Issue Date:9/2/2008
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Issue Date:9/2/2008
Harvester Inc. (New Jersey) is expanding distribution of Coleman Cable and Hubbell Plugs for floor sanding machines. For more information, call Harvester at 201/664-4884 or e-mail [email protected].
Retailer News Crown Wood Floors and Supply (Green Island, N.Y.) opened for business August 12. Hershy Fligman serves as president and Yuda Noe as vice president (both formerly of Capitol Wood Floors) and Dave Leibach, previously with Hoboken Wood Floors and Wood Pro, serves as sales manager. This company offers lines from Dura Seal, Norton Abrasives, Glitsa American, Primatech, Powernail Company, Absolute Coatings, Monticello Wood, Buchanan, Fein Power Tools, Somerset Wood Products, Satin Finish, Stuart, 3M and others. The company is located at 60 Cohoes Ave., Green Island, NY 12183, and its phone number is 518/274-5000.
People News Cikel Brasil Verde S/A (Araucaria Parana, Brazil) has named Daniela Macedo Silva marketing manager. Silva can be reached at 011-55-41-2169-8200 or [email protected].
Bostik Inc. (Middleton, Mass.) has promoted Tom Mylott from national sales manager of Construction & Distribution (C&D) to North region sales manager. The company has also promoted Brian Kelley from East region sales manager for its C&D Division's flooring solutions to South region sales manager. Further, the company has named Rick Tredwell West region sales manager of its C&D Division. His expanded responsibilities include Chem-Calk commercial and Bostik Home Residential Construction Sealants & Adhesives, in addition to his former responsibilities as West region sales manager of flooring solutions.
Owens Flooring Company (Shawano, Wis.) has named Michael Mingo Eastern regional sales manager. Mingo previously worked at Hoboken Floors.
Greyne Custom Wood Co. (Baltimore) has signed on Tim Ryan as an independent sales representative. The 20-year veteran of the flooring industry is based in Phoenix and covers the Southwestern U.S. territory.
Mark Your Calendar The NWFA will hold a Wood Flooring Makeover — Basic to Advanced School November 5-7 at its training facility in St. Louis. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or visit www.nwfa.org.
Lon Musolf Distributing Inc. (Vadnais Heights, Minn.), along with Basic Coatings (Toledo, Ohio), will hold a sand and finish school at Lon's Waukesha, Wis., location September 9-10. The two companies will hold a Tykote school in Vadnais Heights September 16. Students can earn one NWFA credit for attending either school. For more information or to register, call Scott Johnson at 612/290-4855.
The Australian Timber Flooring Association will hold its 2008 National Timber Flooring Conference in Melbourne, Victoria, October 9-10. For more information, contact Julie McGraw at 61-2-9744-5252 or [email protected], or visit www.atfaconvention.com.au.
On the Web A.E. Sampson & Son Ltd. (Warren, Maine) has launched a new site at www.aesampsonandson.com.
By the Numbers July housing starts fell to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 965,000 — 11 percent above the revised June estimate of 1,084,000 and 29.6 percent below the revised July 2007 estimate of 1,371,000, according to the U.S. Commerce Department. Single-family housing starts in July declined to the lowest point since January 1991, to 641,000. This is 2.9 percent below the June rate of 660,000. U.S. Commerce Department also reported sales of new single-family houses rose 2.4 percent in July to 515,000 units. This rate is 35.3 percent below the June 2007 estimate of 796,000 units.
Sales of existing single-family houses in July rose to the highest level in five months, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). July sales increased 3.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5 million units compared with the revised June level of 4.85 million. This unit total is still 13.2 percent lower than the 5.76 million-unit pace in July 2007. The median existing-home price in July was $212,400, down 7.1 percent from a year ago when the median was $228,600, according to NAR. Meanwhile, the Standard & Poor's S&P/Case-Shiller Composite Home Price Index reported that June's prices fell 15.9 percent when compared with the same quarter last year, the largest drop since the index began in 2000.
The overall National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) held steady at 16 in August. The index gauging current sales conditions rose one point to 16, while the index gauging sales expectations for the next six months rose two points to 25. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers remains unchanged at 12.
Job Watch BonaKemi USA (Aurora, Colo.) is seeking regional team (distribution) managers (RTMs). Current RTM openings include the Rocky Mountain/Upper Midwest region (Colorado, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri), Canada, and possible expansion in the Northeast (Maryland to Maine). The company is also looking for a regional contractor consultant for the St. Louis region. For more information, contact Lori Plucker, human resources assistant, at 800/872-5515, ext. 6652, or [email protected].
NWFA Member Services The NWFA Certified Professionals (NWFACP) will offer an Inspection Report Writing School. This one-day class will provide instruction on how to write a comprehensive inspection report based on NWFA Certified Professionals standards. The first session will be held September 10 in Chicago, with additional classes to be held in San Francisco and the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area later this year. The cost to attend the school for wood flooring inspectors certified by the NWFACP, the Institute for Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification, the National Institute of Certified Floorcovering Inspectors, Flooring Consultants and Inspection Training Service, and NOFMA: The Wood Flooring Manufacturers Association, is $195. The cost to attend for nonmembers of these groups is $250. For more information, contact NWFACP at 636/728-1922, or contact the NWFA at 800/422-4556 (U.S.), 800/848-8824 (Canada) or 636/519-9663 (local and international), by e-mail at [email protected] or by visiting www.nwfa.org.