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March 28, 2008

Raised Floor Ad Hoc Committee Meets

The Ad Hoc Committee appointed by the Southern Pine Council to oversee efforts to promote raised wood floors with consumers and the design/build community met in New Orleans last week. Chaired by Kerlin Drake of Anthony Forest Products, the committee heard results from recent consumer and builder research projects. They also reviewed concepts for three new raised floor television advertisements being developed by The Ehrhardt Group, the agency that assists with SPC’s raised floor living campaign. Ehrhardt expects the TV spots to begin airing in early May in three key markets – Houston, Texas, New Orleans, La., and the Gulf Coast area stretching from Mobile, Ala., to Pensacola, Fla. The campaign will also include Internet ads, and Ehrhardt is currently working with newspaper and television media in the target markets to develop stories related to raised floor construction.

Research reported during the meeting yielded some interesting information for SPC and its members and also helped Ehrhardt determine what messages ads should convey to consumers. Dr. Verne Kennedy of Market Research Insight (MRI) conducted a telephone survey of 900 consumers in the target markets. He found that participants from New Orleans expressed the strongest preference for raised floor foundations with folks in the Mobile/Pensacola area coming in second. A large majority of homeowners in the Houston area say they would choose concrete slabs for their foundations. Protection from flooding is the main reason people would choose a raised floor foundation with easier access to plumbing and for making repairs getting the second highest number of votes. MRI also learned that cost is the most important factor homeowners consider when building a new home, which makes it important to show consumers and builders that raised wood floor foundations can be built cost-effectively.

Dr. Debra Davis of the LSU AgCenter also reported the results from a series of discussion groups she conducted with South Louisiana builders. The majority of the 25 builders she spoke with use slab-on-grade foundations. They said they build what consumers ask for and would build raised wood floor homes if consumers requested them. When asked what advice they would give the industry regarding raised floor foundations, the builders’ top suggestion was to create consumer demand. Focus groups conducted by Ehrhardt generated results consistent with Verne and Debra’s findings.

Members can access research result reports as well as PDFs of other presentations delivered at the meeting in the members-only sections of SFPA’s Web site. For more information about the meeting or raised floor living campaign, contact SFPA President Digges Morgan at 504/443-4464, ext. 215, or dmorgan@sfpa.org.

McShan Lumber Company Receives Governor’s Award

SFPA Active member McShan Lumber Company Inc. was one of eight companies receiving Alabama’s 2008 Governor’s Trade Excellence Award at the Alabama State Capitol last week. The award was created in 2005 to recognize the state’s successful exporters as role models for the Alabama business community. Award winners are nominated from industries within the manufacturing, service and agribusiness sectors. Recipients are selected by the Export Alabama Alliance based on innovations in exporting; level of export sales as a proportion of total sales, sustainable growth in export sales and use of export assistance services from the alliance.

“Alabama’s economy has witnessed a lot of great success during the past few years,” said Gov. Riley. “One of our greatest successes is the remarkable growth of our exports. This has resulted in more jobs, increased revenue and a more diverse market for Alabama products.”

“Hunter and I were honored to receive this prestigious award on behalf of the employees of McShan Lumber Company,” said Mark Junkins of McShan. “Competing in the export market requires a tremendous amount of flexibility, adaptability and communication by everyone here. Our people consistently step up to the challenge and allow us to provide products that our customers value all over the globe.”

SFPA Annual Report Available Soon

SFPA’s Annual Report for 2007 is at the printer and will be mailed to members soon. Titled “Finding the Magic,” the report begins with a message from SFPA President Digges Morgan followed by a recap of the association’s activities and achievements throughout the year. Details about marketing projects, EXPO and more are included. The report also offers 2007 and 2008 total budget numbers and a list of SFPA’s 2007 and 2008 officers and board of directors. Those who don’t want to wait for the printed copy to arrive can click here to download a PDF copy. For more information, contact Richard Wallace, SFPA’s vice president of communications, at 504/443-4464, ext. 236, or rwallace@sfpa.org.

Deck Care is a Good Thing

Assuring long-term performance of wood decking requires periodic maintenance, according to the latest roundup of tips included in the current issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine. The four-page feature – “Cleaning the Floors Outdoors” – summarizes appropriate cleaners and sealers for wood decking, including treated Southern Pine, noting that regular maintenance can “help prolong the rich look of wood.” Author Kelly Tagore interviewed SFPA’s Richard Kleiner, director of treated markets, for the article and several of his comments are woven into the text. The article also covers cleaning masonry, stone and composite decking. Martha Stewart Living has a national circulation of more than 12 million readers.

Web Site Seeks to Educate Public on Transportation Needs

A new Web site to educate the public on the need to improve the efficiency of transporting raw forest and agricultural products to processing facilities was recently launched by the Agricultural Transportation Efficiency Coalition. AgTEC explains on the site that the U.S. agricultural sector is the largest user of freight transportation services in the United States. “In fact, by adding the movements of raw agricultural commodities (fruits, vegetables, livestok, grains, timber) together with the movements of processed products (feedstuffs, canned food, lumber) and agricultural inputs (fertilizer, pesticides, machinery), agriculture accounts for nearly one-third of all freight transportation services provided in this country,” says AgTEC. SFPA is a member of the coalition. You can view the site at http://ag-haul.org.

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