Cost-Effective Green a Trend to Watch

The key to the mainstreaming of green is to make sure that consumers understand the value of green upgrades-and exactly how costeffective that sustainable construction can be in the long run, according to a panel of green building experts at the National Association of Home Builders' recent International Builders Show in Las Vegas. Nv.

Builders, remodelers and product manufacturers are beginning to green their processes and incorporate more energy-, water-, and resource-efficient features. They are learning how to reduce waste on the job site to save enough money to pay for these upgrades-and help ensure that the builder makes a profit, said consultant Steve Bertasso.

Green building appears to have reached the tipping point, evidenced by its moving out of the custom home market into high-production homes, he said. "This year is going to be a big change in the production [building] environment. Consumers are asking questions they didn't ask two and a half years ago and contractors are makins better decisions."

The key to reducing the nation's energy use is to green existing homes, said Philip Beere, who is remodeling distressed properties near Phoenix's new rapid transit line. Adding insulation, improving the ventilation and air conditioning systems and replacing turf grass with landscaping more appropriate to the Southwest's desert climate doesn't cost much more than a traditional remodel, but "retrofitting these homes to be green is a good solution," he said.

Connecticut home builder Jim Pepitone called himself a "late adopter," but one who has finally seen the green light-and believes the rest of the industry can't be far behind. Builders need to educate consumers on air sealing, the importance of righr sized heating systems and good insulation, and the advantages of rooms that can serve more than one purpose so the home can be smaller and less expensive, he preached. "We need to make sustainable attainable."

Parr Shares Ad Messages

Parr Lumber, Hillsboro, Or., hopes to collect royalty fees when the com- pany's award-winning advertising campaigns are sold to non-competing LBM dealers across the country.

"Everyone is frustrated by the recession, everyone wants to get going again, but they no longer have the internal resources," said Parr's former marketing director, Jennifer Swick.

She and her partner, Scott Ericson, spent the last l7 years developing advertising campaigns at Parr. Now they have started their own firm, Wheelhouse 20120,to help LBM companies survive by focusing on green. energy efficient, and sustainable building products. Pan will remain a client of Wheelhouse 20120 and collect a royalty fee for the program's use.

"It will be very important moving forward because you have to cut through the noise in a disappearing or shrinking market," said Rick Davis, president of Building Leaders Inc., a Chicago-based sales and training consultant.

"I think they have a good business model," said Davis, who has judged building industry advertising campaigns. "What we're looking for is an idea worth stealing. There's no danger of repeating the same message if you're in a different state."

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Flardwood Lumber & Pine

Flardwood Plywood &Veneers

Melarnine Plywood

Flardwood Moulding (alder, cherry, rnahogany, MDF, rnaple, red oak, paint grade, pecan hickory, white oak, walnut, beech)

. Milling (moulding profiles, S2S, SLRIE, SLR2E, & resawn lumber)

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Terry Haddix, general mgr.. ProBuild, Santa Cruz, Ca., has retired after more than 30 vears at the yard.

Bob .Jirsa has bccn named v.p.-government relations for Plum Creek Timber, Seattle, Wa. John Hobbs is now v.p.-investor relations, and Dan Tucker. v.p.-tax.

Cadian Hendricks was promoted to v.p.-store mgr. of Arrow Lumber & Hardware. Port Townsend. Wa.

Allan Hoblitt, ex-Riley Creek, is now with Durk Wholesale Lumbcr, Hayden Lake, Id.

Ed Cunningham has been prttmoted to lurnber salcs m-{r. at Rough & Ready Lumber. Cave Junction. Or.

Al Marsh. ex-Shcrwood Lumber, has joined the trading staff at Western International Forest Products. Portland. Or.

Bosed in Annopolis, MD, Fletcher Wood Solutionso is the lorgest monufocturer of defect-{ree, oppeoronce grode rodiotc pine products in New Zeolond. Distributing our cleor boords, mouldings, LIFESPAN@ treoted wood, ond lumber to the North Americon morket through our proven ond completely integroted supply choin, Fletcher Wood Solutions@ mointoins direct occess to one of the lorgest FSC certifiedo pine plcntotion forests in the world.

Chuck Whitaker. ex-North Pacific. is now v.p.-finance at Capital Lunrber. Phoenix, Az. Jarrett Deschenes. ex-Stock Building Supply. is now a marketing spccialist in Chino, Ca. Rich Price, exHuttig Building Products, is a new account mgr. in Spokanc Valley, Wa. ]ITTCHER.

Scott Rimmer. ex-Forest Grove Lumber. is new to sales at Disdero Lumber, Clackamas. Or.. handling Douglas fir timbers and clistributittn sales.

Ronald D. Head has joined Quest Construction Products. Phoenix. Az.. to lcad its national accounts business.

Michael Mordell has been named executive v.p.-purchasing f'or Universal Forest Products. rcplacing David Phelps, who is retirin-t.

Bob Burnie has retired afier 40 ycars in thc industry. including 30 ycars with Taiga Building Products. Burnaby, B.C.

Scott Boates has bcen promoted to mgr.-sales & marketing at Teal Ccclar Shakc & Shingle. a division of The Teal-Jones Group, Surre y, B.C. Kevin Tisdall is a new sales/marketing rep in the samc div ision.

Bud DeFlaviis has been appointed executive director lor the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council. Washington. D.C.

Papa Wheely is now in charge of driver training for Mungus-Fungus Forest Products. Climax. Nv.. according to co-owners Hugh Mungus and Freddy Fungus.

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*"{ a nc{ $t*$r{ .frer: n rr o"* t { i, j Home Depot will invest morc than $60 millionits biggest capital investment in 20 l0in handheld devices that will help employees stock shelves. make telephonc calls, and ring up e u\t()nlcr transl( ti()ns anywhere in the store.

"This is the first big cr-tstomer-scrviee tool wc've given our ussoe iates itt a ver)' long tirne." said Matt Carey, who was hired away from Ebay in 2008 to become Depot's chief inlbrmation ofTiccr. "lf you compare us to a world-class retailer. f'rom a technology perspective 199 I is kind of where we ars pegged."

For the past l0 years. the chain's employees have rnanaged inventory with computers powered by motorboat batteries on rolling carts. In contrast, Lowe's has used handheld wireless technology in its stores since 1995.

Starting this spring, each of Depot's 2,000 U.S. stores will receive at least five of the Motorola deviceswhich combine mobile-telephone calling, walkie-talkie communications among employees, and inventory management in a single device. With an attachment, the device can process credit and debit cards, allowing purchases to be made away from the checkout registers.

"With the way things are going in the economy, it's better for a retailer to invest in a customer-facing technology than a back-end technology where they may not see a rate of return as quickly," said researcher Sahir Anand.

The device used at Lowe's is similar to Depot's. Employees in any department can start customer purchases that cashiers complete by typing in shoppers' phone numbers. Lowe's does not use the credit-card processing function because of concerns over possible theft of transaction information over the wireless network.