Boycott Azek Immediately!

Island1

Hey guys,

Don't know if you've heard, but we've all been stabbed in the back. Apparently Azek has partnered with Archedeck and is leaving us all at a distinct disadvantage. Check out the article at azek's website and enter this in the url after the dot com:
/article.php?id=98 (someone please post the link properly for me)

I think everyone should email Azek to let them know your disgust. I for one have let them know my company is done with their products. Trex Escapes is a fine alternative to the procell anyway.

I also ask others to join us in a nationwide boycott of their products. It is unreal that a product manufacturer would put so many of us at a disadvantage and expect us to continue pushing/selling their product.

Best of luck to all of us in these crazy economic times, and have a good season everyone.

Five Star

im boycotting all composites this year and going back to wood!..screw them all they are ridiculus with there pricing, let them sit on that stuff.

i make less profit and have more headaches from composites lately, i just went to a lumber yrd event and they had all the reps there from each manufacture. they are all confused themselves.and they just had a price increase of 7%... them .

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Island1

HA! I wish I could do that. Unfortunately, I need to bid on every lead I can get me hands on. But, there are so many product out their, I can easily satisfy a customers needs and still boycott a brand.

What these guys (manufacturers) fail to grasp is that 95% of the time we can steer our clients to a product. It is very rare to come across one that persists on a particular "name brand". A boycott should be easy.

Five Star

whats your location..?

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neolitic

So, you won't offer the best
product available to your customers,
because you are frightened by
a franchise chain?
You do know that the Boxes
offer installation too?
Will you boycott all of the
p[roducts sold in all of their
stores as well?

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Five Star

i just sold 4 decks and all called for composite, by the time i walked out i had deposit in my hand and signed contracts. 123 i just told them the extra 40% more they pay for composite they can have the deck stained 4 times with in a 10 yr period and still have money left to go out on the town.

think about you make 50% profit on a wood deck. and your in and out. a couple boards goe bad its not breaking your profit margin.

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Island1

Frightened by a chain? What are you talking about? Did you even take the time to read the article??

So you're saying you're ok with some Archedeck salesman being able to offer a client your bidding products that you aren't allowed to buy?

And it's beyond that anyway. People should stand up to these companies. WE ARE THE CUSTOMER. They step out and alienate 99% of us with something like this. and why? Because they know there are guys like you who won't care and will continue to buy their products anyway.

It's about principle's, man. Also, Trex accents is a pretty good product, too.

Ps. Your analogy of the boxes doesn't even make sense.

Island1

Oh, to reply to five star, I'm in Baltimore.

Five Star

neo, thats the problem..they all think there the best. the lumber yrd marks up 40-50% and you the seller have no room to mark up. and if you double the material cost you,ll never get a deck so your labor is barely 20-30% and you worked twice as hard

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Island1

touche' Five Star.

Five Star

last trex deck i did in oct 08 i paid $32 a 16'

was in there this week and its $43 a 16'

i gave the customer last years price and now im losing about $500 just on flooring didnt even get to rails yet. and the customer called me back and told me i was the highest bid by 2k. so someone is gonna build this deck for $1500 labor.

im just glad wood is still around, properly maintained it will outlast this composite mold attracting crap

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Cole

Sounds like to me you need a material increase cost clause, added to your contract.

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neolitic

This is what I read.

AZEK® Building Products and Archadeck Announce Partnership
March 18, 2009
Scranton, PA -- AZEK Building Products, a leading manufacturer of premium low-maintenance exterior building products and Archadeck, a franchise business of Outdoor Living Brands and North America’s largest deck and porch builder, announce a preferred supplier partnership effective today. With this new alliance, Archadeck will begin offering their customers AZEK Deck, the #1 brand of stain resistant decking; AZEK Trim, the #1 brand of trim; AZEK Porch, a traditional style, low-maintenance, tongue and groove porch and AZEK Rail, a railing system available in three popular styles and a variety of colors to complement AZEK Deck.
Founded in 1980, Archadeck has seen - and adapted to - many changes in the housing industry over the past three decades including the emergence of low-maintenance building materials that look as good as traditional products but outperform the original materials. This trend in low-maintenance products, coupled with Archadeck’s commitment to custom design, managing and standardizing quality, installation and performance issues in the field led Archadeck to begin limiting their number of preferred building product vendors in 2007.
Archadeck has selected AZEK Building Products as a preferred supplier for decking, porch and railing, and the exclusive supplier of trim. This selection was based on AZEK’s well-established performance history, innovation and branded leadership coupled with the assurance of AZEK Products’ building code reports. “When leading brands such as AZEK and Archadeck join forces, the market is the ultimate winner. This partnership will make it easy for the consumer to enjoy their outdoor projects with AZEK installed by a world class organization such as Archadeck.” says Ralph Bruno, President, AZEK Building Products.
The supplier partnership process allows Archadeck to offer their customers the best product options in each category. “The Archadeck name promises value, design innovation and first class professional service for our clients and we insist that our preferred brands uphold and deliver on that promise as well,” says Christopher Grandpre, CEO of Outdoor Living Brands, franchisor of Archadeck. “We believe that AZEK products are a great fit for our organization and for our clients.”
AZEK Building Products are known for their high quality and low-maintenance. AZEK products perfectly complement Archadeck’s businesses - from custom decks and porches, to gazebos, pergolas, and screened porches. Additionally, AZEK products make the entire building process easier as they carry building code reports which serve as a statement of quality.
Archadeck operates approximately 75 offices in the U.S. and Canada that have completed more than 70,000 custom projects. During 2007, the company was ranked among the top 10 in Qualified Remodeler Magazine’s list of leading national remodeling companies. Based in Richmond, VA, Archadeck recently acquired both the Outdoor Lighting Perspectives and Mosquito Squad franchise businesses and formed Outdoor Living Brands. 1 (800) 722-4668 http://www.archadeck.com and http://www.outdoorlivingbrands.com.
Fueled by forward thinking, AZEK Building Products remains committed to manufacturing premium, low-maintenance building products. Headquartered in Scranton, PA, AZEK products are available at more than 2,000 dealers throughout the US and Canada. 1-877-ASK-AZEK (275-2935) http://www.azek.com


