Northern Colifornio Deolers Pqrk Their Skiis, Roll Up Sleeves for Work Session of Yosemite

Members Consider Hqving Associqfion Do Their Ycrrd Accounting on Univqc

From Architects to Univacs- -that was just about the size of it up Yosemite way when the Lumber Merchants Association of Northern California held its 20th annual convention, April 24-26, in the beautiful National Park. From this wide range of subjects, some 300 dealers and their wives drew on what was probably one of the most concentrated business conventions ever held by the Northern California association.

The stepped-up trusiness program was requested by the general membershiJr, a group of devotetl businessmen eager an<l anxious to improve their pla,ce in toda.y's ever-changing and rrncertain profit picture,

The excellent convention program was spearheaded by Charlie Dart, K-Y Lumber Co., along with Central Lumber's Steve Ross, King Lumber's Edrvards illetcalf, Syh,an Lumber's Duke fiohland, Cross Lumber Company's Dick Cross, and LMA prexy I'rank Heartl (who was unanimously elected to a second term of office later in the convention).

Registration was moved up to Sunday to free Monday morning for the first of four Panel Workshops scheduled for the two-day meeting. Sunday evening was get-acquainted night at the first of three industry-sponsored cocktail parties and at an informal dinner. in the Ahwahnee's beautiful big main dining room.

MONDAY _ APRIL 25

IJncooperative weather moved the "Lumberjack's Outdoor Breakfast" indoors, br.rt nobody seemed to mind. "Let's get down to work" seemed to be on everyone's mind.

Shortly after 9:00 a.m., the hotel's Indian Room was filled to capacity to hear a fiery panel of three lumber manufacturers, a dealer, a wholesaler, two building materials distributors, and two building mateiials manufacturers zero in on the perplexing problem of "What Can We Do To Help ?" fntroduced by Charlie Dart, the panel included Dick Gerber, building products manag'er of Kaiser Aluminum, and Blll Hoy, western regional salesmanager, of Masonite Corporation, for the 'building materials manufacturers; Bill Grieve, BMD, and Phtl McCoy, Western Pine Supply, for the.building materials distributors; Robert Ma,haffay, general manager of WCLA; Ed Nave, Medford Corporation, and Lee Moffett, of Tarter, Webster & Johnson, for the lumber manufacturers; Ralph La,rnon, for the lumber wholesalers; and Frank Hea,rd. for the lumber dealers.

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The building materials manufacturers came under flre in the second question from the floor, asking why new building materials products were continually being introduced through the applicator, instead of the retail lumber dealer.

Kaiser's Dick Gerber blamed part of this situation on the smaller manufacturers, noting that in the case of aluminum siding alone there are some 46 manufacturers in the U. S.

Ifowever, Masonite's BiU Hoy noted that the "Suede-Shoe Boys" are continua"Ily beating out the dealer with their "complete package" pitch (materials, flnancing, installation-all wrapped up in the good old "hard sell"). As a result, many manufacturers, mainly the small and regional ones, flnd the suede-shoe boys with their hard-sell "package" deals the quickest way to get their products on the market.

Too many dealers, Hoy felt, were stlll concentrating on the new home market and ignoring the booming Ilome-rmprove ment market, the bread and butter of the suede-shoe boys.

An educated guess, until the new Census is completed, would indicate a new constmction volume of around 55 billion dollars for the cunent year . . compared to a surprising 25 biilion dollars in the Home-Inrprovement field, Hoy said.

As further evidence of the importance of the Home-Improvement market, BMD's Bill Grieve noted that the "fixup" market is actually bigger than our entire automobile industry!

Grieve also nanowed the populatlon increase down to tho state of Ca,lifornia, noting tha,t some 90,000 persons were movlng into California. each month and, of speclal lnterest to northern dealers, 6l/o of thls total north of the Tehachapi Range.

Moderated by Dr, Georgo Cllne Smith, vlce-presldent of the F. W. Dodge Corp. of New York, tho Panol was & conventlon in itself.

First question from the floor went to the lumber producers and encompassed the new I'HA grade-stamp mling. Although the FHA ruling does not carry over to other conventional means of financing, it was the belief of Moffett, Mahaffay and Nave that it would be a forerunner to the day when all financing agencies would require gTade-stamped lumber in every construction job.

Problems and solutions on policing the gtade-stamp ruling were discussed, with Mahaffay noting that the existence of 17 grading agencies in the U. S. and another nine in Canada seriously complicated the policing job.

In an effort to track down "outlaw" grading practlces using bogus stamps, Navo requested the dealers to report any discrepancy immedlately so ffeld men for the legitimate lumbor associations could put them out of business.

