Newsletter for December 20042005 convention plans – centennial celebration The KLBMDA convention committee has been working overtime to finalize the details for the 100 th KLBMDA Convention, which will take place April 28-29 at Belterra Casino Resort. The Convention will be highlighted by our Product Expo the afternoon of April 28 in the Garage area of the Kentucky Speedway, Chairman’s Banquet on April 28, the Richard Petty Driving Experience at the Kentucky Speedway all day April 29, education at the Speedway on the 29 th, and a golf outing at the Belterra golf course on the afternoon of the 29 th.
Membership contest continues The KLBMDA membership drive and contest continues through the end of December. All members are encouraged to talk to prospective members, both vendors and lumber dealers, to encourage them to join. We have a long list of reasons to join, not the least of which is the quality of the companies on our current membership roster. In addition to the money saving programs on health insurance, property and liability insurance, workers comp insurance, business forms, Powr Ladders, legal services, fuel discount, forklift discounts and others, we offer education and training and fun events like the Convention and the Congleton Cup Gold Outing, which benefits the KLBMD Education Foundation.
Newsletter sponsors needed
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Estimating seminars
Casey Vorhees of the WBMA will be in Louisville December 15 and 16 to lead Blueprint Reading and Project Estimating classes. The first day is titled “Introduction to Estimating and Construction Methods,” and the second day’s topic is “Residential Material Take-off.” There are a few seats left for the first day, but the second day is sold out. The cost per day is $195 for members and $325 for non-members. Members who sign up for both days will get a discounted price of $350. Non-members registering for both days will not receive that discount.
If you are interested in getting on a waiting list, please contact the KLBMDA office. We will explore the possibility of bringing this seminar back to Kentucky in the Spring, based on the high level of member interest.
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Insurance costs rising? check out KLBMDA programs
One of the membership benefits that can have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line is participating in our insurance programs. From property and liability insurance to health coverage, we have arranged with leading agencies to provide excellent insurance products at competitive rates.
On the health insurance front, KLBMDA has been a participant in the Wholesale Trade Trust for over a year and a half, and we have been able to increase the number of members participating in the program. The rates in the WTT are consistently under the “pool,” which basically means the street rates, for the two companies offered through the WTT: Anthem and CHA. We have been able to maintain this position due to the active involvement of the participating associations in the plan design and monitoring of plan expenses.
The exclusive agent for our health program is KLBMDA member Winston and Company. They specialize in providing health plans for association members and are endorsed by over 20 associations, including a number of Home Builder groups. If you are interested in a competitive quote, contact Winston and Company.
Many members are already familiar with our property/liability and workers comp programs. Over 100 of our members participate in one or both of these programs, which are sold and administered by the R. P. Wessel Agency. We have agreements with Indiana Insurance on property and liability coverage, and Summit Consulting/Bridgefield Casualty on the workers comp side to provide our members with excellent coverage at discounted pricing. Between the workers comp and liability programs we have over 3 million dollars in premiums. While not huge, those numbers do allow us to work with the carriers to provide programs tailored with building material dealers in mind.
If you are interested in a health insurance quote, contact Winston and Company at (502) 245-1516. For a workers comp or liability quote, contact the R. P. Wessel Agency at (877) 9 KLBMDA.
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Sponsor profile
Huttig Building Products Moves Into New, Larger Facility in Indianapolis
Huttig Building Products, Inc. (NYSE:HBP) recently relocated its Indianapolis, Indiana millwork and building materials distribution center into a new facility with over 96,000 square feet of warehouse, a 40% capacity increase over the old location.
The increased capacity has enabled the Indianapolis branch to improve and expand its product offering to its customers. Product expansion at the branch includes the addition of three major product lines--TimberTech® decking, Huttig Windows and Windsor Windows. The additional warehouse space also provided necessary room for the installation of a new production line for exterior doors with capacity to produce up to 400 doors per day. The Indiana branch supplies customers located primarily within a 200-mile radius of Indianapolis, including customers in Kentucky and Illinois. Many of the nation’s most popular brands of millwork and building materials are sold out of this branch, including Masonite and Woodgrain doors, L. J. Smith Stair Systems and HB&G columns. The branch also sells mouldings, long length lumber and cedar.
