Conference Conversation

(The following ls prrt ot transcr:pt mado trom a r8c. ord 0f proceodingr t.len during the Conterence spons0red ty tie Dooglrs Fir Plywood A3sociation tor 14 representa. tlve lumbe. dealeru and ths editois ot 14 lumDer dealer trade nagar:nesr) cEoRcE SIRAWBnIDCE (Homeste.d Supplies, In5., Banning, Calitornia)3

IrlR. SIAS: The next step in this program is going to be that of asklng individual dealers to tell us a little bit about their own operations. 8ut there is time for a tew questions and comments.

The statement that the people made to you in your inquiry that 70% ot them planned on doing their own erection of thls unit-Well, we spent $80,000 setting up to sell kits to people. we sold two kits. We imnediately converted back to the erection. We found that the people don't have the time for the initial erection of the shell. They think they do. lryhether this information can be of use to anybody else or not, we don't know, but it was a costly lesson to us. I thought the do-it-yourself people were going to cut a path to our mousetrap.

MR. IAENICKE: I think that when a lot of people get down to actually signing the papers, the dealer says, "We will put this up for another $150" or $90 or whatever it is, and all he does is tack it on the end of the contract. They think, "Well, why not let him put it up and it wlll be finished in a week or so."

MR. SIASr At this point I think it is time for the DFPA people to back off and give some of the rest of you a chance to tell us and the other participants what you are doing in this field.

WELDoil wAt[En (lvalke]-Xurth Lumber Company, llous.ton. Teras): We are retail dealers in the strictest sense of the word. We do not do any building ourselves. We do handle of panels, or we will erect the house. But we also havo a price fot putting ln the foundatlon and the floor, and letting the buyer do the rest. \ile've done the harde'st 'part and fintshlng ls easy for hlm. This ls very popular."

SeUing and merchandising took many forms among the dealers at the conference, but nearly every technique fell within those uncovered by the association's survey. The best offerings, however, appear to be complete cabins. These can be in panelized "kit" forms the buyer can erect himself, or the erection can be done at additional cost. In most cases, where flnancing is available, the comparatively small addition to the monthly payment is more than made up for by having a livable cabin immediately.

Cabh in One Da,y

"Our main sales pitch is that we can give people a cabin in one day, with our panelization system," Stan Beatty, of Fife, IVash., Builders Supply said.

"'We came to the rea,lization that without some kind of paneliza,tion our crews were going to be spending thelr summers in the mountains putting together what they should heve been putting together ln the lumber yard," David Glbson added.

Changes Suggested

Scme changes, in addition to new cabin designs, were sug:g'ested in the material produced by DFPA. More display material, in the form of banners, window posters, mobiles and the like, was requested, along with the more expensive, permanent showcases that feature lighted, moving illustrations.

The basic campaign itself, with all its elements, was endorsed by the conference participants, and the association said that it plans to reappraise the details of its offerings.

Ritchie defended the use of the term "second home," when used in the proper context, because "it gets you out of just the vacation fleld and into the retirement market. You're also talking about the home in the same way people say second caf, second refrigerator or television, or second bathroom."

Some Candid Comments by the Retail lumber Ilealers 0n the "leisure-Hone" Markets

some financing for contractors. We do probably 10 to 15% of our business in second homes, prima.ily through contractors.

There is a real potential tor second-home development

In our area, because we are near the Gulf, and we are near some real fine hill country where there have been dams developed and where there are llghts developed up in the inland part of the state.

STAII BEATTY (Flte Bullders Supply, Fite, Werhlngton)!

We have a small retail yard here. Around two y€ars ago, we started prefabbing small cabins, 16 by 20. We have Puget Sound and the lakes and the rivers around here, and plenty of potential customers. one of our big- gest problems is that we used to advertise no down pavment. Then we found out lots of these people will buy a $1,500 lot and pay $100 and the banks won't touch them. But we sold about 35 last year, and every tlme we ran an ad we got one or two; in fact, we had an ad in last night's paper. lt is getting better. We have it perfected now to where our labor cost is $35 to pre{ab a cabin- in a day. our millwork comes all pre-hung. All we are doing is making a few panels, cutting the roof trusses and so on. 0ur main sales pitch is a cabin in one day. We take it out at 7 in the morning and that night they are ready to move in.

MIKE SYM0NS (l{ales & Symons, Sonora, Califolnia):

We are in the basic lumber business. All we do is sell the conventional lumber, the plywood, door frames, every- thing knocked down, and then let tie people build it themselves. We have been supplying cahins since 1929. I have an entirely different operation then most of the other cabin dealers, and I will go into that a little more thoroughly later on.

DUllGAlt GlBSoll (,Gibson Lumier Company, Sai Bernardioo, Calitornia): we have three locatlons in California that cater to San Bernardino, San Bernardino mountain areas, the Vlctorvllle and Apple Valley region, and the Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Indio region. We have a yard on the north end of San Bernardino which gets a lot 0f traffic golng by to the san Bernardino National Forest. oavt0 GIBS0N (Gibson Lumber Company, Albuquerqu!, New l{erlco): we are in a little bit of the position of Mr. Strawbridge over there, We used a DFPA design and we don't entirely regret it, but we are coming out with a much different verslon. We found that one of the problems concerned with all of your cabins, as Dungan mentioned, is that in many cases, particularly close to our area where the resorts and cabins are being built within a 50-mile radius of Albuquerque, that the wife will tale the children uD to the cabin for the week while the husband goes back to torvn, and they feel exposed with these tremendous glass areas. 0f course, they can put dtapes on it, but immediately you are talking about $400 to $500. Also, in the desert, you have the problem of a great deal of heat in the daytime, and then the coldness of the night. We have a retail lumber yard, we have never done any building before, other than remodeling, and when tlris

We do not pre-cut or prefab in californla. we me,chandise our lumbef through builders and through the do-ityourselfers.

There is around our area a fabulous number of homrg going up. A great many of them are being built by one concern.

We have a lot of people in our country who are spooky about large glass areas, particularly out in the desert, and so forth and so on. I think your plans are a little on cloud nine. I don't think they are very practical.