San Bernardino's Home Lumber Co.

A Progress Report

Fl.LlS J()H\SO\. presiderrt o[ the H,,me t'/ l.uml,er Co. in San Bernardino has Ireerr a reader oI The Calilornia Luntber illerchant for more than a quarter ccntury. So. rvhen he and his sons Nlilton and Dennis moved to their new location {still in the same neighborhood, though ) rve thought it 'rvoulcl be in orc'ler to make a .ferv pictures and tell you :rhout the stradv progress of this 20 vear-old firm.

In 1925 Ellis Johnson began irr tht' rnills in Canada. He worked in all the dillelent departments at the manufacturing level and thetr movecl on tlown to Oreson nherc he lrer.'ame superinl.endent of one of the large rnills in that area. When his familv started to grorv ht' moved to (lalifornia. settling in the Sarr Bt'rnardino-llt'dlands district.

At the t'losc of World ![ar II Ellis de' terrnined that ftrst-growing San Bernardino was the place to establish a retail lumber yard of his orvrr. which he did on a modt,sI scale.

Son Milton, who had gained his knowlcrlge at the ground level from the time he rvas able to lift a 2x4- selected Orange (ioast Colloge and majored in business admirristratiorr, architectural drafting and strurrtural design. Today he is vice pre-"iclent of the firm.

Dennis, the younger son, is presently completing his education at Long Beach Statc College in economics and busines-". He is secretary-treasurer of the company and rvill join the firm permanently on graduation next year. He also learned his basic lumher right in the yard handling orders and rvorking the various jobs.

During the years San Bernardino and Home Llmber have shown a steady grolvlh. Home inventorie-s more than a (Continuttd. on Pag,e 82)

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WfILLIAM G. GRIEVE, Building Marv terials Distributors, Inc., Stockton, i Calif., was elected president of the National Building Material f)istributors Association .durine the l3th annual convention in mid'Nou"tib"r. The Chicago meeting was attended by more than 850 distributors, manufacturers, and industry executives.

Other officers elected were: First vice president, L. H. Crofoot, Western States Plywood Corp., Santa Fe Springs, Calif.; Second vice president, J. F. Dillon, Great Lakes Distributing Corp., South Bend, Ind.; Treasurer, H. A. Almand, Jr., Booker & Co., Tampa, Fla. S. M. Van Kirk is general manager of NBMDA.

A possible 25/o increase in sales for ,luilding materials wholesale-distributors by 1968 was predicted during the keynote session of the convention.

Richard W. O'Neill, editor, House & Home, made the prediction during his discussion of the future of the American housing industry. He said:

"By 1967-68, more than 2 million housing units will be built, and distributors sales could go up at least 25/o because of the thousands of new products that will have entered the market by that time."

O'Neill also predicted that by 1967-68, about 50/o of all single family homes will be prefabricated, and that all homes will

Westerner William Gri

utilize prefabricated components to some extent.

'oThe builder will need many subcontractor suppliers, and wholesale distributors certainly can get a share of this tremendous new market. And, in the next thirty-five years, we will be adding 50 million housing units and replacing 50 million units. A new man-made environment will be created in the next four decades." he stated.

He said that the government may play a big part in the development of the housing of the future; but, he added that the {ederal government prefers to allow free enterprise to fill the need if adequate service businesses are available.

O'Neill cautioned that today, the average $18,000 price of a single family new home is beyond the financial reach of 60/a oI the nation's families; and that the government may step in to fill this gap with public housing, or a big share of this market may fall to the less expensive mobile home.

Seek Profit In Change

A virtually unanimous call for building materials distributors to take advantage of, and seek new business and profits in a changing pattern of distribution was sounded at a panel discussion.

Appearing on the panel of 'oThe Changing Character o{ Traditional Distribution" were moderator Jack Parshall, editor, Iluild,ing Supply News: J. E. Kindregan, vice president and general manager, building products, Johns-Manville; Don Moorg assistant vice president, Masonite Corp.; and A. J. (Andy) 'Watt, vice president, U.S. Gypsum Co.

Parshall pointed out that a recent intensive study .indicated that while future business may be good or bad for individual building material distributors, the outlook for distributors collectively . "is now great, and will continue to be great for very far into the future."

Kindregan indicated that the future progress of individual wholesalers may depend greatly on their ability to change with and profit by the constant changes in the industry. He traced the history of distribution for the past 30 years, and pointed out how swift changes led some to predict that building materials rvholesalers would disappear by 1975.

"While the distributor may cease to handle some products, he will become increasingly important in the distribution of many more-such as floor, wall and ceiling

NBMDA President

products, translucent panels, and many others," he said,

U.S. Gypsum's Andy Watt spoke out strongly in favor of distributors seeking ways to grow and profit through change. He said there is no reason why change should put anyone out of business-providing they are ,prepared to target their marketing efforts to take advantage of change.

N,IITTWORK PROFITABTE

Millwork is profitable for a building materials distributor to handle" but it takes a good amount of capital and trained personnel to get into the business and keep it running smoothly.

This was the conclusion of a panel discussion on "Should The Building Material Distributor Be Marketing More Millwork Items ?"

Herman Thomas, Dierks Forests, Inc., Hot Springs, Arkansas, told the council that many independent distributors are now using millwork as a leader item.

"If you want to get into the niillwork business; you must complete five - steps first," he pointed out. "These are 1. make a survey of your market and make sure there isn't an established millwork jobber in your marketing area.

"2. Obtain trained personnel; 3. be prepared to meet the financial requirements involved; 4. design a training program for for this was the return to Colonial tytr i design. , ,"t, o Millwork is too costlv for a distributcii i to pre-prime, generally, because of the in" * surance costs involved, code restrictione, f;lr and labor troubles. l o If a distributor is pre-prirning millwork he should continrie to coat it first with a :''; good wood preservative. -" o Pre-hanging doors is still .a problem in' .: the distribution industry because of the competition from the dealer, the pre'hung;,'u_$ door specialist, and the carpenter. ' o Stock millwork can be flexible; it takes;!' promotion on the part of the distributor to convine.e the architect of this. o All distributors attending the meetings said they allowed return privileges. Several indicated a 30 day time limit on returns, with a $2.50 return charge. Others said they charged from 10 to 15 percent of the total purchase price on returned items. all personnel, and 5. prepare catalogs and promotion material to help you sell millwork products better."

Plans. for promoting t!" contin"ed growth of plywood markets dominated the Plywood and Lumber Council session.

Other points brought out at the discussion included: o Pine millwork seems to be outselling other types natiou-wide. The reason given

Clark- E. McDonald, managing director of the'Hardrvood Plywood Manufacturers Association, revealed that a survey by his group indicates a definite trend to increased use of prefinished hardwood plywood.

"Prefinished accounts for almost 50lo (Continued on Page 67)

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