Building prospects looking up

Builder confidence sees largest rise in 18 months!

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) jumped four points in October, the largest increase in builder confidence in 18 months. “This latest boost in builder confidence is a good sign that some pockets of recovery are starting to emerge across the country, as extremely favorable interest rates and prices catch consumers’ attention,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. Derived from a monthly survey NAHB has conducted for more than 20 years, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair,” or “poor.”Each of the HMI three component indexes recorded substantial gains in October. The component gauging current sales conditions rose four points, the component gauging sales expectations in the next six months rose seven points, and the component gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose three points.Regionally, the West led all other areas of the country with its nine-point gain – the highest HMI score for that region since August 2007. The Midwest and South each recorded four-point gains while the Northeast held unchanged.
With builder confidence on the rise, celebrating the New Year takes on a whole new meaning!
We at Seattle simpleFLOORS are hopeful for our region, and all builders across the country!

Seattle simpleFLOORS recycling pallets

Problem
We at Seattle simpleFLOORS had accumulated a few hundred extra wooden pallets in our warehouse and were wondering what to do with them.

Solution
We donated all of the pallets to a homeless camp in Seattle called "Nickelsville". They will be used for firewood, making walkways, and as tent support to keep tents off the ground. Our friends at Pozzi Brothers Transportation were kind enough to deliver the pallets for us. They do all of our local deliveries and are a great company that we appreciate partnering with.


We are proud to help our local community in this creative manner!

Seattle simpleFLOORS Anniversary

This month is the 4th anniversary for Seattle simpleFLOORS!

Dave and Charlie have been with simpleFLOORS since the beginning and were integral in helping create the company we are today. Tammi worked with both of them previously and was happy to join the team about 3 years ago.

In spite of the current economic situation we are thriving, in part because our business model has not had to change. We have always believed in offering exciting flooring options for real people and businesses.... at a price they can afford. Luckily we have team members with an exceptional eye for color, style, and longevity to keep our offerings fresh and happy customers to keep the referrals coming.

Here is to another 4 years of helping the Seattle area maintain and increase the beauty of their homes!

Olio!: "Why is there a CORK on his fork?"

Olio!: "Why is there a CORK on his fork?": Please tell me you get this movie reference. Remember Dirty Rotten Scoundrels? Well, the mention of "cork" always reminds me of that HILARIOUS scene in that HILARIOUS movie.  But this post has nothing to do with "cork on his fork".

Friends & Family Discounts

How many times have you had this happen?

Shoppers call or come in to the store and say, “Hey I had a friend buy from here. They just installed it last weekend; it looks great!” And right away half your job is done for you. You’re authenticated, set up in their mind as a reliable, solid business that won’t let them down. But you don’t have to wait for this target group to come into the store. Go out and find them!

Every satisfied customer is an advertisement immeasurably more effective then your best Day-Glo orange banner. Their friends and relatives are your new potential customers. You’d be crazy not to build on that foundation. For example, simpleFLOORS Seattle recently sent out thank-you notes to some chosen customers, enclosing discount cards to be handed out when their new floors inspired compliments.

In today’s market, everyone’s a little proud of their coupon-clipping skills. Give your customer a little more push to brag about theirs; reach out to them with a reminder of just how successful their flooring purchase was. simpleFLOORS Bay Area emails previous customers noting several websites where store reviews are welcomed, so that others can benefit from their positive experience. This builds an online supply of personal recommendations, and also helps customers refine in their own mind what makes simpleFLOORS such a great company to work with.

simpleFLOORS Georgia suggested thanking the referring customer with a small gift card, and the referred with a 10% off (or similar) discount – which then encourages the new customer to spread the word likewise. Reach out to your existing customers and you’ll be an active participant in design conversations all over town!

Click Together vs Tongue and Groove Flooring

Many customers come in the store (Seattle simpleFLOORS) asking about click together hardwood and bamboo flooring. Dave put together a simple explanation for them to help understand the differences.

Click Together vs Tongue and Groove Flooring

Click together flooring is becoming more prevalent recently in the flooring industry. However do not let the marketing gimmicks that a lot of manufacturers have been dishing out fool you. The most common theme is that click together floors are much easier for installation. For a professional installer who uses the same lock system frequently, this may make installation 20% quicker. But for the average home owner click together floors typically take as long as or longer than standard tongue and groove. This is because a lot of the time when one is tapping the board into the next board, boards from previous rows comes loose. Ultimately a lot of people end up using blue painters tape just as they would if they were using glue with a tongue and groove system. The biggest fault on click together floors is that they force the installer to do a floating installation only. Certainly some people want to do a nail/staple or glue down applications. The locking systems used in click together floors do not hold as well as glue-together tongue and groove floors either. Thus they are not as “flexible” when in situations where there is a lot of expansion and contraction and will fail much easier. It is also not recommended to sand and refinish click together floors because the belt sanders put a lot of pressure on the lock system. This can loosen the lock system and leave gaps in between boards.

Tongue and groove floors tend to be cheaper as well. Flooring manufacturers typically pay between 8 to 15 cents per linear foot to use one of the two patented lock systems that must be used. This adds up quickly over the course of even a couple rooms. Tongue and groove floors that have been floated will not squeak due to the locking system loosening up. Also, tongue and groove floors that have been floated will provide much better moisture protection from spills and such. The glue acts as a barrier and does not allow the moisture to get under the flooring nearly as easy. When choosing your next flooring, please do not let the marketing gimmicks of some manufacturers sway you on making your correct choice.

In Perspective

simpleFLOORS has been, from the beginning, a family company.

In the apparent chaos of the world at the moment – the news from Japan, from Libya and Bahrain – it’s timely to remember what’s important in life. To know friends and loved ones are safe and within reach, to have access to food and clean water, to have a home at all – let alone be able to remodel or build one – these are incredible blessings. To live in a country that acknowledges its citizens’ right to select their leaders, is a blessing. To have choices - in food, in news sources, in education, in consumer products, in flooring! – is a blessing. We are reminded of that especially now, when a good portion of the world’s people are without either the resources or the liberty to control their basic surroundings.

As always, we’re grateful for the opportunity to be part of your home. Whether you choose bamboo or Brazilian Cherry, laminate or cork, to do the den or not, we’re happy that you have the chance to improve your home this way. We look forward to assisting you.

And! With all the money you’ll save at simpleFLOORS, http://www.redcross.org/.