The WRLA Scholarship Committee would like to thank all the applicants who applied and encourage them to apply again in 2009. In 2009, the WRLA Scholarship will be open to all members in Wisconsin and the U.P. who have been a member in good standing for two or more years.!
Make Your Reservations Today! The WRLA is taking reservations for the tabletops at the 119th Annual Convention, February 11th & 12, 2009 at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. To receive show information call the WRLA office. Tabletops will be sold on a first come first serve basis.
The 2009 show will feature a limited number of hospitality suites and exhibitor “How To” seminars. These will be available on a first come first serve basis. If you would like to reserve one of the suites or seminar spots, please call the WRLA office 800-236-3534.!
Member Profile: Spruce Computer Systems Address: 9 Cornell Road, Latham NY 12110 Website: www.sprucecomputer.com Date Established: 1985 Key Personnel:
Spruce was originally founded in 2005 by a group of 19 lumber, hardware, and building material dealers who were having trouble finding software that met their need. Since then the company has become 70% employee-owned, and all the employee-owners have a vested interest in making sure their customers are happy with their software.
The company introduced SpruceWare NET, Spruce’s newest Windows-based information management software in 2006.
The response to SpruceWare.NET has been phenomenal, with nearly a hundreds companies (including chains as large as 44 locations) already taking advantage of their newfound ability to drill down into details and to easily look up needed information ranging from Spruce-produced documents to scanned tax exempt certificates, recorded voice mails, and internet-based MSDS pages. But Spruce didn't forget its roots in the lumber industry—inventory control is unmatched, and tally options, manufacturing, vendor imports like iQ and 20 20, and solid special ordering capabilities are just a few of the features included in the base software. Add to that the fact that the fully Windows-based package is easy to learn and easy to use, and it’s no wonder value-conscious dealers are embracing SpruceWare.NET! The design is centered on information management, ease of use and powerful functionality, and it takes full advantage of all that Windows has to offer. Customers have repeatedly reported that they can get more done in less time using the standard features of the software, and the money they save every day makes their return on investment impressively high.!
Associates Corner: Oppotunities Lost? by Associate Director, Shawn Klysen, Millwork Distributors Inc. IA little over a year ago, I discussed the potential business that would be gained by all of us through a more disciplined approach to the remodeling sector of our industry. Never at that time did I anticipate how prolonged the new construction downturn would continue to have a firm grasp on our economy. Furthermore, most predict that the current instability in new construction could continue well into 2009 nationally, as a well as, right here in Wisconsin. However, after attending a recent distributor conference that dedicated a substantial amount of time on the subject of remodeling growth, I find myself reflecting back on the article that I wrote back in 2007.
Within an industry that is facing some of the greatest challenges ever, due to the economic downturn, there are a number of potential “gold nuggets” that can be yielded by all of us from within. In that regard, consider these facts:
· 4Average age of a home in the U.S. in 2005 was 34 years old. This median age was recorded as the oldest in U.S. history. · 4Average age of a home in the Midwest is even older at 43 years of age and housing stock median in the Midwest will continue to go up at a rapid pace- The median year of build of the homes in the Midwest is 1965. · 4Home improvement spending on average only decreases slightly over the first five years after initial move in. After that point, annual investment on home improvement per year grows at an escalating pace as the home ages. This annual spending tops out between the 25th and 29th year of the homes’ life span at a dedication of nearly $1800 of yearly household income towards home improvement projects per year! · 4Energy sensitive remodeling projects are becoming one of the greatest expenditures today as Americans reinvest in their homes as they try to reduce/maintain the percentage of household income that is dedicated to energy costs. $23 billion was spent in 2005 alone on energy sensitive remodeling projects. These projects include window and door replacement as a major portion of the costs.
Well, after citing all of these statistics, I believe my point is fairly clear. As I stated earlier, remodeling presents each of us one of the “gold nuggets” that is waiting to be mined. However, we have developed a distinct pattern over the last number of boom years that has made it difficult for many to be able to effectively tap into the remodeling sector of the market. The glaring point that was impressed upon me in my recent study of the remodeling trade is how different new construction selling/service can be from remodeling selling/service. During the conference, there was a group of market leading, full service remodelers in attendance that stated in unison the importance of education, flexibility, quality, and service as the most important characteristics that they select a supplier off of. Never was price stated as a dominant factor in the decision-making of whom to purchase from. That information coincides with the data that shows that margins that are gained by dealers through their sales efforts to the remodeling sector offer equivalent percentages of margin dollars as is gained in the same store sales to retail walk in clients.
At this point, I hope that you have come to the point of asking yourself a question. How do I get a larger piece of the action? Here are a couple of opinions that I have in becoming more remodeling friendly within your organization: · 4Align with supplier partners that understand the remodeling niche, the opportunities they present, and have the flexibilities that this portion of the market demands. · 4Develop a remodeling aptitude within your organization. A remodeling aptitude is a better understanding of what is important to the remodeling contractor and how your company can best fulfill those expectations. · 4EDUCATE-EDUCATE-EDUCATE-this sector of the building supply business demands an even stronger knowledge base of product offerings and construction standards. · 4Give serious consideration to the development of a “remodeling sales specialist” within your organization to better approach this potential client. A “remodeling sales specialist” can more clearly understand the distinct needs of the remodeling client over the industry standard approach of having this client serviced through your general sales team.
In closing, considering the new construction outlook, it continues to be important to identify new avenues that will produce selling opportunities so that margins can not only be maintained, but also possibly grown. When evaluating market opportunities, it becomes glaringly clear that remodeling could be the path to that growth.!
In Memoriam John & Elaine Fleming John R. Fleming, age 88 of Richland Center, died on Monday, May 19, 2008. John was born on December 9, 1919 to Edward and Delia (Kurtz) Fleming. He proudly served his country in the United States Army, receiving numerous citations. John as a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Richland Center. John worked for Harris Building Center for 56 years, 46 of them as owner. He served as President of the WRLA and on the Advisory Board. John was a proud member of several community groups including the Richland Center Lions Club.
Elaine Fleming, age 80, died on Wednesday, May 21, 2008. Elaine was born October 29, 1927 to Ivan and Josephine (Landsness) Farness. John and Elaine married in 1952 at the St. John’s Lutheran Church where Elaine was a Sunday School and Bible School Superintendent for 40 years. She also served as the President of the WRLA Auxiliary.
John and Elaine are survived by one daughter, Jane Malz (Fiancé’ Jeff Root); four grandchildren; two great-grandchildren and other relatives.V
Position Wanted Accounting/Administration Position Wanted: I have a diverse background in business and accounting with business degree and also am an experienced woodworker. Have a knack for understanding numbers, putting organization to things, and handling details. Experienced in all areas of accounting including A/P, A/R, insurance, inventory, benefits, budgets, payroll, financials, taxes. Would like to join an organization and make a difference. Honest and trustworthy. Dale (262) 796-1940. Send us your news
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