The A- .NAC

Now that retail lumber dealers are becoming more merchandising minded and many find that their present facilities are outmoded or inadequate for modern displays and additional lines, they are considering remodeling or building new stores.

To aid the LMA members who are planning a store modernization program, Jack F. Pomeroy has announced that the Lumber Merchants Association has available a new service. A collection of 100 slides, featuring modern displays and store layouts and with the necessary projector eguipment, will be shown or loaned to interested dealers and their architects or designers. With the slides the Association is preparing an album of photographs of modern lumber and building material stores which will provide planners with many tried and tested ideas and innovations.

The office library contains many additional idea-getting services in the form of booklets and articles on the subject. Jack said one of the most appreciated services that the Association performs in this field is to arrange for visits and inspections between the idea-searching member and members rvho have modernized their operations. These meetings are particularly valuable as they bring out the bad as'lvell as the proven good features of ideas and prevent a duplication of error in planning which would occur if an idea was copied without this consultation.

The Association office also has for sale a manual, "Retail Merchandising-Lumber and Building Materials," which is ;lvailable for only $10. It contains an outline of the basic principles which govern successful store design and offers many ideas which should be given serious consideration by anyone responsible for designing or remodeling a retail lumber store.

Considering the tremendous investment that is involved in a modernization program and the result desired in the form of new and increased sales, Pomeroy suggests that dealers should use this Association service to avoid mistakes that would be both regrettable and costly.

While trade jour'"r, url ]turiuru.,rrrers' literature indicate that many midwestern and eastern lumber yards are finding the roll-off attachment for lift trucks a valuable asset to reducing material handling costs, little has been seen or heard of it in Northern California.

Hales and Symons Inc., of Sonora, are an exception, having had their unit for more than ayeat. Arthur Martin, lumber department manager, says that it "really works." One big feaiure is that it makes it possible to utilize their bin-type sheds, which are almost two stories high, and shelters evcn their common lumber against the snow and rain in the winter and the sun in the summer. The bins make all soecies and sizes available for loading orders without having to move and shufile lift loads as would be the case in the ordinary lift shed.

The yard personnel also designed and built a clever combination ladder and loading platform to facilitate removal of lumber for an order requiring various sizes and lengths. The ladder and platform, made of steel, travels the full length of the shed on heavy sliding door track and rollers and permits a load to be developed without the use of the lift truck, thereby eliminating the usual waste of idle equipment and stand-by labor.

Keeping pace rvith the growth of Sonora and the surrounding resort area, Hales & Symons has just complet€d their third store expansion and modernization projects. Dealers looking for store and material handling ideas would do well to 'risit this progressive organization.

An order of business ", ,r" t", meeting of the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association in Washington, D. C., was to clarify \4'ith FHA officials the problems realized by the lumber and light construction industry in dealing with FHA at the local level.

To provide the Northern California representation to the National meeting with accurate information regarding this situation, Pomeroy sent out a questionnaire to the LMA membership.

The survev results certainly tend to question generalized statements credited to FHA officials that loans are normally processed in 14 days, and that small builders and custombuilt home buyers are content with FHA services.

The LM-A. survey indicated that loan processing time is more usually six to ei,ght weeks. A big source of complaint -. "steraslrcm- lle -delay x&ich.aeises fgq$r "S4.x*isatisn'r*hgiag : -lyc+rnq A::&rc:rriTrfeqrfu "eiii&1ffryal fu*ernnation ancl corrections.

It is felt that much of the delay could be eliminated if the F'HA people would request all corrections and additional information at one time rather than shuttle the application back and forth one item at a time.

The continual ,changes in the Maximum Property Requirements contribute to many of the original errors in the applications, as FHA information apparently does not reach the smaller builders and many architects in time to incorporate new requirements in their plans and specifications.

It also is felt that many would-be users of FHA are avoiding it because of the conditions they feel prevail, whereby there is just too much red tape involved; and that the large tract builder receives preferential service, higher appraisals, and less stringent inspections as to quality of construction and material than does the small speculative or custom-home builder.

The survey in general showed that much is desired from FHA in the minds of dealers who reported, and it would seem to be common knowledge that while FHA tract builders consume tremendous quantities of No. 3 and No. 4, now called Utility and Economy, there are few situations where such grades would be ,condoned if the same standards required of small speculative and custom-home builders were adhered to.