Exterior railing's growing popularity

By S. Cole Seaborn Mr. Spindle

llt E HAVE all heard the old saw lU "history repeats itself," and nowhere is it more true than in the current market for exterior railine products.

Story at a Glance

Treated wood, redwood, cedar spindles popular for new building & remodeling . . gazebos, upscale fencing increase demand hefty margins and good turns...attractive displays help sales.

Several events are causing this "railing renaissance." For some years the accepted exterior recreation area was best defined as a "slider and a slab," a sliding glass door leading to a concrete patio.

In recent years we have seen the decline o[ the patio and the increasing popularity of the wood deck. Offering substantially more opportunities for personalization with multiple levels, patterns and choices of wood, the deck appears here to stay.

We also have seen the open porch of Colonial and Victorian style returning to popularity. These two happenings have fostered the rebirth of fancy railings using lathe turned components.

The rising prices of new homes have brought about a substantial strengthening of the remodeling market with the outdoor deck the beneficiary of a large portion of these remodeling dollars. Recently I spoke with a premier deck builder (they do only exterior decks) in a large urban area. The decks they build run as high as $30 per square foot for mate- rials and labor. Wowl With that kind of money spent on decks, it's no wonder that custom rail components are in demand. Outdoor remodeling also is carrying over to create increased popularity for gazebos and upscale fencing.

The new railing products have a lot of similarities and a few differences. Similarities include the patterns and styles as most of the major competitors have similar patterns. Differences are primarily species and grades of wood.

First to come on the market, CCA treated spindles are still the largest selling, primarily because of price and availability. However, sometimes low quality and environmental questions (legitimate or not) associated with the treated components have led to the increasing popularity of cedar and redwood spindles.

These can have substantial quality advantages over the treated if the producer uses clear, kiln dried cedar or redwood. If a lower grade or insufficiently dried lumber is used, the result offers little advantage over the treated. Although cedar and redwood historically have been less available than treated, this is changing with several new entries into the spindle market in the past couple of years.

As with any specialty item, marketing and merchandising of spindles is critical to the successoftheproduct line. There are two lines of thought on placement of the products within the store. Some feel spindles belong with the outdoor decking. Others maintain they should be displayed with stair parts and millwork.

We feel that the preferred location is with the outdoor decking. Spindles should be incorporated into the deck display. Although it is convenient to have the product racked, the consensus is that a rail assembly is a better sales tool.

The brightest star in the whole outdoor deck, exterior deck railing products picture is the attainable profitability of these products. Margins to the retailer typically average 400/0. Most of the lines have a small number of SKUs leading to a fast inventory turn.