Progress of Grade-Mzrhed Lumber in Caltfornia

By Jason C. McCune \flest Coast Lumbermen's Association, Los Angeles

Architects, building and loan companies, mortgage firms, municipal and county buyers, publh utilities, oil companies, and contractors with lumber purchases approximating 10 per cent of the total monthly sales in the Los Angeles territory are norv specifying WCLA grade marked Douglas fir. During the past 60 days this demand for grade marked lumber has been noticeably on the increase. The growing favor with which all branches of the building industry are taking to grade marked lumber is without a doubt the high light in the picture as the first year of actual distribution of WCLA grade marked lumber comes to a close.

With the appearance of WCLA grade marked Douglas fir in Southern California a year ago, an opportunity was provided distributors and dealers to push the sale of certified and "identified quality" in lumber. Several large distributors as well as some of the smaller dealers have taken advantage of the merchandising features of grade marked lumber and have advertised to their trade that lumber purchased from them will be officially certified as to grade and that by specifying WCLA grade marked lumber the buyer will get 100 per cent of the grade they pay for. Advertising of this sort is playing an important part in the development of a demand for grade marked lumber.

More than 200 retail yards in the Los Angeles section are today willing to supply WCLA grade marked lumber on request. Several leading dealers are delivering to their retail trade grade marked lumber whether specified or not in order to promote fair competitive conditions in the b.uilding material field. These policies are rapidly bringing recognition to these firms for the dependability of their grades and for their progressive selling methods-a reputation which may mean more to the consumer in the future than speed or service, unless it be a combination of all.

Starting with one yard in Los Angeles the source of supply of grade marked lumber has spread in the past twelve months to include the widespreed territory extending from San Diego to San Francisco Bay. It is possible now to obtain WCLA grade marked lumber through dealers or distributors at the following points: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Culver City, Sawtelle, Inglewood, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Compton, Montebello, Huntington Park, Alhambra, Santa Ana, Torrance, Watts, Artesia, Lynwood, South Gate, Lomita, Venice, Downey, Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Glendale, San Fernando, Van Nuys, Burbank, Montrose, Tujunga, Reseda, Roscoe, Owensmouth, Eagle Rock, La Crescenta, Pacoima, Pasadena, Alhambra, Arcadia, Monrovia, San Gabriel, Monterey Park, El Monte, Whittier, Garden Grove, Pomona, Long Beach, Wilmington, San Pedro, Anaheim, Solano Beach, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Oakland, and Bay Point.

During,the period of initial development of grade marked lumber the expansion of sources of supply was brought about largely through the licensing plan of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association whereby the dealers were certified to grade mark Douglas fir lumber according to the WCLA Number Nine rules and under the direction of Mr. A. A. Kayser, California Grades Supervisor. At the present time, however, many West Coast sawmills are offering through their California representatives, WCLA grade marked lumber direct from their mills. With the assurance of a continued demand for grade marked lumber from architects, loan companies and other specifiers it is becoming more expedient for dealers to stock grade marked lumber. Buying of WCLA grade marked lumber in straight cars of No. 1 Common or No. 2 Common is therefore likelv to become the more general policy of dealers who inteni to maintain a leading place in the trend towards grade marked lumber merchandising.

Demand for WCLA grade marked lumber, in the districts where it has been made available by the dealers, has extended with remarkable rapidity to all branches of the consuming field. Probably the most important factor in the development of this demand has been thq support givin grade marked lumber by municipal and county purchasers in the public works g_roup and the_ building loan- and- mortgage companies in the home building field. Five departments in the City of Los Angeles and three in the County of Los Angeles are requiring grade marks to appear on lumber delivered on their orders. Five building and loan and mortgage firms doing the majority of the home financing in Los Angeles, Long Beach, and surrounding territory are demanding that all framing lumber in new construction carrying their loans be WCLA grade marked No. 1 Common Douglas fir. Sheathing may be No. 2 Common Douglas fir in the specifications of two of the cornpanies. Eleven building loan companies, most of whom are not extending loans at the present time, are considering with favor the policy of including WCLA gtade marked lumber in their specifications when they resume their new construction loaning.

Recommendations have also been rnade by building loan companies who now require grade marked lumber in their Los Angeles work that similar specifications be adhered to by their branches in San Diego and San Francisco.

Municipal and county specifications for grade marked lumber cover both architectural work and lumber supplies for general needs. The Board of Education, City of Los Angeles, has been requiring WCLA grade marked lumber in new school construction for the past nine months. Lumber purchased by the Board on six months contracts is also required to be grade marked. Schools built in Santa Barbara, Redondo, Santa Ana, and Azusa during the past year have been furnished with grade marked lumber according to specifications. The Department of Water and Power, City of Los Angeles, called for and received 465,000 feet of WCLA grade marked Structural Douglas fir for use in the Chatsworth Dam. The Bridge Department of the City of Los Angeles has specified approximately 2,5ffi,000 feet of grade marked Douglas fir in Structural, Selected Common and No. I Common grades for use in the construction of the Sixth Street Viaduct. The County of Los Angeles is starting work on the County Fair Grandstand at Po' mona in which 500,000 feet of WCLA grade marked Douglas fir has been specified. The City Purchasing Department of Los Angeles, the purchasing department of the Department of Water and Power and the County purchasing department are now calling for WCLA grade marked lumber in practically all of their purchase orders. The Los Angeles Playground and Recreation Department of the City of Los Angeles and the Recreational Department of the County of Los Angeles are also specifying grade marked lumber.

The architectural departments and the purchasing agents of several large public utilities and industrial concerns are among those now demanding WCLA grade marked lumber. Included in this group are the Standard Oil Company, IJnion Oil Company, Southern California Telephone Co., Southern Counties Gas Co. and the Southern California Edison Co.

A large number of architects and contractors have called for grade marked lumber in their work for private clients. Demand for grade marked lumber from these sources will reflect considerable more volume as the trend of gen,eral building increases.

Specifications for grade marked lumber in most cases have called for grades according to Number Nine rules and have stipulated that the official trade mark of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association shall appear on each piece of lumber. The clause requiring grade marked lumber in one mortgage loan company specifications is as follows: "All rough framing lumber shall be No. I Common Douglas Fir (Oregon Pine). Each piece shall bear the official grade mark of the West Coast Lumbermen's Association." Another building loan company specification reads: "All lumber shall be WCLA grade marked No. I Douglas Fir, except that wall sheathing and sub floor may be marked grade No. 2." The purchasing department of one of the large oil companies inserts in their lumber orders the line: "To be grade and trade marked according to West Coast Lumbermen's Association Rules No. 9."

The message of grade marked lumber is being carried to some 10,000 readers. in the building industry of Southern California each week by enterprising dealers who are using space in monthly, weekly and, in one case, a daily journal. This dealer advertising, which appears in lumber trade journals, contractors' publications, architectural and pur-