Hot products in decking

By Kim and Linda Katwijk

tTHE excitement was thick in the air I- as the deck, dock and railing community gathered in Las Vegas for Deck Expo 2007, co-sponsored by the North American Deck & Railing Association (NADRA).

Energy was high with 165 companies represented and 2,149 attendeesall professionals.

So what were the hottest of the hot products? As I walked the show floor, many products caught my eye, but to give you a broader perspective I asked fellow deck builders to tell me what caught theirs.

Mike Seden, Nedes Construction, Kennesaw, Ga.

These are the items I found at Deck Expo 2007 that will meet my deck building needs:

. Decklok brackets help prevent deck, railing and stair collapse. The patented bracket system secures all critical connections, deck to building as well as stair and rail post components to the deck. Decklok meets IRC 2006 code requirements for lateral pullout and rail stability, while achieving up to 7,5O0Vo stronger deck connections. Available in code-compliant hot dip galvanized or 304 and 316 stainless steel, they are simple to install and cost less than other rail and joist brackets currently available.

. Trex has a new deck board, Contours. It has a more dramatic, deep grain look. My customers are going to love the rustic wood texture of this composite.

. SteelDeck framing systems also caught my attention. If someone is spending a high-dollar amount for a 25-year deck, why put it on something that will eventually rot? Steel joists offer a deck framing solution that is strong, durable, efficient, economical and easy to install. It is engineered specifically for use with outdoor decks, and provides the perfect complement to any top surface decking.

. Another hot item was DeckTools Software. It had a crowd around its booth three to four people deep all throughout the show. This program has quickly become the best-looking, fastest and easiest-to-use deck design and sales software tool available. The unique DeckTools 3-D Materials Library enables a product placement experience far more personal and engaging than anything I've been able to provide in print, tv, or on the Web.

It is the ultimate sales tool for dealers, suppliers and contractors. The customer can see the impact that an upgraded product has on the design.

Matt Gard, Deck-Pros, Inc., Evanwille, In.

DeckTools design software was the big talk of the expo. The industry has long needed 3-D CAD software with the functions that DeckTools provides.

I was also interested in a few deck drainage systems by Rain Escape and the Below Deck Systems by Spectra. Adding this type of product is an easy way to expand our business, increase our bottom line, and add a useful "dry" outdoor living space for our clients.

Dan Troxel, Decks by Dan, Kansas City, Ks.

There were a couple of products I was most impressed by. ConectDeck CX allows us to replicate our style and designs as close to wood as possible. We like the woodgrain embossed surface and the hidden fastener channels. What we are most pleased with is the density of the product, which enables us to rip trim pieces to fit our styles of design. We also made arbor rafters from two pieces, back to back, with decorative ends.

TPW has a treatment to match the CX exactly, for treating the ends and edges we expose, breaking the factory CX surface.

Our company couldn't be more satisfied with the attention and customer service that has been extended to us by all the staff at CorrectDeck.

Swan Secure made us special colorized trim screws, l-314" with reverse treads and a #20 torque head, so we don't have to change bits or break them for different length screws. All of our customers have been extremely pleased with these products.

Rick Ashcraft, Fences and Decks, Provo, Ut.

For everyone from my company who attended Deck Expo, the thing that stood out most was the DeckTools program. Although we have owned this program for a number of years, we have never taken the time to become familiar with and use it. We left with a renewed excitement to begin using this powerful program.

You've heard from these fellows, now it's my turn. Hottest on my list was Calise Outdoor Kitchens. What makes Calise unique is that they have a modular system of unfinished cabinets. Each modular cabinet is covered with a flexible exterior of cement board. This makes them light and easy to deliver into any backyard.

The modular system allows you to design any shape and size of outdoor kitchen island with a complete line of stainless steel accessories such as gourmet grills, refrigerator and sinks, all the way down to the paper towel holders.

They are easy to level and assemble on any surface, including decks. Just add the exterior finish (which could be anything from stucco to stone), install countertops, insert the stainless steel accessories, and it's party timel I was so impressed with the quality and construction of these cabinets, I have become a dealer for them.

In the decking department, the introduction of Luxrae cellular vinyl composite decking was the talk of the show. Luxrae has hit an aesthetics home run with their exotic line of natural looking wood finishes in six different colors. Let me tell you, looks are everything with my clientele. Luxrae has incorporated nanotechnology into their Luxshield coating, which protects the surface from mois- ture, stains, scratches and UV rays.

Like other composites, cellular vinyl does not absorb solar heat. But unlike most other composites, there is no wood fiber in Luxrae's decking that could induce mold or hold grease stains. Luxrae has a 25-year limited warranty. I have already asked my local lumberyard to begin carrying it.

Tnnaro Building Products launched two new decking lines. EverGrain Vibrance collection features five new multi-colored deck boards with deep compression-molded wood grain texture. The new Elements extruded decking line will give a better price point for economically minded clients.

I've been using EverGrain decking for eight years. I recommend it first and foremost to my clients. I'm extremely happy with the reliability of the product and ease of working with this company.

In the railing department, Atlantis railing systems caught my eye with their clean contemporary lines of railing. They use a 2" polished stainless steel tube as their top rail with a unique and easy-to-use tumbuckle that holds horizontal stainless steel cables. This railing can fit between any types of posts, including wood, composite, vinyl and stainless steer.

The Atlantis Mariner line incorporates a polished stainless steel top and bottom rail with polished stainless steel balusters. This railing system will be going into many of my decks that look over the water.

