Find your mcrrket crnd serve it

A BOUT four years ago, Boandf\ D"ln Lumber Co. retired honorably from the fiercely competitive price wars involved in selling tract builders and began to expand in and concentrate on selling to the general public.

It has been a successful move; filly 25/o of their $600,000 annual gross is now in retail sales, up from virtually nothing four years ago' The other 75% of their business is equally split betrveen contractor and irtrlilstlir.l-rrornr rrercial sales.

Their locrtion in a rvorking class ,li-tri,t ilr I),,'1,'sy Calit.. virtually surlo,rldcd by thousands of apartments, is reflected in their inventory, rvhich includcs a number of items that otly an apartment manager' could love, such as case lots o[ solvents, cleaners and the like.

Part of the three acres the firm occupies includes a 30' x B0' showroom for Boman's Furniture, a separate company from Boand-Daly, but owned by their president Harry Boand, who, not co-incidentally, has a financial interest in a large number of apartments.

Started in 1955, Boman, which shares an end o{ the main building and a common entrance with BoandDaly, has also converted its marketing plan and now sells to the general public and no longer only to apartment owners and decorators, though these groups are still a powerful factor in their business. A staff of five runs the furniture operation.

On the lumber side, Boand'Daly has eight employees. Queried as to how they do their hiring, the reply is a joking, "they never leave." There's some truth in that, too. Firm vp. Wally Swanson, who runs day'to' day operations, has been there 25 years, treasurer Jim Adamson, 23 years and office gal Marianne Manhard, 19 ycars.

Story sI d Gfonce

Tailoring their inventory to the particular needs of their business situation and market location builds strong consumer sales firm has unusual tiein with furniture and decorating business . longtime employees add valuable know-how.

They are open B-5, Mon.-Fri. and 9-2 Sat., serving their 10 mile (radius) trading area. Wally Srvanson notes that they have found staying open later on Saturdays has proven unpro{itable {or them because of the extra cost o{ overtime. Friday is usually their busiest day.

Advertising generally has been done through two local papers, running ads less than a quarter page in size, mostly mentioning hardware and hardwood paneling. Recently they collaborated with Colony Paint on a four page tabloid, in which they shared space, that was distributed to 10,000 homes in the area. They plan to step up spending for advertising considerably, as expen' ditures now run less than one per' cent.

Master Charge and BankAmericard are accepted as rvell as 30 daY credit for established accounts. Bookkeeping is no longer broken down into lumber and non'lumber items. "We tried it for awhile," relates Wally Swanson, "but for the time involved, we found it didn't pay us to do it." Profit margin is aP' proximriely 22 pclcent.

Their competition in the area is from two firms in nearby Para' mount, Clearwater Lumber and Lindsay Lumber. When American Home Center opened a big new discount type oPeration about one year ago in their area, selling a dazzlingly wide selection of goods, Boand'Daly found in time that this new trade factor didn't hurt them a bit.

Cutting lumber is charged on an hourly basis; with one or two cuts, if that is all, done on the house' Delivery charge is $7.50 normally, with longer hauls charged $10'$15, depending on distance.

Buying is done both from co-oPs and from wholesalers. "Depcndabil' ity and service are very important," Jim Adamson notes, "but price is the most important single factor." They are generally satislied with their current supplier relationships and have no major problems.

Mqnuisclurers oI Quolity Foresf Producfs --*-{

Len$hs up to 18'. Fine grained old growth timber from our Yolla Boll,a Tree Fatm.

Douglas Fir,White Fir, Incense Cedar, Sugar Pine, Ponderosa Pine

Interstate 5 Freeway comes practically to our door. FAST shipment is made easy by our location.

Why take a chance on a transit car from Brand X or Brand ?

Next time ask your favorite wholesaler to try Crane Mills first.

WBMA coNVENTIoN

(Continued, lrom Page 7 )

(2) that they discovered they could achieve an r-o-i equal or better in distribution to their r-o-i in manu- facturing.

Reiten explained that Simpson , prefers to work with good local building products distributors. Van , Kirk, in noting a national decline in the number of dealers the last J0 years from approximately 25,000 to

PRESIDENT

Bert

18,000, observed that "the business in dealer volume is the same." Bob Peterson stressed that 'owith dealeroriented distributors, the dealer is still three times more important than the next categories they sell."

Lee Anne Krause, an attractive pinch hitter for absent Morton Schnade o{ the Federal Trade Commission, warned at lunch that both the four payment rule under Truthin-Lending and the Right o{ Recis- wEsTERt{ BUILoI{G MATERIAL Ass0clArloN 0lympia, Washington 1972 Ofticers and ltirectors

NATIONAL DIRECTORS vrcE pREsTDENTs o, ..[fit?t' Kincaid' western Bldg' Material Assn'

Carl A, Knoll,. Knoll Lumber & Hardwate c0.

