PRODUCT Spotlight By Steve Getsiv
RED BALAU is a vibrant choice for both outdoor and indoor structures built to last.
US builders increasingly turning to tropical hardwoods Yellow balau emerges as trendy option lready expected to begin with a downturn, 2020 accompanied an unprecedented set of challenges that impacted nearly every building phase. The pandemic not only shuttered or delayed thousands of projects, but resulted in the layoff of approximately 26% of the country’s construction workers, according to an Associated General Contractors of America survey. This is on top of the shortage of the very supplies needed to complete projects. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Commercial Construction Index over 70% of contractors experienced a shortage of at least one material and over 30% reported a shortage of lumber during the fourth quarter of 2020. These problems were further compounded by lumber prices that soared more than 170% between last April and mid-September per the National Association of Home Builders—and are now even higher. As for the causes? The stay-at-home mandates ordered by many states created a buying-frenzy among homeowners who decided to put their hard-earned vacation and travel money into the upgrades of homes that in many cases they couldn’t leave anyway. At the same time, the wildfires that riddled much of the Northwest also greatly reduced the high-grade lumber supplies produced in Oregon and Washington. Other supply chain challenges included the fires that ravaged South America’s tropical forests as well as the decades-long bee-
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The Merchant Magazine
May 2021
tle infestation that’s plagued the Canadian lumber industry for the past decade. Even the German mills cut back on the production of their beech wood supplies given the country’s ongoing problems with drought and pests. This is on top of the near crisis of transportation costs caused by increased demand, lack of equipment, surcharges for international and domestic shipments and high fuel prices. As a result, many American builders and suppliers have expanded their search to Europe and Asia to meet their growing lumber demands. This includes turning to durable, tropical hardwoods like yellow balau as a high-grade alternative to exotic products like ipe, teak, cumaru, walnut and mahogany.
Yellow Balau
Produced primarily in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, yellow balau has been used throughout Europe, Australia and New Zealand for the past 30 years for outdoor projects ranging from the building of decks and fencing to the construction of pergolas and other outdoor structures. That’s primarily because European builders in many cases have been far more practical about the specification of lesserknown woods, which actually rival the durability, aesthetics, physical properties and pricing of the hardwoods traditionally used in the U.S. Normally free of blemishes and knots, yellow balau is highlighted by its stunning blend of golden-brown, purplishBuilding-Products.com