business with alternative Growing your trim products

urethane pieces installed showed consistency of product appearance.

Repetitive use of built-up systems (for example, in town homes) will have more continuity and accuracy when using standardized urethane pieces.

. Jobsite waste was significantly less for the urethane products than the wood pieces.

f Ooxrr.rC FoR cRowrH opportunities for your business in tJ2Ol3? Search no further than your trim product offerings. During the past decade, alternative trim products such as PVC, polyurethane and composite products have become favorites with builders and remodelers, and for good reason.

Dollar for dollar, it's more cost effective to install alternative products on a home than wood. That's what exDerts at Market Resource Associates discovered when doing a hands-on comparison field study of professional contractors.

"Our research shows that contractors save on time and labor by installing urethane products versus using builfup traditional wood pine pieces," says John Cashmore, thenpresident of MRA. "Overall, using urethane products saved our research participants up to l9Vo on labor over a similar project that required wood product. We observed that using urethane products required less skill on the part of the professional installer and ensured a higher, repeatable quitity element than when wood was installed."

For the research project, a small group of trade contractor participants were asked to create two entryway surrounds-one from builrup wood pieces and the other from a Fypon urethane door surround kit. MRA findings in the study include:

Built-up wood systems require substantially more time and dedication toward measuring, re-measuring and checking than the urethane system pieces.

. The quality of work supplied by different contractors tremendously affects the look of the finished product. Those home exteriors in the study with wood built-up pieces showed dramatic inconsistency. Home exteriors witll

Installation skill level needed for installing urethane products was far less than for piecing together a built-up wood system. Thus, subcontractors may be able to more successfully work with the urethane pieces than the wood products.

Exterior Door Surrou nds

According to the independent research done by MRA, when analyzing an exterior enhancement project, urethane tops wood for savings. Installing a set of urethane plain fluted pilasters flanking an entry door and topping the door off with a crosshead costs an average ofjust $44 for labor and takes under an hour. To create the same door surround out of built,up wood is estimated to cost an average of $181 in labor and can take up to four hours for the same project.

By offering fast "out-of-the-box and onto the house" urethane products, building product dealers can provide their customers with products that speed up installation times and save on jobsite labor. The additional benefits of urethane products-which can include shutters, window surrounds, soffit systems, and mouldings-include resistance to decay, water damage, weather and insect infestations. The high-performing products are available in hundreds of styles from various manufacturers nationwide.

Many contractors already understand that urethane products are best for replacing built-up wood assemblies like crossheads, dentil moulding, window and door trim-anything with a three-dimensional profile. With urethane products there is also the ability to get one-of-a-kind custom pieces created that can set projects apart.

PVC on the Rise

For builders and remodelers looking for an alternative to wood, PVC is a strong fit for replacing flat wood stock or similar profiles. Long-term performance and appearance of PVC trim and board sheets are two of the most important attributes dealers can promote for these products. Since PVC products come with the oPtion of smooth or woodgrain surfaces, these products are widely accepted by contractors needing products that are easy to work with, and won't warp, split or check.

Some PVC manufacturers offer conveniently packaged PVC trim products that make it easy for dealers to offer the product to their customers. Manufacturers offer PVC trim profiles in a variety of popular stYles. The smooth profiles-including crown, base cap, brick mould, driP caP, historic sill, quarter round, rake moulding, rams crown, and Scotia cove mouldings-often come ready to use and easy to install.

Dealers can also offer millworkgrade PVC board products, including bead board, corners, sheets and boards, that come in easy-to-stock carton packaging. Each piece of PVC is individually shrink-wrapped and placed inside the carton to protect it from dirt and blemishes once the carton is opened. These pieces can be used for corner trim, fascia and soffit system applications, window and door casing, wainscoting and flat Panel applications.

PVC products are imPact- and moisture-resistant and do not have the potential to absorb water, making them an ideal long-term product for the interior or exterior of any project. The density and cell structure of the PVC allows the Product to cut smoothly without chipping, making it the perfect material for routing and milling. Dealers looking to stock PVC trim and board products should seek those offered by manufacturers that provide a limited lifetime waffanty on the oroduct.

A lurg" advantage of PVC Products is that they may be Placed directlY against masonry without fear of decay or water absorption. They have no above-grade distance requirement and they will never rot.

By Carla Waldemar