HOME GENTER MERGHANT

BILL FISHMAN rsii:Li.ltt':tii:il::1.i.!:!:lti

Bill Fishman & Alfiltates 11650 lberia place

imitators have failed to copy is the attiSan-Oieoo. C,^i,.-g21ZA tude of the store's people. It was the same

I RECENTLY sat at the National Home I Center show advisory board meeting with Bernie Marcus, founder and ceo of the Home Depot chain. We were discussing the possibility of the show offering a bus tour of home centers in Atlanta (site of the 1985 National Home Center Show). Bernie pleaded "Not the weekend! Please do not bring a busload of distributors and dealers to our stores on the weekend or our people will be very unfriendly."

I quipped back, "Bernie, I visited your stores in all your markets and your people don't know how to be unfriendlY."

Bernie smiled and said, "We'll train tem."

Of course we won't plan any weekend bus tours, but Bernie Marcus is right. It would take retraining to get his people to be unfriendly.

More than anything else, I think one element in Home Depot's formula that

-- in everv Home Depot I visited in Orlan- do, Tampa, New Orleans, and Phoenix. In each store the help was very visible, very knowledgeable, very friendly and most important, very enthusiastic.

I think it's the enthusiasm that impressed me the most. I've seen nothing like it anywhere else in the home center industry. Let's face it; knowledge can be taught. Friendliness can be mandated. But enthusiasm has to show through at the pre-employment interview and Home Depot has found a way to recognize it and nurture it. Maybe The Home Depot has to offer better-than-average salaries to attract enthusiastic people but it appears to have a fast PaYback.

Typically, at other retailers, when a salesperson asks a customer if they can help they almost telegraph a fear that the customer will say "Yes." Not so at Home Depot. The floor people aggressively, but, politely seek out customers to help. They project an aura of confidence but not superiority. It's refreshing.

I think it's this sincere enthusiasm that makes the Home Depot shoPPer feel good about buying and makes them want to come back again. Others may mimic the Home Depot's merchandise mix, store layout, advertising format, price guarantees, orange stenciled signs, and visual merchandising but, without the employee enthusiasm, it all adds up to a near miss!

Vinyl Siding No. 1?

The use of vinyl siding in residential construction will more than double over the next 12 years, making vinyl the most popular U.S. siding material by 1995.

According to Predicasts, residential construction consumed approximately 5.5 million squares of vinyl siding (one square equals 100 feet) in 1983, placing vinyl behind brick, hardboard, plywood and aluminum. This pattern is expected to change dramatically through the mid-1990s, when vinyl will account for 13 million squares, or more than 3090 of all siding consumption.

Over the same long-range period, moderate declines in consumption are predicted for aluminum, steel, brick, and lumber and wood shingles, although all will remain important in the roofing and siding market. PIywood and hardboard will exhibit moderate growth through 1988, then consumption will decline to 7.0 and 5.7 million squares respectively by 1995.

In the roofing segment, asphalt shingles will remain the largest product group. Asphalt shingles will account for roughly 9590 of total residential shingle consumption by 1995. Growth will be supported by moderate increases in single-family construction activity and replacement demand. Built-up roofing growth, impeded by the decline in multi-family construction during the 1970s, will increase by more than 5090, from nearly 6.5 million squares in 1983 to nearly l0 million squares by 1995. This will be a consequence of cost benefits associated with improved built-up roofing techniques, and of a relative increase in multi-family structures for which this roofing is appropriate. The use of wood shingles will continue to decline, but tile shingle demand will rise moderately.

Between 1983 and 1995, roofing and siding market growth will be supported by modest levels of new housing construction-although less than those experienced during previous periods of rapid growth-and by continuing replacement and addition requirements. After peaking in the late 1980s, siding demand will stabilize to nearly 43 million squares by the mid-1990s. By comparison, roofing demand will be more consistent, approaching 92 million squnres by 1995.

CHUCK LINK executive director

OCIAL Security taxes seem neverlending. But there are certain business payments related to employment that are exempt from Social Security taxes. Some of them include (1) Healthinsurance payments for employee accident health, or medical reimbursement plans; (2) Education benefits if the company provides them under a qualified plan, or if they add to the employee's onthe-job skills; (3) Meals and lodging for employees, if they are taken at the company's convenience (for example, when workers are required to be on company premises at all times). Certain other payments may also qualify for exempt status. Check with your tax advisor to see if you are inadvertently paying more than you need to.

Section 95 of the recently signed Thx Reform Act of 1984 provides that, for tax years beginning after July 18, 1984, a group of financially-related corporations is treated as if it were one corporation for purposes of the requirement that the LIFO method of inventory accounting must be used in reporting to shareholders and for credit purposes if it is used for tax purposes. "Financially-related corporations" occur when at least 5090 of the voting or non-voting stock is owned by a parent corporation, or any group of corporations which consolidates financial statements to shareholders or others.

It's chilling enough to get a letter from the IRS that says you must undergo an audit. What about when an IRS agent drops by for a surprise audit and asks to see your records? That can mean the tax collectors have singled out your return for a more-than-routine audit.

The first thing to do is to make sure whether you are dealing with a revenue agent from the Examination Division or a special agent from the Criminal Investigation Division. There's an important difference. Revenue agents handle those routine examinations of business expenses and the like, and, while they usual- ly give you advance notice of their intent to visit you, sometimes they show up unannounced. Special agents investigate suspected criminal violations of the tax laws, and they don't warn You in advance.

Also be wary when two agents scrutinize your returns, even on what looks like a normal field audit. Both maY be revenue agents, one a veteran and the other a rookie, who's along merely to get some on-the-job experience. But the appearance of two agents frequently means that a special agent and a revenue agent are teamed together on a "joint investigation." This is the vague term used by the IRS when the agency is accumulating evidence for a criminal prosecution'

The appearance of a special agent on your premises is cause for conern' Whenever a special agent drops in (with or without notice), he is supposed to identify himself as a special agent and advise you of your rights, including your rights to remain silent and to be advised by an attorney. To be on the safe side, remain silent. Check with your attorney before you turn over records or make anY statements to an IRS special agent. You don't want ill-advised comments coming back to haunt you later, should the matter ever get that far.

Details on our convention and buying show in Portland, Or., will be in the next issue.

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We never close our doors. Diamond _z- Wooglrun$ f ull.shifts, keeping the plant open 24

Greg Felker Timber Manager hours a day for an annual production of over 35,000,000 board feet. Continuous ooeration guarantees a huge on-site ,.inventory" This steady sqpB{y-plus our policy of rleveroverbooking meafis we fulfill ourcommitments.

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Versatility is our second most important word. We always nave a full, standard line in inven- tory:414,514,614, and 8/{. And, adj ustments can le-m€de easi ly and qu , widths, and s in a wide variety of specrfications for either grade lumber 0r pallet stock. Order exactly what vou need. Diamond is always happy to truckloads.

Products.

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We always stand by our customels,.'E-veffithe - tightest markets, our customers alwavs

Jim Harrison Sales Manager get full service and a dependable supply. As we like to say, "Diamond select and all the better," in quality, service and dependability.

0regon's largest hardwood sawmill specializins in Western Aldel.., the ultimate wood in machinabiliU