March 2018 The WBS Connection

INSPIRATION

Stay on Top with Continuing Ed Courses

Like any industry, construction is constantly changing as new technologies are developed. That means it’s important for you to get inspired and stay on top of your game by learning about new products, techniques, and changing safety standards.

Continuing education is not only a requirement to be a licensed contractor in the state of Wisconsin, but it’s your key to staying plugged in. If you’ve been in the industry for what seems like forever, you might question the importance of continuing ed, but its purpose is real.

Are you up to date on OSHA regulations? They’re constantly changing, and it’s important for you to know how so you can keep your crews safe and avoid costly fines. Have you recently purchased new equipment? If you have, you should know how to use it properly. If you haven’t, you should look into it so you can keep up with trends today’s homeowners are after, particularly in the green building world.

This year we offered four continuing ed courses at our Customer Appreciation and Contractor Show. These courses were taught by state accredited vendors we do business with, and the topics were: Decking and Railing — Alternatives to Wood; Trends in Weatherization, Roof Safety, and Innovative New Products; ZIP System Sheathing: Understanding Performance, Installation and Code Compliance; and How Can the Right Roof Sell More Homes.

If you’re looking for more ways to satisfy your continuing education requirements, we recommend searching for online classes at RedVector, which allows you to complete the class when you have time. You can always check with your WBS sales rep for more ideas, and be sure to read our emails for future continuing ed courses offered by WBS!

INNOVATION

Prefinished LP SmartSide Trim and Siding

Vinyl siding always seems to be the most economical, favorite choice for an exterior finish on home construction in Wisconsin, but LP SmartSide — a prefinished engineered wood siding — is taking its share of the market. WBS is a LP Preferred Prefinisher, meaning we paint the siding on site, giving it a superior, long lasting, quality finish.

We love this product, and so should you. LP SmartSide siding and trim is arguably the highest quality product in the engineered wood siding category. It cuts like wood and acts like it, so it doesn’t get damaged by elements like hail. The product can be finished on site, after it’s installed on a home or business, but we recommend taking advantage of the fact that we are a certified LP Preferred Finisher.

By choosing to have your LP SmartSide siding and trim factory finished at WBS, you’re cutting out the factors that negatively affect the quality of a site-applied siding finish. Temperature and humidity — which leave a painter at the mercy of the weather forecast and can cause considerable delays – are controlled during the painting and drying process. Unfinished siding can be shielded from precipitation and direct sunlight, and there is no wind-blown dust and dirt to disturb a paint job as it dries.

Our paint application process has been designed so every board receives a uniform finish, which helps retain the beautiful wood grain profile of LP SmartSide products. It also promotes even weathering, creating less maintenance for the homeowner over time. Additionally, prefinishing of LP SmartSide often costs significantly less than on-site painting.

We offer 18 stock colors in LP siding and four stock trim colors. We also back our prefinished SmartSide products with a minimum 15-year finish warranty plus a labor component covering the first five years.


For more information about LP SmartSide, check out this video!

EXPERIENCES

2018 Customer Appreciation and Contractor Show

Our annual Customer Appreciation and Contractor Show was held in Appleton on March 1, and if you missed this year’s spectacular event — or if you had that much fun and want to relive it — we have the recap here!

More than 850 guests packed the Radisson Paper Valley Hotel in Appleton for our annual Customer Appreciation and Contractor Show on March 1. Speakers Dorsey Levens, LeRoy Butler, and Mark Tauscher, some of today’s favorite former Packers, motivated and inspired as our keynote speakers.

This year’s event featured more than 60 exhibits, and our first-time vendor attendees were Forever Barnwood, NatureKast, Afco, Benjamin Obdyke, Lyman Siding, OSI, Palram, EZ Breeze, Quest, Southern Carlson, and Woodport.

Continuing education courses, valid for earning credits toward your state licensing requirements, were held in the following four topic areas: Decking and Railing — Alternatives to Wood; Trends in Weatherization, Roof Safety, and Innovative New Products; ZIP System Sheathing: Understanding Performance, Installation and Code Compliance; and How Can the Right Roof Sell More Homes. To learn more, make sure you read the “Inspiration” section of this newsletter.


As we continue to meet our goal of being the building supply company that makes your job easier by bringing you innovative products and ways of doing business, we look to make this event bigger and better every year. And feedback from attendees shows us we’re doing just that. One new attendee said, “I have never attended before but after this experience I will make this a yearly event.” Another, a regular, said, “Thanks for putting this on every year. Please know that your leadership in the construction industry is important.”

Thank you to everyone who attended and helped make this event a success.

Check out this recap video!