Supply Chain Connections

Oct 28 2009 10:01AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Well, all of the industry pundits are telling us that the housing market has bottomed and in some areas, starting to turn up. All of this means that we will see some growth in new residential construction will take place in the 2010 – 2012 timeframe.

Hopefully each of us in the supply chain has learned some serious lessons during this recession and we will apply this learning as we move forward. Some building material manufacturers are doing exactly this as they are targeting those builders who not only survived the downturn but came out of it stronger. In addition, these manufacturers have also cleansed their distribution network and are working with only the best distributors.
 
And they are building relationships with key trade contractors and are tying them closer to their selected distributors.

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Oct 15 2009 9:27AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

By Glenn Singer

A few weeks ago I attended NAHB’s Fall Board of Directors’ meeting in Chicago. I was surprised in the number of attendees at this meeting because my observations of the Spring Board meeting were that it was not well attended.

Most of the builders with whom I talked with have cut back as much as they can and are holding on until the market turns. Most complained that it was extremely hard to get ADC loans. The other thing that most builders had in common was that they have down-sized their homes so they could provide a more affordable home.

When I talked with manufacturers I heard two basic themes, positive and negative. Let’s start with the negative camp first. These manufacturers said things like “We are holding on and weathering the storm”. Or, “I have never seen it so bad; we are in a survival mode.”
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Sep 21 2009 12:04PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (3) |

By Glenn Singer

Last week I was on a conference call with Chuck Shinn, the founder and owner of The Shinn Group of Companies and one of Builder Partnerships’ national suppliers and we were discussing the current state of the market and how the market will look in 2010. You will be happy to know that everyone on the call acknowledged that the new home market had bottomed out as the level of new home inventory has gone way down to a very normal level. All of us on the call felt as though the market in 2010 will show improvement. So this was good!

Of interest to me was the comment that Chuck made about the existing inventory and that was that the majority of it was in the high end market, homes priced over $500,000. Chuck felt that this level of inventory will take many years for it to work down. In addition, most builders have down sized their new offerings in terms of square foota...Read More

Sep 8 2009 7:57AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

By Glenn Singer

Here is another true-life story in the never ending saga of Glenn Singer's life. Last March we bought a new garbage disposal from a national retailer. It was installed by the same retailer and in three weeks it was working sporadically so I called the retailer’s repair service and made an appointment. The guy never showed up so I made another appointment and this time the guy showed up and told me that there was nothing wrong with my disposal and that I had faulty wiring. So I had my electrician out and 3 hours and $196 later I learned that my wiring was fine.

Here is where the fun starts!! The same repair guy comes out and tells me that he is ordering me a replacement and I should pick it up at the store in two days. So I go to the store and they have never heard of me and they tell me that the repairman had no authority to order a new one. They gave me a number t...Read More

Aug 17 2009 12:30PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (3) |

By Glenn Singer

My wife accuses me of constantly being a cynic, and I guess she may be right, particularly when it comes to the homebuilding industry. You see I have been in this industry for 45 years and have seen my share of cycles and one thing always remains constant – builders and manufacturers have short memories.

Recently there has been a lot talk about the recession and how it may be coming to a close. The stock market has been slowly moving upward. The existing housing inventory is shrinking and new home sales moved up in June. However, there are still those who say that we have a long way to go before the economy turns around. One thing is for sure, the market will come back so I will let the experts argue exactly when it will rebound.

I just hope that builders, developers, distributors, trade contractors and building material manufacturers can just jog t...Read More

Jul 23 2009 9:25AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

The long downturn in the housing industry has definitely been bad. We have seen many builders declare bankruptcy; most have downsized thus adding to the unemployment roles. In addition, most manufacturers and distributors have also downsized and the picture has looked bleak for a long time.

But some good things have been happening as well. Builders and manufacturers have learned how to run more efficiently with fewer employees. Builders have taken unwanted cost out of their homes in an effort to compete in this market. Manufacturers and builders are engaging in meaningful dialogue on how to reduce costs, etc.

One of the best things that have happened during this down market is that builders have the time to get educated by participating in industry and company educational webinars. My company, Builder Partnerships puts on at least one educational webinar p...Read More

Jun 29 2009 1:18PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

There is no doubt that the current downturn in the home building industry has changed quite a few things such as lending practices, the price of new homes, the size of new homes, what is considered standard items and what is considered upgrades, etc. But one of the biggest changes is that many of the people in the industry have changed. As you know, many of the builders, manufacturers, trade contractors and suppliers have been forced to lay off people to survive in this economy.

As the market turns around many of the old relationships that we all had will not exist anymore and we will have to forge new relationships based on honest and open communications and trust. It won’t be business as usual! We will have to work hard to build these relationships and this is a good thing as there will be no room for complacency in this new market.

So go forth and but your best foot forward.

Jun 2 2009 10:12AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Last week I attended the National Association of Home Builders' spring board of directors' meeting in Washington, DC. What I heard and experienced left me with mixed emotions in that I heard "the good, the bad and the ugly."

