July, 2007

Report to Shareholders

By Rick Schumacher

As an independent publication without actual stockholders to satisfy, LBM Journal is actually accountable to only one group, you—our valued readers. In that spirit, I’d like to let you know what we’re doing to serve you and your business better.

We recently conducted an in-depth readership survey to learn more about you—your concerns, your challenges, your opinions, and more. After all, the more we know about you, the better able we are to hone the editorial content to fit your needs. We know that our ultimate success depends on helping you succeed, and we take that to heart.

For example, after the enthusiastic response to Steve Easley’s cover story in 2006 about construction defect lawsuits, we made Steve a permanent part of our editorial team. Each month, his “Ask the Expert” column addresses a different building science issue. While Steve is widely known and respected in builder circles, some people were a little puzzled initially about how his expertise in correct building methods would be relevant to LBM dealers and distributors? However we’re happy to report that as we suspected, you’ve been telling us you take advantage of Steve’s insights in order to better serve your builder and remodeler customers.

Last October, our cover story by Gary Katz called, “Make More Money on Mouldings,” was another big hit. As an expert finish carpenter best known for his books, DVDs, and live training events, there was some question again of how Gary’s insights could serve LBM dealers. However we knew that since Gary talks with thousands of builders and carpenters a year, he’s perfectly positioned to learn firsthand what your customers wish you knew. The result has been Gary’s terrific monthly column that gives you valuable insights into how your customers think.

Despite a sluggish housing market, rehabs continue to grow. Since decking is among the most popular remodeling projects (and the majority of you sell decking, according to our research), we decided to add a column to help you boost your deck sales and profits. Naturally, we turned to one of our Entrepreneurs of the Year, Bob Heidenreich, a deck-builder-turned-deck-dealer whose sales and showroom strategies have his business on a solid growth track.

Over the past year or so, “green” has transformed from a geographically isolated movement to an all-out trend that’s changing the way homes are built in market after market. Since you’ve told us you’re hungry for answers and insight into this exploding phenomenon, we’ve added to our staff the expertise of John Wagner, founding editor of Green Builder magazine and a recognized expert in this fast-emerging area.

You talked. We listened. And in just the past year, adding the four contributors listed above has added more than 100 years of combined experience in residential construction to the pages of LBM Journal. Combined with our existing lineup of Bill Lee, Tom Fife, Greg Brooks, and Craig Shutt, each issue of your magazine contains more than two centuries of industry know-how.

If de facto shareholders think like actual shareholders, you’re thinking, “enough talk already! What’s the bottom line?”

In a nutshell, readership is up, editorial pages are up, advertising is up, and we’re growing our share of the market—all thanks to you.

And just so you know, we’re not done yet. We have some more truly exciting things in the works, all with the goal of helping you grow your business.