-

C. E. Link, ,Boise Cascade Corp.

Robert E. Bush, Bayview lumbbr co.

ATASKA

Wilbur E. Plett, International 8ldg. Supplies

Fairbanks

William Brand, Plywood Supply

IDAHg

Boise

D INECTORS

Richard K' Mo.rse, C,anby. Build-er.s .Supply

Donald G. corku-m, Mt. Hood Building supply

Vern E. Greer, Greer & Thomas Lumber Co.

Bend

Carl Eackstrom, Backstrom Builders Center wASHlt{GTot{

Seattle

John P' Olson, Olson Lumber Co.

Evqrett'Lynwood sion laws were under court test. She counseled to obey both until decided as civil penalties were stifi.

"Find Your Hat and W'ear It" was speakt'r Ev Yost's message at Tuesday's eye-opener breakfast. He cautioned that new lines and/or expansions should be studied carefully to see if they apply to your business and its special conditions. "We must change to survive, but only make those changes for which you've properly prepared."

Next it was another go for the two simultaneous meetings, retailers and distributors.

Dealer panelists were Hal Aaron, Bakersfield, Calif.; Paul Butler, Redwood City, Cali{.; Sam Hauert, Tucson, Ariz.; Tom Howell, Yaki. fii, Wash.; moderating was Bob Bush. Distributor - manufacturer members broke up into small study groups in their meeting.

_ R. J. Caldwell, Marsing Bldg. Center

--irobert c. Linviile, Boise Btds. supply ,.fli,1?nlt#[rTtii,stowell Lumber co' Nagpa-c^aldwell. rr--^:-^ o,{d ^^nr^, ""j#"ii;;;;''6.itij.,!ii, sr.r, & Door co.

Tacoma

-Hiiiiian Kleiner, Model Lumber & Hardware co.

Rex Sorick, Capital Lumber Co.

0ntario-(0re80n) ri+.r r,,rh6, ^^

Lewiston

A vel'y brief run-through orl wage/price controls was pJiven at lhal day'-s lurrcheon by Mel Joseph <,f the IRS.

Bremerton

_-iig;-r-- g. Rima, Rima-Hushes Lumber & Fuet orjlfiiil.S;lr11t?tJunction Builders supplv co'

Southeastern

John simianer, Bestway Bldg. center

Larry Knudsen' Lumbermen's of shelton' Inc' of,EGoN tolfu.ilt",r,n*, Feirins,s Buitdins Materials

Portland

Vancouver

Winston S. Pool, Pool-Gardner Lumber Co. Lloyd Scott, Washougal Lumber Co.

North oreg.on

McMinnville

D. L. Erickson, Erickson Bldg, Supplies

Wenaichee.ok6nogan

Earl J. Fosse. Erownson Lumber Co.

Moses Lake

Harotd Beckemeier, Quincy Lumber Co. Albany.Corvallis

_..Richa^rd Riley, Carlton Lumber Yard

SDokane

Jerry Williams, Valley Best.way Bldg. Supply

Euge.ne.Spr ngfie ld

E. P.^Railey,.Scharpf's Twin oats Bldrs. Supply

- Geo. L. Scharpf, Scharpf'sTwin oaks Bldrs. Sply,

Salem

William G. Mc0ormick, Mccormick Lbr. & Millwk.

Coos Bay

Clifford D. Furlott, Umpqua ,Bldg. & Hardware

Roseburg

Del B. Blanchard, Del's Building Supply

Grants Pass-Medford

Charles J. Kudlac, Valley Lumber Co.

Klamath Falls

Donald Ferguson, Swan Lale Moulding Co.

Lacrande yaki m e-Su nnys id e

Ray H. Connolly, Snyder Lumber Co.

William H. Timmermans. Timmermans Lbr. Co.

Tri-City

Joe Vincent, Richland Lumber Co.

Walla Watta

Robert ,Brinker. Brinker Bros. Lumber

STAFF

Ross G. Kincaid, executive vice president

Arnold Kirkebo, administrative aisistant

Roger J. Baron, field representative

Gwyneth Thorsen

Leah Harvey

Ginger Matye

Doug Loth, Simpson Timber Co. related the background of National Home Improvement Time and how the Iarge firms and the four big interested associations had garnered a large umbrella of national publicity for the project. Now the problem is. Loth said, to get down to the grass roots and reach the eventual buyer. He noted the many materials avail. able for use in the program.

More exhibit-crawling and the big luau that evening closed WBMA's second successful convention for the year.