Builders’ Show has Record Exhibit Space
More than 105,000 housing professionals attended the
2006 International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla., which took place January 11-14. This number makes the show the most successful and well-attended annual convention in the history of the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB). This year’s show filled the Orange County Convention Center with a record 967,000 net square feet of exhibits showcasing new products designed specifically for the residential and light commercial construction industries. Former Secretary of State
Colin Powell was the keynote speaker.
Domotex Breaks Attendance Records
Domotex Hannover broke its previous attendance records at this year’s show held January 14-17 in Hannover, Germany. This international event attracted more than 48,500 professionals from all aspects of the floor covering industry. About 1,362 exhibitors displayed products on 93,000 square meters of exhibition space, with more than 75 percent of exhibitors coming from abroad. The
NWFA was well represented with its member exhibitor pavilion. Participating companies included
RFMS Inc.,
Porta-Nails Inc.,
Anderson Hardwood Floors,
Victoria S A of Chile,
Powernail Company,
Bamboo Flooring Hawaii,
Pacific Solutions and representatives from the National Wood Flooring Association.
Surfaces to Offer Seminars, Installation Classes
At least 40,000 attendees are expected at Surfaces 2006, which will be held in Las Vegas. Seminars will start January 31, while the actual trade show will run February 1-3. More than 200 NWFA members will be exhibiting. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear top hardwood flooring professionals speak in several seminars, which are $75 each. Seminars relating to hardwood flooring include:
Tuesday, January 31, 9 a.m.-noon Introduction to Selling Hardwood Floors Speaker:
Richard Poirier, Dimension International
Tuesday, January 31, 2-5 p.m. Advanced Hardwood Flooring Sales Speaker: Richard Poirier, Dimension International
Thursday, February 2, 8-9:30 a.m. Wood Flooring-Troubleshooting (Before, During and After) Speaker: Mickey Moore, NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association
In addition, Surfaces will offer free Installation Showcase sessions on flooring installation at the Sands Expo and Convention Center in Las Vegas. The classes relevant to hardwood flooring include:
Wednesday, February 1, 11 a.m. to noon Hardwood Floors-A World of Color Presented by:
Steve Marley, Cal Coast Hardwood Flooring
Thursday, February 2, 10 to 11 a.m. Moisture & Self-Leveling Compounds for Concrete Presented by: Peter Craig, independent contractor
Friday, February 3, 1 to 2 p.m. Recoating Prefinished Hardwood Floors Presented by: Steve Marley, Cal Coast Hardwood Flooring
Artistic Finishes Inc. (Roseville, Minn.) will also sponsor educational opportunities with a seminar on retail flooring sales featuring speaker
Warren Tyler at Surfaces 2006 on Thursday, February 2, from 8 to 9:30 a.m. The seminar, "High Impact Selling," will instruct retailers on how to distinguish themselves from their competition. For more information, contact
Randy Hambright at 888/783-0374.
In addition, VerMeister USA (Seattle) will share its Surfaces booth with Floormasters.com (The Villages, Fla.), to host informal "ShopTalks" each day of the show. All wood floor finishers are welcome to attend these free discussions to gain and share knowledge and ideas. For more information, contact Bill Price at 781/520-9324 or Nathaniel at 206/251-6627.
Manufacturer News
BonaKemi USA Inc.’s (Aurora, Colo.) Bona Environmental Choice System has been awarded Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certification by the Atlanta-based Greenguard Environmental Institute. This certification is meant to recognize the environmental qualities of Bona’s waterborne finishes and dust containment sanding equipment.
Mirage/Boa Franc (Saint-Georges, Quebec) has been awarded Home Magazine ’s 2006 American Building Product Award for its Merlot, Java and Sambuca stains. The award was given January 11 during the International Builders’ Show in Orlando, Fla.
Clarke American Sanders (Springdale, Ark.) will have some of its products featured on "The Weekend Makeover" show on the Travel Channel on February 3, 8:30 a.m. EST.
Distributor News
Adleta Corporation (Dallas) has earned the Distributor of the Year title from
Stauf-USA Adhesive LLC (Memphis) for the second consecutive year. Stauf presented Adleta with the award at Adleta’s 2006 Winter Product Showcase.
Contractor News
Michael Dittmer of
Michael Dittmer Wood Floors (Putnam, Ill.) recently donated his time and materials to install a herringbone parquet hardwood floor to replace the tiles in the foyer of the Prairie Arts Center in Princeton, Ill. The floor consists of riftsawn and quartersawn white oak with walnut border inlays.
