Vol. 8, No. 22– October 26, 2009

The “Fall Fling” is the Annual meeting of MLA members. Thanks to members’ enthusiastic response, we are continuing this outstanding event and it keeps getting better every year.

This year’s seminar on Friday, November 6, will be “Make Your Spot Shine” – presented by Phil Mitchell, of Discovery-Based Retail.

If you haven’t signed up for the Fall Fling, do it today! Members can attend at no charge – while the registration fee for nonmembers is $225 each.

Your meeting registration includes a meet-and-greet reception on Thursday, November 5, followed by dinner at the Plaza, hosted by your suppliers. The next day brings you breakfast, an inspiring seminar to help you turn your store into a “sales machine,” wrapped up by lunch.

We provide the venue for you to visit with other dealers, learn from each other, and commiserate over the past year. Let’s get together and talk about the good times to come!

For more information, call Olivia at 800-747-6529, or visit our web site at www.TheMLA.com.

NLBMDA ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM

The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) today announced its new leadership team installed on October 7 at the ProDealer Industry Summit in Phoenix, Ariz. At the association’s annual meeting, the NLBMDA Board of Directors elected Daniel Fesler, CEO of Lamperts in St. Paul, Minn., as the association’s new chairman, replacing outgoing Chairman Paul Hylbert of Pro-Build Holdings in Denver, Colo.

“I look forward to serving as the NLBMDA chairman and continuing the efforts of the association to strengthen the industry and its members,” said Fesler. “We certainly have a number of challenges before us with the current state of the economy and our industry. I believe NLBMDA has served the lumber and building material industry well through some of the most difficult times in the history of this industry. We will continue to focus on our strengths in the coming year and continue the tradition of being a strong voice and advocate for the industry in Washington.”

Fesler serves as Chief Executive Officer of Lamperts, a regional lumber and building material company selling predominantly to the professional builder and remodeler with 34 locations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota and South Dakota. Lamperts is a family-owned business that began in Sleepy Eye, Minn. in 1887. Fesler is the fourth generation owner of the company and has been overseeing operations since 1994.

“I’m excited to have Dan take the reins of NLBMDA as chairman. His depth of knowledge about the critical issues facing the industry coupled with his passion for the business will be an incredible asset for the association as we move NLBMDA to the next level during this critical economic time for dealers,” said NLBMDA President Michael O'Brien. “I also want to acknowledge the key role that Paul Hylbert played over the past year in moving the association forward and for his strong leadership and commitment to NLBMDA. We could not have gotten to this point without his steady hand and vision for the association.”

In addition to Fesler, the other members of the 2009-2010 NLBMDA Executive Committee are:

Chair-Elect: Joseph Collings, Ferguson Lumber Corp., Rockville, Ind.
Vice Chair: Cally Coleman Fromme, Zarsky Lumber Co., Victoria, Texas
Treasurer: Linda Nussbaum, Kleet Lumber Co., Huntington, N.Y.
Manufacturers & Services Council Chair: Bill Pohl, Princeton Delivery Systems, Canal Winchester, Ohio
Federated Association Executives Chair: Geri Adams, Mountain States Lumber & Building Material Dealers Association, Englewood, Colo.

Immediate Past Chair: Paul Hylbert, Jr., Pro-Build Holdings, Denver, Colo.
President: Michael O'Brien, NLBMDA, Washington, D.C.

A NEW SCAM

Thanks to Northwestern Lumber Association, we received a copy of this warning from a building material dealer in Iowa:

I took a phone call this morning from a Matthew from Empire Co. thanking me for our business last year, and he wanted to assure me that the prices for their products were not going to change this upcoming year. As a token for their gratitude, they were sending two gift cards from Starbucks coffee shop to me and one other employee here. He then told me that in addition to the gift cards, he was also sending a case of 2” clear packaging tape, “that you use.” I asked him how long Empire has been selling packaging tape, and he said it’s one of the many things they sell. After giving him my name, and our shipping address, he then asked for a purchase order, or a reference for the tape. I then confronted him on the tape again, and asked why he would need a P.O. for a gift. He then said that it would be used if you decided to buy some tape. I asked one more time, about a purchase order and he then hung up.

