All-Goast Forest Products Ilow in Salt Lake Gity

trlltoast Foresl Products has been serving retailers in Utah and the mountain states for many years. Now, with our new distribution center in Salt Lake City, we can offer better, more timely service and a wider variety of products to customers all across the region.

With four locations serving 12 western states, we've refined the art of lumber distribution and remanufacturing to handle a tremendous range of needs. Just-in-time service, 48-hour custom milling, an expansive inventory: our 25-year history of satisfied customers has made Alltoast synonymous with quality lumber products. That quality will now be more accessible than ever before. Safi Lake CiU Division: 877.263.7847 Chino, CA Division: 800.864.6881

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Distributors exploin lhe continuing dromotic rise in the use of engineered wood products.

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- lhe lowdown on why engineered lumber usuolly requires speciolly-desi gned connectors. tD

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Trocking trends for gluloms, LVL ond l-ioists.

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Plua' l.aka and Hawall

Serving 13 states

How to Advertise

Contact ou. advertising oftices tor rates: U,S.A.: Chuck Casey, 4500 Campus Drive, Suile 480, Newport Beach, Ca.92660-1872. Phone (949) 852.1990 Fax 949-852-0231

INTERNET ADS: David Cutler, www.buildingproducts.com. Phone(949)852-1990 Fax949852-0231

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ASSOCIATE EDIT0R Dave DelVal (ddelval@ioc.net) CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Owight Cunan, cage McKinney, Ead Moore CIRCULATIoN AutumnSchwanke ARTDIRECToR MarthaEmery STAFFARTIST Chas.Balun

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Gheer Up, lt's Just Death And Taxes

The sad scenario is all too familiar: The small business owner dies without adequate estate planning. Estate taxes-up to 55%o-become due and payable. The heirs, unable to pay the taxes now due on the business, are forced to sell the firm. The cherished dream of one generation that their children could continue the business they had worked so hard to build. dies with them.

Past attempts to rectify this inequity have failed in the Congress. Now, a new bipartisan effort has been mounted to correct these punitive aspects of our tax code. Senate Bill 1128, "The Estate Tax Elimination Act," would immediately repeal the present estate tax and lift the expensive, fustrating and time consuming estate tax planning burden from small business owners. The measure is currently in the Senate Finance Committee.

If passed into law, Sll28 would eliminate the estate tax and make any taxes on the assets due only if the heirs decide to sell following the death of the business owner. The taxes are still due, naturally, but not immediately following the owner's death. When finally sold, the taxes would be at the capital gains rate and at the rate the decedent would have paid if he or she had sold the assets prior to death, plus any additional tax due to appreciation from the date of death. If the sons and daughters continue to run the business, no death tax or capital gains are due; only when the heirs sell the assets.

An additional feature of the proposed legislation is a limited capital gains exclusion for small estates not currently subject to tax. They would retain their protected status so that they wouldn't suddenly be liable for taxes under the new law.

The odds on the passage of this measure are mixed at this time. Despite the merits of the bill, it may well fail to become law, another casualty of the government's appetite for our money.

ETNCINEERED wood products

-U./continue to roll like a juggernaut through the construction industry, piling up major gains in market share.

Engineered wood systems are providing stiff competition to conventional solid-sawn lumber framing that has long been the standard of the industry. In fact, in many markets where engineered wood has gained wide acceptance for floor, header and roof systems, the only dimension lumber used in many custom homes is for wall framing and roof trusses.

According to many distributors and engineered wood products specifiers, glue-laminated beams, laminated veneer lumber and engineered I-joists produce higher-quality buildings at a competitive cost with less waste and fewer callbacks.

Dave Ludington, Tri-State Forest Products, Inc., Springfield, Oh., says that once a framing crew completes its first residential or light commercial project with engineered wood beams, they rarely go back to old-fashioned, stick-built construction.

The supplier specializes in what Ludington calls "pull through" marketing-working with the end-user to create new demand. Tri-State's build-

By Steve Killgore General Sales Manager Willamette Industries. Inc.

ing specialists assist retailers and contractors at the job site to familiarize them with engineered wood systems.

"Builders are willing to switch to engineered wood when they see the simplicity of using an engineered wood system, with its strength, predictable performance and basic connections," Ludington says. "They like the lighter weight of the I-joists, the construction." faster construction, and the lack of culls or waste at the job site. You have to sell the framing crews before you can sell engineered wood. In the past, custom builders were working at the job-site with their crews. Now, the builder spends more time in an office or a truck, and he subcontracts more of the work to a framing crew."

I-joist systems have virtually replaced conventional 2xl0 floor joists and headers in many Midwest markets. Home buyers like the flat, tight floors achieved with engineered wood and the long-term stability the products provide, in contrast to squeaks or humps caused by solid-sawn joists as they dty out after installation.

Ludington notes that as much as l5Vo of conventional lumber his company receives falls below the standard for its grade.

LVL and glulam beams are now widely used as support beams, with hangers that support I-joists. The combination of I-joists and zero camber glulams provides flat floors and avoids the problem of delivering extra pieces of framing material to compensate for culls at the job site.

At distributor Pioneer Wood Products, Kansas City, Ks., sales of engineered wood products have doubled since 1995, according to Pioneer's Dave Duckworth. "This used to be a No. 3, 2xl0 market, but nowadays retail customers like the predictable performance of glulams, LVL and I-joists," he says. "Engineered wood provides a flat, stable, dry floor with virtually no call backs, because Sheetrock doesn't crack and doors hang straight."

Duckworth adds: "Timber harvest restrictions and smaller trees have reduced the supply of wide widths in dimension lumber. Our customers like the availability of engineered wood products and their relative price stability compared to the volatility of solid lumber."

Ludington says glulams, LVL and

Huttig Building Products, Phoenix, Az., reports that demand for engineered wood products has increased in its local market for two reasons: truer. flatter floors and competitive cost compared to conventional construction. According to Huttig's*Steve Brandehoff, builders are using LVL and glulams as main support beams for I-joists, and they're using glulam headers for most of the larger openings such as bay windows and garage doors.

Rick Ray, Western Woods, Chico, Ca., says engineered wood products have found growing acceptance with his retail customers. "They're having trouble finding wide-width dimension lumber, and they like the fact that engineered wood (unlike dimension) comes to rhe job-site with all the pieces exactly the same, with no variation in size or moisture content."