Huttig Building Products is a distributor of building materials used principally in residential new construction, home improvement, remodeling and repair work. Its products are sold to building materials dealers, home centers, national buying groups and industrial and manufactured housing builders.
For more information,
visit Huttig’s web site (www.huttig.com)
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NLBMDA legislative conference scheduled
The NLBMDA will hold its annual Legislative Conference March 14-16, 2005 at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza in Washington, DC. The KLBMDA usually has a large delegation at this meeting. We will schedule visits with all of our Congressmen and both Senators.
Any members interested in joining us on this important (fun-filled and fascinating too) trip should mark the dates down. We will send out registration material to our members when it is available.
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Thank you to foundation donors
We would like to extend a sincere “thank you” to the following companies. They made a donation to the Foundation when they sent in their dues for 2005. They are: Kentucky Wholesale Building Products, Kelly Bros. Lumber, Dry Ridge Lumber, Congleton Lumber, Don’s Lumber, Wallace Hardware and ASGI.
Their generous support, coupled with the support of the entire industry through the Congleton Cup Golf Outing, enable the Education Foundation to select six scholarship recipients every year. Those recipients receive $1000 to offset the cost of their college education. Donations to the KLBMD Education Foundation are likely to be tax deductible.
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Blair Collings internship at NLBMDA
The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association is once again accepting applications for the Blair Collings Internship in Government Affairs. The intern selected will spend six weeks in Washington, DC beginning in June 2005 in the NLBMDA office. The NLBMDA office is about two blocks from Capitol Hill.
The intern will attend industry-related coalition meetings, observe the U. S. Congress, write issue summaries and conduct other research pertinent to Congressional or Federal Agency issues. The primary emphasis of the internship will be on federal government affairs, but the intern will also be involved with the overall operation of the national association.
A stipend of $2500 will be paid to the intern in installments during the course of the internship to offset expenses for the six-week stay in Washington. Applicants must have a high school diploma but not a four-year college degree at the time of the internship. Applicants must have attained at least 17 years of age but not more than 24 years on or before June 1 of the year of the internship. Applicants must be the child or grandchild of a retail lumber and building material dealer owner or employee. The company affiliated with the intern applicant must be a member of an NLBMDA Federated Association, such as the KLBMDA.
Applicants must be interested in the lumber and building material industry and have demonstrated this interest in one of several ways: part-time employment in a lumberyard; enrollment in an industry-related college curriculum; membership in an industry organization for young people; attendance at an NLBMDA Convention or major conference; or verification from a sponsor that the applicant has firm plans to enter the business in the future.
All applicants must submit an application form (available on the NLBMDA website – www.dealer.org or from the KLBMDA office) with background information together with an essay of no more than 500 words in why he/she wishes to serve as an intern. Because a majority of the selected intern’s time will be devoted to federal government affairs the essay should, in part, address the applicant’s interest and/or involvement in government affairs/politics. Applications must be postmarked by February 1, 2005.
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Health insurance cost drivers
While certainly not the only factor in the increasing cost of health insurance, specific benefits mandated by the State Legislature add to the overall cost of health coverage. The current number of state-mandated benefits is 38. This means that in order to be offered to the public in Kentucky a health insurance policy MUST include coverage for these 38 specific conditions or treatments. Some experts estimate that the 38 mandates add as much as 12%-15% to the cost of a policy. Union health plans and plans offered by large, self-insured employers are exempt from these mandates.
Examples of the 38 mandates are: chiropractic coverage, coverage for services rendered by ambulatory surgical centers, the option to cover nursery care for five days in hospital for newly born child, coverage for temporomandibular joint disorders and craniomandibular jaw disorders, coverage for cochlear implants for persons with profound hearing impairment and coverage for amino acid modified preparations and low-protein modified food products to treat inherited metabolic diseases.
