Issue Date:10/17/2005
Hardwood Floors E-News Monday, October 17, 2005 Issue 274 Next issue published October 31, 2005 Deadline for items: October 26, 2005 Send news to [email protected]
NWFA Holds Two Expert Schools
The NWFA held its Expert Installation School October 4-8 at the NWFA Training Center in St. Louis. NWFA Technical Director
Steve Seabaugh and NWFA Technical Advisor
Frank Kroupa led the instruction of 17 students. Volunteer instructors for the school included
Chuck Crispin,
Birger Juell Ltd.;
Robert Kilchenstein,
Chesapeake Hardwood Flooring;
Robert Humphreys,
Majestic Wood Floors Inc.;
Evandro Carvalho,
Maximum Hardwood Floors Corp.; and
Tom Peotter,
Oshkosh Designs.
Seabaugh and Kroupa again led the instruction of another set of 17 students for the Expert Sand & Finish School October 10-12 at the NWFA Training Center in St. Louis. Volunteer instructors included Chris Livingston, 3M; Rob Johnson, Basic Coatings; Dee Lenston, BonaKemi USA Inc.; Steve Marley, Cal Coast Hardwood Flooring; Jack Campbell, Campbell & Company Hardwood Floors; Wayne Lee, Clarke American Sanders; Daniel Boone, Everwood Floors Inc.; Barry Gork, Timbermate USA Inc.; Joe Boone Jr., Wood Floors Online.com Inc.; and Dave Posey, Wood Pro Floors.
Manufacturer News
Mohawk Industries (Dalton, Ga.) will launch its "Across the Nation-National Product Tour 2006" in Florida in December. The tour continues through February 2006 and features 35 venues, ranging from single-city, multiple-day events to traveling shows covering specific areas in a day. In addition to learning product information, dealers will be able to take advantage of Mohawk support services such as Mohawk University. For more information, visit
www.mohawk-today.com.
Lenmar Wood Finishes (Baltimore) and Long Floor Distributing LLC (Beltsville, Md.) recently hosted about 45 contractors at two seminars on October 6 and 7 to explain the new OTC regulations for northern Virginia and Maryland and demonstrate the company's VOC-compliant products. The discussion topics included how the new regulations will affect businesses, as well as finish options that comply with these new laws.
Distributor News
Philadelphia Floor Store Inc. (Conshohocken, Pa.) will have an "Open House Products Extravaganza" at its Conshohocken location November 4-5. More than 30 manufacturers are scheduled to display products and offer special show pricing to attendees. Pre-registration is required, and door prizes will be awarded. For more information, call 610/940-5757.
Unico Flooring Distributors Inc. (Dallas) is looking to import and distribute Mexican-manufactured, engineered prefinished hickory, mesquite and other hardwood products to areas in Texas. For more information, visit www.unicofloors.com.
Dealer News
Flooring America (Webster, Texas) is working with CitiFinancial Bank to develop special financing and payment plans for customers affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. President
Vinnie Virga has appointed
Tim Leaver, Flooring America's director of communications, as a point person to assist members and employees affected by the hurricanes. CCA Global partners, a company affiliated with Flooring America stores, has established a CCA Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund for which the company has pledged to make a corporate donation and match donations from employees and members. For information on becoming a member of Flooring America, call
Russell Smith at 800/450-7595, ext. 2139.
Contractor News
Johnson Yarema Hardwood Floors Inc. (Oakland, Mich.) and
New Detroit Design Studio (Ray, Mich.) were awarded first and second place in the 2005
Detroit Home Design Awards for their collaborative work on the "StarShip" and "Dutton Road Residence" projects. The awards recognize "dream home" builders.
Association News
The 2005 Profitability Survey shows a bright future for floor covering distributors, according to the
National Association of Floor Covering Distributors (NAFCD), which conducts the survey every year. NAFCD members completed a confidential survey about their businesses and submitted it to the Profit Planning Group of Boulder, Colo. The results of the survey showed typical distributor sales were approximately $39 million with a pretax profit of 1.9 percent. The high-profit firms had sales of around $65 million with a 3.8 percent pretax profit. Typical firms had a 6.5 percent pretax return rate on assets, while the high-profit firms had 14.8 percent. Overall, profits were up for the third year in a row.
People News
Scandian Wood Floors (Virginia Beach, Va.) has named
John T. Patterson to the newly created position of vice president of sales and marketing, North America.
Philadelphia Floor Store Inc. has announced the appointment of Fred Beach as Century Flooring products manager. Beach has 30 years of experience in the flooring industry and seven years' experience selling the Century Flooring product.
Boral Timber Inc. (Novato, Calif.) has appointed Denise J. Goodwin East Coast regional sales manager. She will be based in northwestern Pennsylvania and has more than 10 years of sales and marketing experience in the wood flooring industry. She can be reached by phone at 814/516-9227 or 814/657-4003, or by e-mail at [email protected].
Wood Flooring International (Burlington, N.J.) has named Tom Villanueva customer service manager. He will support general customer service responsibilities and will be available for Spanish-speaking customers. Villanueva can be reached by phone at 856/764-2501, ext. 117, or by e-mail at [email protected].
R & R Hardwood Inc. (Boise, Idaho) has named John Borden sales representative for eastern Idaho and Wyoming.
By the Numbers
Hardwood flooring shipments for August 2005 were reported at 46,939,000 square feet, an increase of more than 9 percent over July's shipments and an increase of almost 3 percent compared with the same month in 2004, according to
NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association. Year-to-date shipments for the first eight months of 2005 are 344,278,000 square feet, nearly identical to the same period in 2004, when shipments through the first six months were 345,569,000 square feet. The NOFMA data is from hardwood flooring manufacturers in the U.S., corresponding to actual figures from a majority of the known producing units, plus projections representing units for which actual data is occasionally provided or not provided. The flooring shipments reported include solid prefinished and unfinished oak, beech, birch, maple, hickory/pecan, ash, cherry and walnut.
Job Watch
Owens Flooring Company (Shawano, Wis.) is seeking an experienced representative to handle its sales and technical support for the West Coast territories from Washington to Arizona. The qualifications include an extensive background in wood flooring sales and a knowledge of both prefinished and unfinished hardwood floors, as well as experience in installation, sanding and finishing. For more information, visit
www.owensforestproducts.com under "Join Us." Résumés should be e-mailed to
[email protected] or faxed to 715/524-6084.
NWFA Member Services
Understanding the financial principles and differences between margins and markups is the cornerstone to increasing the profits of your business. Learn how to effectively estimate job costs to increase your profits with the NWFA's latest educational CD set, "How to Make Money on Every Job." The first CD provides instructional material, while the second CD provides templates to help make your business more profitable. The CDs are $20 for NWFA members. For more information, contact the NWFA by phone at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), by e-mail at
[email protected], or visit
www.nwfa.org.