 LP SmartSide Trim & Siding was designed to offer the warmth and beauty of traditional wood with the durability of LP engineered wood. The products are made with LP’s four-component SmartGuard manufacturing process for strength and to resist fungal decay and termites. Lightweight and easy to carry, they cut with standard woodworking tools. |
Boral’s Zimmerman agrees. “Warranties are lower on the list of priorities for most customers. Some warranties are longer, but they can be easily voided depending on how they’re worded. It’s a nice-to-have feature for most customers, not a driver of the sale.”
Customers also prefer products that are highly sustainable, if those benefits don’t come with a premium. “Homeowners and builders are looking for sustainable products they can support,” says LP’s Lindholm. “Sustainable forestry is a way of life at LP. We follow strict forest-management standards on the land we manage, and we promote the same practices on lands that we don’t own. We use the entire log in our manufacturing process. When we debark the log, we use the bark for fuel and even sell some of it to other manufacturers when we have too much.”
The array of features and performance capabilities continues to grow, as do customer demands for new ideas that can help them personalize their home’s appearance and match interior and exterior designs. “The days when people were content owning cookie-cutter homes are past,” says Foundry’s Franklin. “Today, many homeowners desire homes that give a unique first impression outside the home.”
Keeping current with expansions and innovations not only can serve the customer better but lead to a better sale, notes ProVia’s Mickle. “The new products like stone accents and brighter doors create good opportunities for contractors to suggest a whole-façade makeover with just a few additions.”
 Available in 22 different colors and six different textures, fiber cement siding from Allura is ASTM C1186 certified, and is said to withstand moisture, frost, traverse loading, and winds up to 200 mph. Every Allura product comes with a 50-year transferable warranty. |