As far as deck accessories, HighPoint Deck Lighting, LLC really lit up the show. We're talking about top-quality fixtures at reasonable prices. I haven't seen anything better. I've installed plenty of lighting in my high-end decks over the past I 1 years. No aluminum here to be eaten up by the ACQ in the substructure lumber.

HighPoint deck lighting has a wide variety offixtures to satisfy any client, and their quick-ship catalogue is full of fixtures that you can get in a hurry.

As a NADRA board member, I invited a few companies to come to Deck Expo to find out about NADRA and see if they would want to participate in next year's Expo. I was so impressed with two of them that I have to share them with you.

Heatcon has been manufacturing flexible heating blankets and controls for the aerospace composite repair industry for the past 25 years. They have developed a unique bending kit that will allow deck builders to bend any composite by heating up the decking. With Heatcon's HC 99-300 deck forming kit, the deck builder will have unlimited artistic creativity in his hands. He can bend handrails on curved decks, do a ribboned deck board around the outside of a curved deck, do curved stairs. or interlace an artistic deck board through the deck.

To test out their kit, I bent an EverGrain composite deck board for a handrail. It worked great and was very easy to use.

The second company was One TIue wood protector. I had received some stain from them six years earlier. After returning home, I went to my test pile where I had the cedar samples on which I had tested 29 stains. To my surprise, the One TItrle sample was not growing any mold or mildew. All the other samples I had tested were growing one type of fungus or another. Here in rainy Olympia, Wa., mold will grow on you if you stand still long enougn. fMACINE the harmony in the Iworld if everyone made decisions by the same process, weighing various factors in a predictable manner. How much easier would that make our jobs selling building products?

One Ttue is a urethane-based product with 1007o solids. It penetrates deep into the cellular structure of the wood and is cured by UV sunlight. It uses nanotechnology, which produces thousands of microscopic spikes that pop spores of mold and mildew. There are four colors to choose from. I will be using and recommending this stain to all my clients with wood decks.

My pace was fast and furious for four days, and before I knew it, Deck Expo was coming to a close. I could have spent at least 12 more hours on the show floor. Well, I'll just have to wait till March 3-6, 2008, in Orlando, Fl. Junebe you can come and meet me there.

- Kim Karuijk is owner of custom decking contractor Deck Builders, Inc., Olympia, Wa. and a director of NADRA. His wife, Linda, puts his thoughts and many years of professional building experience into words.

The reality is that individuals, spouses and companies all make decisions differently. Selling big-ticket items like windows and doors to a realist, versus someone impressed by bells and whistles, requires different strategies.

Likewise, the needs, priorities and purchase decisions of volume builders are different than those of custom builders. In general, the former considers cost, margins, maintenance, reliability and delivery. Selling products to these buyers requires reliable delivery more than extensive options.

Last year, the top 400 volume builders accounted for 39Vo of housing starts, and vinyl products comprised between 48Vo and 5l%o of windows and doors sold. Because customers make decisions differently, dealers and manufacturers alike have to approach vinyl sales uniquely.

That's just what Weather Shield is doing. The company recently estab-

By Ernie DeBacco Visions Windows & Doors

lished a business unit dedicated to a new stand-alone vinyl brand: Visions Windows & Doors. Weather Shield believes a business unit dedicated to vinyl product development and marketing will deliver products that builders want, along with tools to help dealers market those products.

Identify the Customer

To excel in vinyl window sales, dealers need to focus on volume builders. One million-dollar homes with vinyl windows are the exception today. Volume builders examine their margins and make decisions based more on cost. That drives price competition among vinyl brands, and in turn, requires dealers to work more efficiently and reduce their overhead in order to protect their own margins.

Dealers need to focus on higher quantity sales. Efficiency can be gained by replicating a single window package in 400 units for one builder rather than one-off sales. A highly consultative sales process would erode margins further.

Protect the Relationship

Selling more units to fewer builders means that salespeople can devote time and attention to fewer, but more profitable, customers. Protecting relationships is extremely important in the competitive vinyl window market. There is always another dealer waiting in the wings to pick up a customer. After all, how did you get your best customer?

You can protect customer relationships by representing their best interests rather than directing them to the product or upgrade you'd like to sell them. Customers come to you because they trust you and you know windows.

You can also build trust and strengthen relationships by providing prompt service and verifying orders at delivery to discover any shortages or quality issues. Practice no surprises.

It's also important to not overpromise. You can jeopardize customer and manufacturer relationships when you promise 10-day lead times when standard is 14 to 2l days.

Choose Good Partners

Protecting those relationshiPs requires reliability in product, delivery and service-much of which falls to manufacturers. Dealers can help ensure satisfied customers by partnering with reputable manufacturers.

Vinyl product quality has improved in past years but still varies widely by brand. The quality and service issues associated with less expensive, lowerquality products are not worth risking a customer relationship.

Recent product advancements have added flexibility, options, and woodwindow attributes to vinyl windows. Vinyl window packages can be enhanced greatly with specialtyshaped windows, multiple configurations, sidelites and transoms.

Volume builders often want to offer more varied window designs. Some use multiple configurations instead of specialty shapes to create a more interesting look. As homes go up in price. builders will use more window shapes or mulled units.

Vinyl windows are dominating the market. Dealers who grasp this and understand their customers and their decision-making processes will find themselves leading the market.

- Ernie DeBacc'o is national sales manager of Visions Windows & Doors. He can be reached at edebacco@visionswindows.com or (715) 630-5873.

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