The issue with the mandates isn’t really whether any of the above conditions should be covered – anyone affected by the items listed above would surely see the wisdom of insurance coverage for their particular situation. The issue is whether or not the state should dictate to insurance companies with regard to their policies. If you dig a little deeper and talk to people who wrestle with the problems surrounding health coverage in Kentucky, you will find that many people put part of the blame for our current crisis on the state for meddling over 10 years ago. Those efforts succeeded in driving most of the carriers out of the state. Now we are left with only a handful of options.
To their credit, the Legislature did recently pass a bill that says that effective January 1, 2005 insurance companies may opt out of any new mandated benefits. The law sunsets or expires December 31, 2007. The law kindly points out that insurance companies are free to expand their coverages if they so choose, but they need not offer mandates passed after January 1, 2005 and before December 31, 2007.
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NLBMDA training news
The NLBMDA will hold a teleconference on December 15 at 1:00 pm. The topic is Forklift Training – New Information and Triennial Evaluation. A registration form is included in this newsletter.
The NLBMDA also announced its schedule for teleconference training for 2005. The monthly breakdown is: January – OSHA Recordkeeping; February – Safety for Installed Framing Packages; March – How to Handle an OSHA Inspection; April – What Needs to be in Your Written Safety Program; May – Reducing OSHA and Safety Liabilities for Installed Sales; June – Personal Protective Equipment; July – HazCom: Are you in Compliance?; August – Woodworking Machinery Compliance, a top cited item; September – How to Handle an OSHA Inspection; October – Lockout/Tagout for Lumberyards; November – Are you Prepared for a Disaster?; December – Forklift Training and Triennial Review.
We will include registration forms in the newsletter as the dates for these teleconferences approach.
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Welcome new members
Dealer
Wilma Dunbar
D & F Building Supplies
908 Fairlane Drive
Vanceburg, KY 41179
Phone: (606) 796-0060 Fax: (606) 796-0680
Sponsor: Mike Stieritz, Arling Lumber
Associate
Steve Hancock
Cross Country Distributing Co.
405A North English Station Road
Louisville, KY 40223
Phone: (502) 245-8871 Fax: (502) 245-6333
Sponsor: Phil Herald, Stratton Lumber Company
Ronnie Brown
Vinyl Window Technologies
2400 Irvin Cobb Drive, P.O. Box 588
Paducah, KY 42002-0588
Phone: (270) 443-9622 Fax: (270) 442-1508
Sponsor: KLBMDA Staff
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Member news
- ENAP has opened a sales office in Grand Rapids Michigan. CC Snyder, President of ENAP, was quoted saying “the Midwest is a major marketplace that includes some of our nation’s finest independent lumber dealers and by positioning ourselves directly within that region we can better deliver a higher level of quality service and profit producing opportunities that will benefit the entire ENAP membership”. ENAP is a member-owned forest products and building materials cooperative whose corporate headquarters are in New Windsor, New York.
- For Sale: Iron Steer 20’ dump trailer for handling engineered wood products. Good condition - $10,000. Contact Larry Meyer, Thriftway Lumber, Owensboro at (270) 684-9438, ext 279.
- East Central Kentucky dealer looking for used cantilever racking. If you would like more information, please contact the KLBMDA office.
- The KLBMDA, along with many other trade associations, has sponsored the Kentucky Association for Career and Technical Education Student Organization Leadership Day in Frankfort. Last year, more than 800 students participated.
Other groups sponsoring the event include the Associated Industries of Kentucky, Kentucky Farm Bureau, the Kentucky Home Builders Association, the Kentucky Retail Federation, the Kentucky Association of Highway Contractors and others.
This event is an opportunity to support vocational education and to expose youngsters to a wide variety of possible career paths. The KLBMDA will continue to work with other construction trades organizations to help improve the quantity and quality of students entering the construction industry
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Important dates
| December 15 | Introduction to Estimating Workshop |
December 16
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Residential Material Take-off Workshop |
| March 14-16, 2005 | NLBMDA Legislative Conference |
April 28-29, 2005 |
KLBMDA Annual Convention |
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