Hardwood Floors E-News - 4/28/2008

The NWFA held an Intermediate Installation, Sand & Finish School April 23-25 at its training facility in St. Louis. NWFA Technical Director Steve Seabaugh led the instruction of 33 students. Volunteer instructors included: Jim Schumacher, 3M; Daniel Racareanu, American Woodcraft Inc.; Sharon Smith and Rob Johnson, Basic Coatings LLC; Matthew Thrane and Cameron DeMar, BonaKemi USA Inc.; Brian Fussell, Clarke American Sanders; Roger H. Barker, Fortifiber Building Systems Group; Chris Pryjomski, Glitsa American Inc.; Mark Mukosiej, Powernail Company Inc.; Mike Kearns, Primatech Inc.; Chuck Garvey, Timbermate USA Inc. and Lägler; and Woody Hilscher, UFloor Systems Inc. DomotexAsia/Chinafloor attracted 39,509 attendees to the show, which was held March 11-13 in Shanghai, China. More than 1,014 exhibitors displayed products on 88,000 square meters. UA Wood Floors (Douliou City, Taiwan) has opened a sales office located at 501 Service Road, Suite 4, Lancaster, PA 17601. The office is managed by Tom Dux and Chris Fisher. They can be contacted at 877/519-2723 or by fax at 770/234-6219.

Czar Floors (Newtown, Pa.) has received Platinum and Silver ADEX awards from Design Journal for its custom floor designs.

Armstrong Wood Floors (Lancaster, Pa.) has teamed up with the Hardwood Forestry Fund to plant 35,000 trees in Kentucky's Tygarts State Forest. The 800-acre state forest was selected because its woodlands can be expanded and it is the site for educational outreach programs for loggers, landowners and students.

Cikel North America (Miami) has instituted a quick-ship program for its exotic wood flooring products. The program uses strategically located warehouses to deliver product quickly.

Mapei Corporation (Deerfield Beach, Fla.) sponsored Robby Gordon for the Subway Fresh Fit 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in Phoenix on April 12. Gordon placed 29th.

Lanham Hardwood Flooring Co. (Louisville, Ky.) has acquired American Products of Kentucky (Louisville, Ky.) for an undisclosed price. American Products of Kentucky will be rolled into Lanham Hardwood Flooring's warehouse at 4121 Bishop Lane, Louisville, KY, 40218. This acquisition is in no way associated with American Products Inc. (Pineville, N.C.).

Samy Santa Flooring Depot (Duluth, Ga.) has been selected as a Southeast distributor for Owens Flooring Company (Shawano, Wis.) and PoloPlaz (Jacksonville, Ark.).

Lon Musolf Distributing Inc. (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) held a Customer Appreciation/Vendor Open House April 23 at its Vadnais Heights location. More than 300 customers attended the event, along with representatives from the following vendors: 3M, Absolute Coatings, Balterio, Basic Coatings LLC, Beno J. Gundlach, Boen, BonaKemi USA Inc., Boral Timber, Cochran's Lumber and Millwork, Dura Seal, Duratool, Grill Works, Hakwood, Lägler, North Wood Flooring, Oshkosh Designs, Padco, Palo Duro Hardwoods Inc., Powernail Company, Smith Flooring, UA Wood Floors and Woodmax. Prizes were raffled off, including a 50-inch plasma TV won by Cindy Kasat of All Electric (Burnsville, Minn.) and a Lund fishing boat won by Chad Wuollet of American Flooring (Delano, Minn.).

Cikel North America has added three members to its staff. Gerry Schappell has been appointed vice president. He previously worked at Hoboken Floors. George Celtrick has been named director of sales. He most recently worked at Austin Hardwood Flooring. Jason Ranney joins Cikel as operation manager; he formerly worked at Hoboken Floors.

BonaKemi USA Inc. (Aurora, Colo.) has appointed John Rauvola managing director. Rauvola has been with the company since May 2007 and will continue his roles in sales and marketing for North America and as a member of the Global Management Team.

Philadelphia Floor Store Inc. (Conshohocken, Pa.) has appointed Larry Smith territory manager for northeastern Pennsylvania and three New Jersey counties: Hunterdon, Warren and Sussex. Smith was formerly with American Made Hardwood Flooring and previously spent 12 years with Derr Flooring. He can be reached at 215/651-8302 or [email protected].

Ochoco International (Bellevue, Wash.) has hired Jeff Mills as an account manager, flooring sales. Mills can be reached at 425/614-4600, ext. 208.

Vecoplan LLC (High Point, N.C.) has named Jeffery Queen director of finance.

Housing starts for March 2008 fell nearly 12 percent to a seasonally adjusted 947,000 units, its slowest pace in 17 years, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. This is 11.9 percent below the February 2008 figure of 1,075,000 units and 36.5 percent below the March 2007 rate of 1,491,000 units.

At the National Association of Home Builder's Semi-Annual Construction Forecast Conference held on April 24, Chief Economist for the NAHB David Seiders stated he believed the deepening slump in housing starts has eroded consumer sentiment and pushed the economy into a mild recession that will run through the first half of the year. Seiders has adjusted NAHB's official housing forecast to indicate continuing downward movement in housing starts through the end of 2008, bringing the decline for the year to 30 percent.

Sales of new single-family houses fell to the lowest level in more than 16 years in March 2008, falling 8.5 percent to 526,000 units, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. This is 36.6 percent below the March 2007 estimate of 830,000 units and the slowest sales pace since October 1991. The median price of new homes sold in March dropped to $227,600, a 13.3 percent decline compared with March 2007, according to the Commerce Department. This is the largest year-to-year decline since a 14.6 percent drop in July 1970.

Existing home sales were down 2 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.93 million units in March from a level of 5.03 million in February, and sales remain 19.3 percent below the 6.11 million-unit pace of March 2007, according to the National Association of Realtors. The March 2008 median existing-home price was $200,700, down 7.7 percent from March 2007, which was $217,400, marking the seventh consecutive year-over-year drop.

The overall National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) remained unchanged at 20 for April 2008. The index gauging current sales conditions declined two points to 18, while the index gauging sales expectations for the next six months rose four points to 30. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers remained unchanged at 19 for a third consecutive month.

The NWFA will hold a Wood Flooring Inspection School September 22-25 at its training facility in St. Louis. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.

Domotex Middle East, to be held May 25-27 in Dubai, will feature a pavilion with NWFA-member companies Anderson Hardwood Floors; Harris Wood, a product of Arbor Craft; Frame Hardwoods Inc.; Graf Brothers Flooring Inc.; Mullican Flooring; Porta-Nails Inc.; and W.F. Taylor.

In the previous Hardwood Floors' E-News, Sean Stewart should have been listed as formerly of Ochoco International, not as a founder. The NWFA's newest Distributor Profit Improvement Report, "The Sales to Payroll Delta: A Critical Planning Tool," is now available. Written by Dr. Al Bates, the report examines an approach to planning payroll called "the sales to payroll delta," and addresses two key issues: explaining what the sales to payroll delta is and how to achieve it, and making specific improvements to improve payroll performance. To get the full report, visit www.nwfa.org, click on "Services and Supplies," then "Statistical Reports" and then "Profit Improvement Reports." For more information, contact the NWFA at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international) or by e-mail at [email protected].