Get a foundation in a promising market

By Huck DeVenzio Hickson Corp.

Itr/OULD you like to sell a conY Y tractor product that is similar to materials you already stock but is carried by only a small number of other building products dealers?

There is a tremendous sales potential in an emerging marketPermanent Wood Foundations - but taking advantage of this opportunity requires overcoming some Catch 22 challenges.

Permanent Wood Foundations. or PWFs, are not new, having been introduced in 1969. Still unknown in parts of the country, they have become rather routine in some areas, particularly the upper Midwest. While no one keeps track of the number of PWFs, one informed estimate places the total at about 300,000, including homes in most states.

The PWF, comprising plywood walls and studs pressure treated with CCA preservative, is an alternative to basements made of concrete block or poured concrete. Treating standards have been established by the American Wood Preservers' Association, and the system has been accepted by all of the national model building codes plus major lending institutions, insurance companies and government agencies.

In addition to full basements. PWFs can be designed for projects such as crawl spaces for nonresidential structures and as short wall foundations for garages and additions. PWFs offer dry, comfortable, energy

Story at a Glance

Permanent Wood Foundations present a relatively ignored yet highly profitable market ... gauge interest with a seminar for contractors.

efficient living space. Their greatest fans have been people who live in them.

Lumber dealers provide much of the building material needed for home construction, but little of that portion goes below grade. Wood foundations represent a huge new market for building products suppliers, and they involve an item - pressure treated wood - with which dealers are already well aware.

The profit picture is as bright as the sales potential. Few dealers handle PWF materials, so competition is slight.

Where wood foundations are popular, dealers are making money on the materials. What about elsewhere? Do financial opportunities exist in these communities?

There is little chance of PWF success in places where the usual construction practice is slab on grade. No basements means no PWFs. Likewise, there is minimal potential where homebuilding activity is slow or where builders are uninterested in trying a new system. Furthermore, since PWF materials are treated to a preservative retention level of 0.60 lbs./cu. ft. rather than the 0.40 of other ground contact applications, stocking dealers will have to add SKUs to their inventory.

In general, despite the advantages of the system, most contractors won't build PWF homes until home buyers request them, and few home buyers will request them until more of them are built. Dealers sit on the sidelines of this cycle.

But, there are ambitious builders everywhere who want to give their homes a distinctive feature and who would be willing to promote an innovation such as the PWF. In Michigan and Wisconsin. some contractors build homes with PWFs only.

Moreover, the model energy code, now being adopted by state after state, may motivate both builders and consumers to go PWF. It requires R-22 insulation for all walls, including basement walls. PWFs can meet this requirement much easier and at lower cost than can concrete structures.

Would you like to test the PWF waters before your jump in? Here's a thought:

Sponsor a PWF educational seminar for contractors in your area. Perhaps you can arrange it through the local homebuilders association. Realtors, bankers and code officials might also be invited. You can probably get a speaker or presentation assistance from your treater or from a trade association such as the Southern Forest Products Association or Western Wood Preservers Institute.

Send out announcements a month in advance and reminders two weeks prior. Serve refreshments. Hand out literature.

If some builders are interested, you can work together to build PWF business. Consider a joint promotion, maybe co-sponsoring a model home. When getting started, you may want to order materials as needed rather than keep them in inventory.

Even if no builders wish to pursue PWFs, your seminar will result in friendly contact with customers and prospects, and you will have performed a helpful service that reflects well on your company.

Permanent Wood Foundations offer significant benefits to homeowners, builders and lumber dealers. Getting to those benefits may take some effort, but most good things do.