Unfortunately, we need to be careful about every phone call, every order, every customer – know your customers and your suppliers. And, be sure that everyone at your company is aware of potential scams.

SAVE THE DATE

Nov. 5-6 – MLA Fall Fling – Kansas City, Mo.

Jan. 7-8 – MLDAC Winter Meeting – Columbia, Mo.

Jan. 14-15 – KYL Dealer Winter Meeting – Pratt, Kan.

March 15-17 – NLBMDA Legislative Conference, Washington, D.C.

Call the MLA Office – 800-747-6529 – for additional information or email: mail@themla.com

LUMBER NEWS – QUICK GLIMPSES

Pursuit of LEED Ratings Could Lead to Contract Disputes… As property owners embrace energy-saving practices in their construction projects – and spend more money to achieve the cachet of having a building certified by the U.S. Green Building Council – some industry observers expect an inevitable increase in contract disputes if projects fall short of expectations. Pamela Lawton Wilson, an attorney with Wertz McDade Wallace Moot & Brower in San Diego, says drafting contracts between development stakeholders takes unique knowledge about LEED responsibilities and understanding the role of all parties. Read more.

Source: San Diego Business Journal & NLBMDA Green Update, October 12, 2009

White House Eyes Extending Home Buyer Tax Credit… Amidst growing concerns in the Administration and Congress over worrisome prospects for reducing the nation’s lengthening unemployment lines and further strengthening the economy as it moves tentatively toward recovery, Washington turned a sharper focus last week on extending the current $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers beyond its Nov. 30 expiration date and expanding it to a wider circle of principal home buyers.

NAHB estimates conservatively that the current tax credit has been responsible for some 200,000 additional home sales since early this year, resulting in a net increase of 187,000 jobs. Extending the tax incentive through Nov. 30, 2010 and making it available to all income-qualified purchasers of a principal residence would result in an additional 383,000 home sales and generate 347,000 new jobs in the coming year, according to NAHB economists.

Source: Nation’s Building News, NAHB, October 12, 2009

TAKE ACTION:

Click here to quickly send an email message to your Senators asking them to support the Isakson amendment to expand and extend the home buyer tax credit. If you've already emailed your legislators, please place a follow-up phone call to their offices to reiterate the urgency of acting now. Call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected to your state's senators, and ask to speak to the aide for housing issues.

Timber Sales in Oregon to Go Forward… On Wednesday, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar made clear that Oregon mills will remain in operation and timber harvests from federal lands in Western Oregon will go forward even as the Obama administration develops a new long-term plan for forest management in the United States. The timber sales, 62 in all, represent 230 million board feet.

Source: LBM Daily, October 16, 2009

Shingles Are Gold Mine for Thieves… Workers at Bradco Supply Corp. arrived one morning to find someone severed the heavy chain locks on the security fence at the Fort Worth shingle supply warehouse. Inside, empty wooden pallets were splintered and scattered across the floor. They'd been robbed. Again.

Thieves have targeted Bradco Supply locations so much in recent months that company officials decided to add a unique splash of paint to the shingles' packaging to help police track down the stolen roofing material. Read more.

Source: Thanks to Member Chris Cleaver for sending us the link to this article.

Drop Off in Home Improvement Sales Steeper than Retail in General… Home improvement retailers in the United States have been taking the biggest hit in their business this year compared to stores selling other products, according to the latest estimates released by the Commerce Department.

In September, sales generated by building material, supply and garden equipment outlets were off just over 13% from the same month a year ago, to a seasonally adjusted $23.3 billion. That compares to a 6.4% drop, to $306.3 billion, for all retail outlets, excluding food outlets and those selling cars and auto parts.