Let’s get "the bad and the ugly" out of the way because there is some "good" to talk about. So here is the bad news. 

• Housing starts at an all-time low with less than 400,000 single family homes being constructed this year. 
• Commercial construction is declining. 
• Booth space rentals for the 2010 IBS are way, way down. 
• NAHB staff has taken a 5 percent salary reduction and will take a 10-day furlough later this year. 
• Membership levels are dropping as well. 
• Attendance at the meeting was

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May 11 2009 8:32AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Recently we have seen some positive signs in the economy, the stock market and in the home building industry; however, I am not saying that the recession is over and that the home building industry has recovered. We still have a long way to go before that can be declared. One thing is for certain and that is that there will be a recovery and we need to prepare for it.

Now is the time to reflect on the past few years to identify the mistakes that we made as well as the things we did right. We also need to face the fact that it will be a long, long time before we will see 2,000,000 housing starts. In talking with many of our manufacturer associates, I have learned that they have been working hard to balance their builder-customer portfolios. They don’t want to be dependent on the top public builders and they want to sell privately-held local and regional builders as w...Read More

Apr 27 2009 11:51AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

Now I realize that we are a long way from an economic recovery and new home inventories still need to get smaller, but I have been hearing and seeing some good news which we all need.

The stock market has performed better over the past month with some steady but small growth. I am reading that sales traffic has increased in both the new and existing home market. Even at last week’s NAHB’s semi-annual Construction Forecast Conference we were told that the industry has bottomed out and will lead the economy out of the recession. Even my local newspaper, the Philadelphia Inquirer has published some encouraging news about the new and existing home markets in the Philadelphia region.

When I go into a store or a shop I conduct my own “survey” as I ask the clerk or owner “How is business?” and, recently, I ha...Read More

Apr 14 2009 2:53PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (1) |

By Glenn Singer

Last week we were all rocked by Pulte Homes’ acquisition of Centex Homes. Pulte will now be by far the largest home builder in the United States. Many industry experts are telling us that this is just the start and that we can look for other industry giants to merge and acquire each other. Nothing stays the same!

I will be observing how this new industry trend will affect the building material manufacturers since prior to the housing downturn most manufacturers focused on the industry giants. When the market dried up the manufacturers found that they needed to sell the smaller local, privately-held builders but they didn’t really know them since they focused on the giants and left it up to their distributors to service the smaller builder.

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Apr 2 2009 1:33PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

During this current economic downturn that has crippled our industry we certainly have heard our fair share of bad news. Many home builders have declared Chapter 11 and some have closed their doors permanently. Many in our industry have been laid off including builders, manufacturers, trade contractors and distributors. And then, of course there is the A.I.G. fiasco, the Bernie Madoff affair, the General Motors crisis and the list goes on and on.

However, this current downturn has had some positive results as well. Many builders have been forced to streamline their operations and processes, manufacturers have also had to become more efficient since they, too, have reduced manpower. I know of one builder in the Philadelphia market that was forced to reduce the price of their homes from the mid- $300,000 range to $199,999!! And guess what? This builder has received over 30...Read More

Mar 24 2009 1:14PM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

A few blog articles ago I wrote about this unusual experience that my wife and I had with two automobile dealers as we went about trying to buy a car. The bottom line was that the dealer we bought the car from was hungry and really wanted to sell the car and the other dealer only sent me emails and never called to set up an appointment. I related this situation to what could be going on in the home building business.

Well, I have another true story that based on my involvement with a local hardware store and it exemplifies how a retail business should be run. One of the clothing bars in our closet broke as the bracket bent from too much weight. So I went to my local neighborhood independent hardware store and started the search. The owner of the store was with me as we looked at all possibilities to solve the problem but none materialized so the owner huddled with one of...Read More

Mar 11 2009 7:45AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

I just returned from a breakfast meeting with the general manager of one of the industry’s largest building material manufacturers and, of course, we discussed the state of the home building industry and how everyone in the supply chain is trying to survive during these bleak times.

We began discussing how manufacturers who have been successful in the home building industry have been so because they have made a commitment to invest their resources and programs in the industry. These manufacturers have realized that to be successful they needed to make a long term investment in the industry as it takes years to become established as a leader in the home building industry.

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Mar 3 2009 9:44AM | Permalink | Email this | Comments (0) |

By Glenn Singer

If you turn on the TV, read a newspaper or turn on the radio all you hear about is the bad news about the economy, homebuilding and the automobile industry. So you would think that businesses would be busting their humps trying to get new business. Well, I’ve got news for you, it isn’t so!! Check out this true story that happened to me.

My wife needed a new car so we went online to check out the various models and dealers. I emailed their respective sales departments asking for information and lease vs. buy options, etc. I got the immediate and automatic email responses from the two dealers that we decided to shop.

Since my wife has always driven Jeeps, we visited the Jeep dealer and were treated with respect and the sales person had a sense of urgency. He wasn’t pushy but you knew he wanted the sale. He focused on listening to my wife&r...Read More