Product research then came under considerable discussion, the manufacturers and distributors estimating tlrat 40Vo of what the dealer will be selling 10 years from now he hasn't even heard of today. In connection with Component building, Kaiser's Gerber indicated that his cor{pany is currently researching the field of components with the idea of combining: aluminum with other building materials.

Finally, the dealers discussed the many sales aids they were receiving, most indicating they made good use of the aids, but many somewhat critical of the "Madison-Avenue" approach of the aids.

Suggestions that the agency men handling promotiona,l lltera,ture and alds for dealer distrlbutlon should better acquaint themselveo with the retall lumber inilustry seemed in order to most present.

After a fruitful morning session, the dealers moved right into the second stag:e, a men's buffet luncheon, with Frank Ifeard presiding, and James L. Blgelow, vice-president of John Paul Jones Associates, Inc., the feature speaker.

Mr. Bigelow's talk, "Management Decisions Make Money," was right down "pocketbook alley." Bigelow noted that "Expenses are the most commonly neglected small business function."

In line with the Association-sponsored Univac program, Bigelow

Mondoy's Men's 8uffet Luntheon found ot lhe Heod Toble { lefr-righr) : Fronk Heord, H@illon Knotl qnd Elmer Rou dealers marched back to the Indian Room for a Component and Second Home panel. ond olso: Sleve Ross, lro Horlon, Cloir Hicks dnd the speoker, Bigelow urged better costin€a of sales tickets, better inventot.y :rn(l l.eceiv_ ables control a.nd, in g'eneral, the etjucation of personnel as to just rl.hat the business picture is and, especially, how their ou,n clepart_ ment is cloing in "black and $.hite." Give your employee the facts, Bigelow urged, not just u'hat he can see \vith his own eves.

First up was Don Jaenicke of the Douglas Fir Plyu'ood Associ:ttion, rvho shos'ed slides of DFPA's stable of "Second-Home" designs along'with giving valuable information on just how the dealer can tie-in to the "Second-Home" promotion. In general statistics, Jaenicke noted that the majority of the second-home purchasers are in the $6,000 to $12,000 earning'bracket; that, throughout the nation, the average structural shell \\'ill nrn from $1,500 to $3,500; and that the biggest volume in second homes is NOT going thlough the detrler', but rather the prefabber and the builder'cleveloper combinations (Jaenicke noted that prefabbers expect the "second home" to account for more than 75(ti of their total voh.lme \vithin the next feu'vears).

"Simply, though l)eol)le hrte to do it, you mrrst kcep iet,orrls . , . be<'irrrse you're in the monet' business r\'heilr(,r y()lt kno\\. it or not," Iligelou' saitl.

By actual survey, some 50/,i of the r.etail fir'ms in the countr.r. have no collection procedure, and nearlv as llanv <io not nge receivables, the analyst noted, and the situation \\-ith inventor,\, contlol is probably even \\'ol'se.

"Inventory control is for the purpose of knowing where voru, mone1. is not horn'much of what is $'hele," he saicl. Too rnany fir'ms itre trying to live oft the top half of thei| inventory .rnd it just isn't in the cards, he noted.

"I,'inish every day's rvork ea,ch day u'iilr flre goal of tr)'ing to get your records in such shape thilt yorr cotrltl close tlort.n, liquidate or sell your business :r,ny given evening $.hen r.ou shut the door," he said.

Although admittedly nearly impossible, this philosophv could be the nost important single step a dealer could take torn,ar.cl improved prolits and a smoother all-round operation, he said in closing'.

But that wasn't nll for the day by far. At B:30 p.m. sh:rrp, the

To offset the trend, Jaenicke offered the following 6-point program for Second-Home promotion: (1) Keep the design economical and simple. (2) Erect a full-size model cabin (use it as a sales office). (3) Work up brochures and use ne\\'spaper advertising'. (4) Consider precutting, or Lu-Re-Co n'rethods. (5) Have a financing plan tboth A.B.C. and C.I.T. now have Second-Home financing plans ). (6 ) Tie-in with a realtor or cleveioper lf possible.

In the absence of Lee Dond, active Peninsula Lu-Re-Co operator who became ill just before the convention, John Gorlley, western district manager for the Woocl Convet'sion Companv, showed his (:ompany's excellent film, "Better llomes in Jig Time."

As to the future of the small-home market rnd the universal adoption of the Component building system, Godley left little <loubt. He noted that prefa.bbcrs lruilt nearly l0/o ot the small lromes tluring 1959 and that they expect to btr huilding 65% of the small-home market by l9?5. The path tou'ard Comyronent huiltling does, indeed, al)l)ear clea,r rrnd un<.,luttered. A second indttstrSr-sponso|ecl cocktail party marked the close of