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common. They understand their market and have an accurate sense of their customers needs. Successful dealers have creative ideas about advertising, promoting and packaging redwood products. This usually starts with the theory that redwood must be sold as projects not individual boards. A third quality they share is their ability to establish reputations as the source for redwood in their locale. Here's a view of marketing plans for redwood garden grades from three merchants in very different parts of the West: which includes selling pre-cut deck kits, building complete decks, or building deck understructures and letting customers do the finish work.

Redwood Hawaii is a business that has tripled its sales in its second year. Art Manzo, the owner, explained that Redwood Hawaii sells to retailers and contractors and distributes modular decking to builders and homeowners. Manzo anticipates an increasing interest in the modular deck business.

Working with a local home builder, Redwood Hawaii is offering deck packages as an option for home buyers. Decks are financed along with the house. This way homeowners see the deck as part of the house and it eliminates the lag time between purchasing a home and feeling that a deck is affordable. To promote this idea, Manzo produced a literature package to sell the modular decking. Using California Redwood Association literature, the package includes deck idea booklets and plans for the modular decks Redwood Hawaii sells.

Manzo places approximately 12 display ads per year in local newspapers and supplements this with continuous classified advertising. Redwood Hawaii has an aggressive sales force that will even knock on doors to sell the modular decks.

Hawaii is predominantly a heartwood market. Redwood Hawaii stocks clear all heart, B grade, construction heart and merchantable heart.

O'Malley's is a chain of building and home supply stores in the rapidly expanding southwestern market. Perry Steinhoff of O'Malley's described the Phoenix area where they have 9 of their 19 stores as a boom town. "Construction took off about the first of January in 1983 and is still going strong."

O'Malley's is working to establish redwood decks as a standard of Southwestern outdoor living. Wood decks don't have the tradition in

Story at a Glance Dealers

sell projects, not boards. . .arrange financing... package romance of outdoor living...hard hitting promotions bring in customers.

Phoenix that they do in other parts of the country. Some homeowners are concerned about any wood's performance in such a hot,dry climate. To refute that argument, Steinhoff points to a redwood deck he built in Phoenix seven years ago which is holding up quite well. "We are working to change people's ideas by pointing out that redwood decks don't reflect and absorb the heat as concrete slabs will."

Steinhoff explains that the advertising for redwood decks departs from O'Malley's usual advertising. Using the back cover of their advertising brochure they show color pictures of decks.

"We aren't selling redwood by advertising boards at a specific price per foot. First we sell the romance of a deck and outdoor living-then we show them the price, which is competitive." To help customers accept redwood decks as belonging in Phoenix, O'Malley's has developed deck kits and used local names for the kits. They have the Scottsdale deck and the Carefree deck and others.

Steinhoff is convinced they will get the ball rolling and when they do the demand will be strong. After all, where else can you find perfect outdoor living nine months of the year?

SHAOE TREILIS post and beam conslruction uses an underdeck system of joists and stringers in this design. Deck plans from the California Redwood Association helo dealers to sell more redwood for outdoor use.

Evans Building Center and Payette Lakes Lumber Co. in Idaho have an aggressive campaign to establish themselves as the "redwood specialists" in their area. They retail to homeowners and sell wholesale to con-

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