Must have missed the part
that got you so excited.
Sorry, I don't see the problem.
I will sell them what they want,
and what they are willing to pay for.

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BuiltByMAC

Yeah, I'd be pissed at the composite company for that. Obviously, it's all their fault. How dare they change their prices over a 6 mo. period w/o callin' you!!

Island, wtf are you going off about? So Arch has decided to push AZ...if Arch can promise AZ they'll purchase x amount of board feet in a year, it only makes sense that AZ would give them a discount.

And you like Accents? Sure you're not just a DREX rep backhandedly pushin' your product?


Mac

Bill Z

I like your thought process, and why are composites 40% more?

As you think about what has happened in the prescription drug business, the drug companies advertise the heck out of their products and tell the "patient" how bad they need drug X because it will do some miraculous thing. So the patient goes to his doctor (who knows best what his patient needs already) and demands he get a prescription for some fancy name drug that he saw advertised on TV. The price driven up by the advertising that pulled the patient to the doctor's office in the first place.

Are deck manufacturers doing the same thing? All the ads in magazines, television, newspaper advertising the composites result in millions of dollars in promotion that has to be added to the cost we pay for the product. The homeowner becomes the expert and tells you what to use. Not sure it's such a bad thing, but it does explain the huge cost difference between composites and wood. It's not so much that the product is better, it's just the millions in advertising that has to be paid by the end user.

Another problem with composites is that you have to deal with the crap when the product doesn't live up to the performance expectations created by the ads. We had an 1100 sq ft Monarch deck with varying colors. After 6 months of haggling with Monarch, they told the customer it should all be replaced. They sent the material but never paid us for the labor. I'm not a fan of Monarch. Big corps are great at passing the buck.

Thanks for the idea on advising the customer to use the 40% to maintain the deck. Wonder if there's a point in charging 20% more and including 4 years of a defined maintenance program?

Just to stay on topic, I'll boycott all composites if it makes you feel better.

Island1

What ever guys. I dont' give a what you do. I just wanted to let you know about the "partnership". I never post in these freaking forums anyway. Takes too much time and 90% of the time I end up arguing with some idiot over some off topic crap.

Enjoy yourselves.

BuiltByMAC

Island, I read the article that Neo posted, read it all the way through.

Can you explain why that partnership threatens you and why you feel a nationwide boycott is necessary? What is the 'distinct disadvantage' you speak of?

Mac

neolitic

We must be thick mac.

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DecksEtc

Dude, you lost all credibility after you made such a stupid and uneducated statement.

deck king

There are alot of products out there, you job as a sales person is over come objections! I have been building decks in the chicago area for the past 25 years, and I have heard some unbelievable stories
come from the mouth of sales people. Composite's are here to stay! get used to them! If arch***** is pushing azt*** then you need to push another product, that you can prove is superior to that one. Here's how I would have sold it, TRE* is the inventor of the composite, they have been making it foy 23 years, it is the best composite on the markret that is why they are a household name! What you have to understand is that there is no such thing as "maintainance free" We refer to them as a common sense material deck, you wash you close, car, children so why wouldn't you wash your deck. IN MY EXPERIENCE TRE* is the only company out there does everything they say it will and doesn't do what they it won't. That's why TRE* makes it there to test every other compostie on the market and sends the results to those companies telling them whats wrong with there product.