Through the first nine months of 2009, all retail stores saw their sales decline by 9.9%, to just under $2.7 trillion. Home improvement retailers, on the other hand, saw their nine-month sales fall by 12.2% to a seasonally adjusted $219.8 billion.

Source: NRHA eNewsletter, October 17, 2009

Legislation Introduced to Tie Tax Credit for Windows, Doors and Skylights to Energy Star… On October 15, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) introduced legislation that would modify the existing tax credit for energy efficient windows, doors and skylights for 2010 by tying it to established ENERGY STAR® standards for fenestration products. The current $1,500 tax credit, passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), limited the tax credit to windows, doors and skylights “equal to or below a U-factor of 0.30 and SGHC (solar heat gain) of 0.30,” commonly known as the “.30/.30 standard.”

There has been a great deal of confusion over the one-size-fits-all approach of the current tax credit, which fails to recognize that different regions of the country require different standards to achieve improved energy efficiency depending on climate. Established ENERGY STAR® standards have different requirements for four different regions.

Further, the current tax credit tied to the 30/30 standard effectively eliminates skylights from even qualifying for tax credits. Skylights are installed in a non-vertical application, and are also tested that way. They also project above the plane of the roof, unlike windows, which are installed in the plane of the wall. Because of this, their U-factor is higher than windows of identical construction. In addition, skylights are installed expressly to admit daylight. The 0.30 SHGC is actually too dark in the northern zones of the country and eliminate beneficial solar heat gain.

Specifically, the Rockefeller-Grassley bill (S.1792) would replace the .30/.30 standard for the tax credit and replace it with the 2010 ENERGY STAR® standards for windows, doors and skylights. It would apply to purchases in 2010.

Source: NLBMDA E-Update, October 19, 2009

More Signs of Recovery… The decline in consumer spending on home renovation projects is tapering off, and remodeling activity should start to pick up early next year, according to a just-released study by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The quarterly forecast pointed to several positive signs that could boost home improvement spending, causing a reversal in annual declines by the second quarter of 2010.

Favorable financing costs – for those households with access to credit – and a pickup in homes sales are producing more opportunities for home improvement projects,” said Kermit Baker, director of the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies. He noted, however, that several factors still impede remodeling growth. “A generally weak housing market with unstable prices, near-record levels of foreclosures and other distressed sales are discouraging households from undertaking nonessential remodeling projects.”

Source: ProDealer Digest, Home Channel News, October 21, 2009

Phony Press Conference Confuses Everyone… New details have emerged on Monday’s phony press conference held at the National Press Club in which activists, purporting to be employees of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, announced a reversal in the Chamber’s stance on climate change legislation.

According to media reports, The Yes Men, a group known for impersonating corporate leaders and for swindling reporters, staged the event, held in the Press Club’s Zenger Room.

Posing as a fictitious Chamber spokesman, activist Andy Bichlbaum, using the name Hingo Sembra, said the Chamber would immediately cease lobbying against the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, the bill sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.).

Attending the event were phony news reporters and real reporters, including one from The Washington Post. The event was posted on a YouTube video, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D67LYEacBoE) including the visible bewilderment that ensued when real Chamber spokesman Eric Wohlschlegel, who had been alerted by reporters, arrived on scene.

Source: CEO Update, October 20, 2009

Foreclosures Rise 5% from Summer to Fall… The number of households caught up in the foreclosure crisis rose more than 5% from summer to fall as a federal effort to assist struggling borrowers was overwhelmed by a flood of defaults among people who lost their jobs. The foreclosure crisis affected nearly 938,000 properties in the July-September quarter, compared with about 890,000 in the prior three months, according to RealtyTrac. That puts foreclosure-related filings on a pace to hit about 3.5 million this year, up from more than 2.3 million last year. Read more.

Source: ProSales Business Update, October 21, 2009

The Crunch Continues… While five committees in the House and Senate worked on health care bills, other lawmakers were busy with legislation that could keep them in session until mid-December. Fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills were moving slowly – four of 12 had been finalized and the government was operating on a short-term continuing resolution that will expire at the end of the month. Despite continuing to say they would complete the 12 bills, House and Senate leaders began drafting another continuing resolution and admitted that a year-end omnibus bill was not out of the question. In addition, President Obama wants action on climate change and financial regulatory reform.