Van Camp’s Quality Floors (Denver) volunteered its services to restore the 4,000 square feet of original wood floors at Denver’s historic St. John’s Cathedral. The restoration started January 9. Van Camp’s would like to specially thank Bite the Dust (Denver) for providing the dust containment service; Dura Seal (Cedar Hill, Texas) for providing the stain, filler and finish; and Virginia Abrasives (Petersburg, Va.) for providing sandpaper.
People News
The Malish Corporation (Willoughby, Ohio) has added
Matteo Bortolaso of
GBD Service SRL as the company’s representative in Europe. He can be contacted by mail at GBD Service SRL, Via Don L. Sturzo, 26 Sommacampagna, VR 37066 Italy; by phone at 39-045-515-210; by fax at 39-045-7343-1165; or by e-mail at
[email protected].
Zickgraf Hardwood Flooring (Franklin, N.C.) has appointed Leslie Matz director of training and process improvement. Matz has nearly 20 years’ experience in the flooring industry, most recently as trade show/events manager for Armstrong World Industries.
Penn Wood Products (East Berlin, Penn.) has hired Angelica Cantu as industrial engineer. She will plan, supervise and manage operations within the manufacturing plant to ensure efficient use of resources and equipment, as well as employee safety. She will also formulate and maintain quality control objectives including implementation of document control procedures.
By the Numbers
2005 was a record-setting year for single-family housing production, according to the
U.S. Commerce Department . Total housing starts for 2005 topped 2.06 million units, which is up 5.6 percent from 2004 and is the second-highest starts number on record following 1972’s record of 2.36 million units. Single-family starts hit 1.71 million units for all of 2005. This pace is up 6.4 percent from 2004 and is the highest pace recorded. In December, total housing starts declined 8.9 percent to a 1.93 million-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate.
The overall January 2006 National Homebuilders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) held steady at 57 for the second month in a row. The index gauging current sales edged down from 64 in December to 62 in January, while the indices measuring sales expectations for the next six months and that measuring the traffic of prospective buyers remained at 65 and 40, respectively. All three components are down 15 points from their June 2005 highs.
For Sale
A tread and molding manufacturing facility is for sale. It serves the Southeast from Pennsylvania to Florida to Texas. The modern plant has well-maintained machinery and all EPA permits. Quality and color matching are critical parts of this manufacturing facility. There’s also enough land and a warehouse to establish a distribution center, and finishing facilities could be added. Interested parties should reply to
Hardwood Floors, Attn: MFG for Sale, 4130 Lien Road, Madison, WI 53704.
Job Watch
Clarke American Sanders is seeking a sanding specialist for its northeastern territory, which includes Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland and New Jersey. The ideal candidate will have five years of experience with sanding equipment and preferably a bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience. The candidate should also have direct sales experience calling on professional sanding contractors and craftsman dealers, excellent presentation skills, floor care knowledge and the ability to travel an average of 65 percent of the time. Résumés should be sent with salary history to Clarke American Sanders, Attn: Human Resources-SS-NE, 2100 Hwy. 265 South, Springdale, AR 72764; by fax at 479/750-8236; or by e-mail at
[email protected].
Artisan Wood Floor Supply (Franklin, Tenn.) is looking for an outside sales representative. This position requires three years of sales experience. Multiple territories are available. For more information, call 615/794-9318. Résumés should be sent by fax to 615/794-9319.
Corrections
In
Hardwood Floors’ 2006 Resource Book, the e-mail address and Web site for manufacturer
Heritage Wide Plank Flooring (Calverton, N.Y.) were incorrect. The correct e-mail is
[email protected], and the correct Web site is
http://www.heritagewideplankflooring.com.
The December 2005/January 2006 issue of Hardwood Floors should have listed Karelia Hardwood Flooring Ltd. (West Vancouver, British Columbia) as a NWFA member exhibiting at Surfaces 2006. The company can be found at booth G4025.
NWFA Member Services
Have you made your plans to attend the NWFA 2006 Convention in Baltimore yet? If not, be sure to register before March 24 to receive your early registration discount. NWFA members who register as a full Education Package attendee can receive $50 off their registration fee by registering on or before March 24. In addition, full Education Package attendees who stay in one of the five NWFA-sponsored hotels can receive an additional $35 off their registration fee. NWFA members can attend the Wood Flooring Expo for free if they register in advance. To register, visit
https://nwfa.org/ and click on the "Expo and Convention" link. 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) or by e-mail at
[email protected].