BeforeYou Buy-Inquire

Sell the Smoll Builder

A recent membership survey of the National Association of Fio-e Builden shows that the number of large builders has declined in the past five years, while the number of small builders has increased. Small builders now account for a large percentage of the total volume of housing construction.

The report has major import also for the lumber industry. The smaller builder, because of requirements involving credit, service and even the volume which he needs at any one timg probably is a better customer of the retail lumber dealer than of a wholesaler, major distributor or manufacturer, The larger builder, on the other hand, has made it almost an article of faith to bypass as much of the distribution chain as possible-and he can do so because he can provide for himself the services ofiered by retailer and wholesaler. The continued emphasis on conventional on-site construction means a continued market for lumber pieces, the distribution of which is difiused throughout the nation. It is this type o{ market distribution which has made possible the multiplicity of production and marketing faeilities which are peculiar to the lumber industry.

There are many reasons for what now can be considered a trend toward more small construction firms building a greater proportion of the nation's housing. For one thing, housing has never lent itself to fac- tory production. There is no national market, only Iocal markets which are individual communities and between which there may be little conformity in housing preferences. The market for big tract operations has declined as mass shelter needs have been met. The use of prefabricated parts has not increased sigrrificantly over the past five years, according to the NAHB survey. Nor has the proportion of builders using purely conventional methods increased. In other words, the revolution in technology widely anticipated a few years ago simply has not developed-and those technological changes which have occurred over the past few years apparently have been readily adaptable by the smaller individual home builder.