Source: NRHA eNewsletter, October 25, 2009

Existing Home Sales Shoot Up… Existing home sales rose 9.4% in September, the highest level in over two years. The median sale price was $174,900, the smallest decline in over a year.

Housing starts also rose in September, to 590,000. This total was 20,000 units lower than analysts expected.

Source: LBM Daily, October 26, 2009

New EEO Form… The EEOC has revised its “Equal Employment Opportunity is the Law” poster. This new version reflects current federal employment discrimination law (including the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008). The poster was revised to add information about the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, which is effective November 21, 2009. The revised poster also includes updates from the Department of Labor.

We have attached two poster options for you. One is the supplement poster that can be posted in addition to the existing “Equal Employment Opportunity is The Law” poster. This supplemental post will work for those of you who have the “all in one” federal poster. The second attached poster is the revised EEO Law posting that will replace the current poster.

Source: Essential Corporate Solutions, October 26, 2009

SUCCESSFUL DISTRIBUTORS PURCHASE HARDWARE HOUSE CO.

Leading hardlines distributors Blish-Mize Co. of Atchison, Kan. and House Hasson Hardware of Knoxville, Tenn. have acquired Hardware House Products Company to form Hardware House LLC.

Hardware House, initially launched in 1999, provides retailers with a diverse product offering and an alternative to brand-name products, offering better margins to the retailer.

Hardware House was purchased from HHH Acquisition Co. which recently bought the assets of the bankrupt Moore-Handley. Hardware House was a subsidiary of that company.

“Hardware House now has the stability and strength to move forward because of this acquisition,” said John H. Mize, President and CEO of Blish-Mize Co. “We are now able to offer retailers one of the broadest private label lines in the marketplace.”

Jonathan Mize, EVP and COO of Blish-Mize Co., has been appointed President and COO of Hardware House LLC. He has experience with the product line, as Blish-Mize Co. is a master distributor of HH Products as is House-Hasson. “Hardware House offers high-quality products, representing many of the major product line categories. All of the products are offered in professionally produced assortments or can be purchased individually,” said Mize.

The Hardware House product assortment includes builder’s hardware, cabinet hardware, lighting, ceiling fans, bath hardware, plumbing, hand tools, power tool accessories, locks, paint tools and vinyl flooring among other offerings.

Navigating Employment Practices Exposures

Do you feel as if you’re navigating through a “perfect storm” in the waters of employment-related practices liability (ERPL)? The challenging economy, rising unemployment rates, and recent legislation have alerted savvy business owners to the importance of evaluating their employment practices exposure.

Federated not only offers one of the finest ERPL policies in the insurance industry, we are positioned to help support our clients with their efforts to establish and maintain a productive, non-discriminatory workplace. We have teamed up with The AGOS Group, LLC, to give our ERPL policyholders access to AGOSNET^®.

What is AGOSNET?

AGOSNET is a Web-based program that provides our ERPL policyholders with a variety of resources and services related to employment practices:

§ Risk management tools applicable to their specific businesses.

§ Call Center staffed by risk management professionals. AGOSNET’s representatives, although not attorneys, can provide effective risk management strategies for preventing or managing workplace risks.

§ Online training for frontline managers and supervisors that can maximize loss prevention and minimize workplace litigation.

§ Online employee-training modules, including:

− Conflict Resolution

− Harassment

− Tolerance

− Workers Compensation

− Workplace Diversity

− Workplace Safety

− Workplace Theft

− Workplace Violence

With help from AGOSNET and Federated, our ERPL policyholders can develop a risk management program to both prevent and protect against employment-related claims. Contact your Federated^® representative if you’re interested in more information.

This article provided courtesy of Federated Mutual Insurance Company, your association’s recommended insurer.

MLA is proud to endorse….