Featured Product: Wenge

Overall Construction Spending - Good; Residential Construction Spending - Not so Good

As reported by the National Association of Home Builders, overall construction spending is improving, but residential construction spending continues to struggle.

The Census Bureau reported that the Value of Construction Put in Place improved in August, rising 0.4% to $811.8 billion from an upwardly revised $808.6 billion in July. Despite the modest gain, construction spending was down 11.2% year-to-date from a year earlier.

The monthly increase was driven by a 2.5% rise to $313.6 billion in public construction spending — which included strong gains in public residential construction (up 6.7%), commercial (up 8.2%), healthcare (up 5.1%) and road construction (up 5.0%). With funding from American Reinvestment and Recovery Act continuing to roll out, public construction spending should continue at a healthy pace in the near term.

Much of the increase in public construction spending was offset by a 0.9% decline in private construction spending — the fourth consecutive month it has fallen. At $498.2 billion, this spending was at its lowest level since January 1998.

Much of this decline was in private non-residential construction spending, which fell 1.4% to $259.7 billion. Spending was down in the power (2.9%), commercial (2.8%), transportation (1.8%) and communication (1.8%) sectors.

Overall private residential construction spending fell 0.3% in August, with single-family construction spending slipping 4.2% to $109.5 billion, just above its October 2009 level. This was expected, given the decline in single-family housing starts since the conclusion of the home buyer tax credit in April.

However, the rise in single-family housing starts in August signals that the payback from the home buyer tax credit may be drawing to an end, and we can expect to see the value of private single-family residential construction put in place to stabilize soon.

Private multifamily construction spending also fell sharply in August — down 11.4%. This more than offset the marginal increases in June (0.3%) and July (0.6%) and, at $11.85 billion, is just above its February 1994 level.

With multifamily housing starts exhibiting a modest upward trend in recent months, the multifamily value put in place numbers should begin to move higher in the next few months.

BR-111 & Bamboo

BR-111 has announced the launch of its very first Bamboo Collection, BR-111 Bamboo.

In an interview with Ricardo Moraes, president of BR-111, Floor Covering Weekly highlighted the changes coming to the fall catalog.

“We are committed to developing the most unique and beautiful flooring products available anywhere in the world,” said Ricardo Moraes, president. “The focus of our new product offering is uniqueness, quality and value.”

In addition to BR-111’s African species Wenge, Iroko, Afzelia and Sapele — which will be available in several different width, thickness and construction options — the company will introduce a comprehensive collection of bamboo.

“We are very excited to introduce our new superior quality bamboo line,” said Moraes. “We have always been interested in offering bamboo products. We just wanted to take our time to develop the absolute best bamboo flooring available today. We are very happy with the results and we know our dealers will be too.”

Moraes said the bamboo collection includes, “jaw dropping colors, board widths and lengths, and unparalleled durability.”

BR-111 will also introduce a new 3/4” solid line of exotic products that has, “the same warranty and wear layer as our 3/4” solid line and many of our most popular species including Brazilian Cherry, Tigerwood, Amendoim and Machiato Pecan but with amazing low pricing, installation flexibility, and extensive environmental consideration,” said Moraes.

The company will also add to its recently developed high end line of 5-inch engineered locking products an array of handscraped and brushed looks in species like Classic Walnut, Angico, and Antique Amendoim. “We are so excited about our new product offerings and increased margins to our dealers that we have decided to fully re-merchandise our patented BR-111 FUF display, with an eye catching new header, footer, info panels, product flip cards and sample boards for all of our product lines,” said Moraes. “These new product lines will be available in the coming weeks and we will be contacting each of our BR-111 exclusive dealers to schedule delivery of the new BR-111 FUF re-merchandising kit, including new sample boards. Our new re-merchandising program will be followed by very aggressive and wide spread marketing campaigns.”


Ask us about these great new products!

Elephants and Wood Flooring

In a recent release by National Floor Trends, they featured Mohawk flooring and their SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona carpet. Their PR people have designed quite the event. I can't wait to see the results! And a great cause too!

Here's what National Floor Trends said:

Mohawk is teaming up with The Dallas Zoo to put SmartStrand carpet to a new durability test that includes six African elephants. For two weeks in October, six African Elephants with a combined weight of 45,000, will test the resiliency of the carpet. In 2009, Mohawk placed SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona carpet into the enclosure of a 2,800 lb. Black Rhino for two weeks. At the end of the test, people across the country—flooring retailers, national media, and millions of consumers—“were astounded to watch the carpet restored to brand-new condition with a simple cleaning,” Mohawk says.

In addition to its latest challenge, Mohawk is also introducing a new Human Habitat element to the challenge, where zoo guests can visit four different household situations: a living room, kitchen, bedroom and foyer. Each living situation will incorporate Mohawk flooring products—carpet, laminate ceramic and Mohawk’s brand new strand woven bamboo—“allowing visitors to interact with the exhibits and see for themselves how the flooring is tough enough to stand up to their wildlife. This special area also allows consumers to engage with Mohawk’s GreenWorks sustainability platform. Because we are all part of something bigger than our individual selves, the Human Habitat makes consumers aware of available sustainable products they can select for their homes,” the company notes. Further, in an effort to help its retailers take full advantage of the merchandising and promotion opportunities available, Mohawk is providing comprehensive point-of-purchase kits, customizable advertising materials like television spots and print ads, among other elements. “We have an extraordinary product and we’re challenging it in an extraordinary way to prove the unmatched durability of SmartStrand with DuPont Sorona,” said David Duncan, Mohawk’s vp of Marketing. “After having 45,000 pounds of pressure applied to the carpet repeatedly for two weeks showcasing its supreme resiliency, consumers will be confident in putting SmartStrand in their own wildlife situations at home. And we’re getting additional ‘human testing’ on our hard surface products with the Human Habitat! The SmartStrand Zoo Challenge is back and bigger than ever—all designed to drive consumer traffic to retail store locations.”

SmartStrand Zoo Challenge t-shirts will be sold, benefitting the Dallas Zoo’s “Zoo2Wild” Conservation fund, and supporting field conservation partnership programs such as Charles Foley’s Tarangire elephant project, the Cheetah Conservation Fund, International Rhino Fund and Gulf Oil Spill relief efforts.

Featured Product: Ash

Visit our Ash Collection from Chelsea Plank for more information and more flooring selections.

Summary of Trim Profiles

Trim

Reducer

T-molding

Threshold

Stair Nosing

Nosing

Socia

Quarter Round

Crown Molding

Thanks to Allwood Floors for the images.

Remember that trim and coordinating accessories can make all the difference in finishing your new floors!