Get more out of your deck design software

Parr recently partnered with two of its loyal contractors on two deck projects. "They knew we had the software, and being able to see a picture of the finished product was huge. It also was a big selling point," Roe said.

AvEn rHE YEARS. LBM dealers

\-/have invested in software to help their pro desks design and sell decks. All too many of these dealers, however, have found their deck design software is underutilized by associates.

That said, you might be surprised to leam that a number of lumberyards and pro dealers are finding new ways to grow their business organically by partnering with their existing contractor customers and capturing more share of wallet from their d-i-y customer base. Three lumberyards provide examples of how using deck software is generating growth.

Parr Lumber

Headquartered in Hillsboro, Or., Parr Lumber is a family-owned business that opened its first lumberyard in

1930. Today, there are 19 stores in Oregon and Washington, primarily in the Bend-Tacoma-Seattle area.

For Parr, deck building is seasonal. "Currently deck building is about 507o of our business in the spring," said Traci Roe, counter sales at Parr Lumber. "It's about 50/50 contractors vs. homeowners."

The chain recently invested in deck software, but it's currently underutilized. "I'm the only one trained on it, but ideally, I would like to have a center where anyone can take their customer and build their deck," said Roe. "The software is easy to play with and pretty forgiving. so having everyone trained shouldn't be too difficult. I'm not the most computer savvy, so it's nice that I can go back and change anything."

Although Parr would like to expand the use of its software, they have noticed that it has increased the efficiency of their deck design process and their ability to upsell. "With the click of a button, I can change materials and give customers more options," said Roe. "I had three d-i-y customers and all three chose us for their deck. They knew what they wanted, and having that visual piece added a lot. The ability to show materials other than wood made it easier for us to sell them on it. Oregonians tend to want real wood and organic, natural materials, but when we tell them about the upkeep and how rain affects mold and overgrowth, they're more willing to look at other options. We moved to composite, and now we're moving more toward PVC."

Parr believes that once they get a deck station set up in their store in Hillsboro, they'll have everyone trained on the software. Roe added. "I want to give it to our outside salespeople for use with their customers too. With full integration into our business, it's a phenomenal tool for us. We can crank out a deck design in 15 minutes. I love it."

PMC Building Materials

About 15 miles north of Atlanta, Ga., PMC Building Materials opened its doors in September 2008. As a fullservice lumberyard focused mainly on remodelers, they also serve deck builders, contractors and homeowners/ d-i-yers. PMC often uses focus groups to gain valuable feedback from their remodeler customers. With their input, PMC decided to build a deck center two years ago. Today, it's the biggest deck display in the Southeast. About lOVo to l57o of their business is now deck building, and 9OVo of that comes from contractors and remodelers.

PMC's goal is to become a onestop shop for all of their customers' decking needs. "We needed software that could handle multiple (product) libraries as well as build a library quickly, because we have more than l7 deck brands and 2l railing systems," explained Thomas Matula, IT/web/marketing manager for PMC. "The software had to be easy to understand and work with. We're still gearing up and have one outside sales guy working specifically on the software, and one front desk person designated to teach our front counter staff."

PMC's plan is to get the design stage out of the hands of their customers in order to free up their time so they can focus more on leads and generating more income for their business. "We're just starting with the software, but the belief is that by utilizing it in the real-world stage, we'll ultimately be able to improve it as we grow across multiple markets," Matula said.

To date, the software has helped provide more professional-looking quotes and more opportunities to upsell projects. "As we continue to brand ourselves as the one-stop shop for all decking needs, the software is truly the icing on the cake. We have the knowledge to help a builder make a sale, which means they keep coming back," said Matula.

J&W Lumber

With over 50 years in the business, J&W Lumber has 45 employees across six stores-five in San Diego County and one in Riverside County, Ca. Their main focus is decking and patio covers.

Decking is 4O7o of J&W's total business, with707o coming from contractors and 3OVo from d-i-yers. Providing deck design has been a part of J&W's business for much of its history. "We used to spend hours with a pencil and a ruler drawing a design," explained J&W's Scott Walter. "But we didn't give customers a visual of what their deck could look like. Today, we use software that provides customers with a 3D digital presentation of their deck."

The software also reduces design time. "It used to take us a day to design a deck. Now it takes a fraction of the time, so we can have it done while the customer is in the store," added Walter.

For contractors, J&W can provide plans and estimates for their customers. "Even when they come in with a difficult design drawn on a napkin, we'll review it on the software to figure out if it can be done. As we've become more proficient with the software, we're using its railing design and customized features a lot more, and now are beginning to design patio covers," said Walter.

The software also has made J&W's deck design process more efficient. "It's more visual and we can provide quicker quotes to our contractor customers, who can then provide quicker turnarounds to their customers," he said.

It has made an impact with homeowners as well, influencing upgrades. According to Walter, "D-i-yers are absolutely amazed. They see the finished product within a few minutes, and we can change options on the fly. Often, they have three to four ideas in mind, and we can switch those around and show them in color. Even thoueh they think something might be more expensive, once they see it, they like it. And we can show them that it might not affect price as much as they thought so they tend to buy upgrades."

J&W currently has 20 employees trained on the software. Walter added, "We want to continue to improve our skills and use the advanced features, so we can do things like tweak designs even more, design better railings, and price out patio covers. It really helps you expand beyond the deck."

While deck design software is not new, the technology continues to evolve and improve. The latest software on the market can produce 3D photo-quality deck designs with sophisticated railings and customizable product libraries as well as estimates, take-offs and plans. As showcased by these dealers, deck software is helping expand business with contractors and d-i-yers and contributing to the bottom line-not only with how fast it can generate a deck design, but with the visual presentation in showing upgrades that ultimately lead to increased sales.

By Bob Hafner, Tiger Deck