The Plan's the Thing

By Miss Eda Dernier Lumbermen's Service Association, Los Angeles

When the wise old Greek, Themistocles, uttered his famous remark to the effect that he could not, like most Greeks of that day, play upon any stringed instrument, but that he could "tell you how to make a city grow," he meant, f am very sure, by the active and intelligent use of a good plan service. What else?

And previous to 1492 the people in the Old World were like old fashioned lumber dealers, until Columbus came along with A PLAN and showed them how to find a New World. It was THE PLAN that did it.

In the good old days of our forefathers, when they were building the foundations for this great nation on our eastern shores, they built their homes substantially and soundly. Why? They hadn't a PIAN for building comfortable, attractive, practical, step-saving, bright, ventilated HOMES.

It's the PLAN that makes the home. And it's the lumber dealer's plan that puts him in touch with and in cooperation with the home builder and prospective builder, and makes it possible for that dealer to furnish that prospect not just building materials, but BUILDING SERVICE.

It's pretty hard for a lumber dealer to really furnish modern building service, without PLANS. One man's lumber is pretty much like that of his competitor, and so is the' rest of his stock of materials. There isn't much in the line of service that can be furnished in just raw materials.

But when you translate those materials into terms that mean something interesting and attractive to the builderterms of modern HOMES and other attractive and useful buildings-then you have something REAL to furnish in the way of SERVICE that you can spell with capitals.

A retail lumber business without a plan service is a good deal like a typewriter without a ribbon-it doesn't register very clearly. And a retail lumber plan service that isn't pqt to practical and active USE, is like a typewriter with a good ribbon and in good running order that is locked in a safe and the combination lost. It doesnlt help any.

There is no use having plan service unless you use it, and let your trade know all about it, and have it act as the tie that binds your business with that of your trade. Nothing in this world is any good unless you use it, and a plan service is about the least. ft means as much to the lumber dealer. Without plans he is a wood yard man, to whom the builder comes last for a close price on raw materials. With plans, he is a building merchant, furnishing beauty, and attractiveness, and comfort, and satisfaction to his people in the shape of well PLANNED buildings.

But when you DO use it, you have a great servant working for you. And the returns that servant brings to your cash drawer depend almost entirely on the quality and quantity of effort you make. Only that, and nothing more. A plan service is no Aladdin's Lamp that you can rub and wish. You CAN, but the wishes aren't likely to come true.

You don't rub and wish, rvith a plan service. You THINK and WORK. Everybody in your town must know about your plan service, what it is, where it is, how at' tractive and useful it is TO THEM. USEFULNESS for the other fellow is the test.

A good plan service in your office, and a good plan service firm at the other end of the line ready to give you genuine service with your plans, is a great asset if you use it. There is nothing that will impress a prospect more than to discuss a home with him one day, showing him the picture, etc., and spread the detailed blue prints and plans before him the next day, giving all the details. It payspays-pays !

I rvould like to urge every retail lumber dealer in California to give more thought, more attention, more activity to his plan service, to the end that it may prove a great and good servant in his house.

The architectural beauty of California is founded on the rvonderful PLANS that are to be had, enabling the erection of a variety of beautiful buildings, and getting away from the commonplace. It has lifted California to the top of the world in a building way.

Truly, the plan's the thing !