Starting May 16, home builders in the city of Ketchum, Idaho, will need to start following the National Green Building Standard, developed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the International Code Council, according to an article in the Idaho Mountain Express.

Last year, the original 50 Home Channel News Hardware Store All-Star honorees established a high bar and a hard act to follow. But the 2012 crop rises to the challenge. This year’s Hardware Store All-Stars, one from each of the 50 U.S. states, have at least one thing in common: Ask them what makes them special and you can bet they’ll include “excellent customer service” in the answer. From there, every path to stardom is unique.

A former employee of Stimson Lumber Co. in Plummer, Idaho, has admitted to pocketing more than $500,000 for selling lumber to an unauthorized third party, while he was responsible for loading and unloading trucks for his employer, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.

Boise, Idaho-based Boise posted fourth-quarter sales of $600.4 million, up 14.6% from $524.1 million in the same quarter of 2010.

"The past year was our most successful year since our inception four years ago," said Alexander Toeldte, president and CEO of Boise. "Our EBITDA excluding special items was a record $340 million, we generated $121 million in free cash flow, and returned $169 million of capital to our shareholders through share repurchases and dividends."

The theme was "America's Homebuilding Recovery Starts With Us." The place was Las Vegas. And the guest speaker was football legend Terry Bradshaw. 

The second annual BMC National Sales Meeting was an all-hands-on-deck affair for the Boise, Idaho-based pro dealer's sales team and branch operations managers. The Jan. 9 to 12 event also had 140 vendor companies represented, along with about 200 customers. 

Boise Cascade’s Building Materials Distribution division has announced its expansion in Wayne, Mich., outside of Detroit, where it recently moved into larger facilities. The operation now includes an additional 80,000 sq. ft. of enclosed warehouse space, 6,500 sq. ft. of new office space, and 9,000 sq. ft. of covered truck loading area. In addition, the expansion provides an additional four acres of outside storage, as well as railcar unloading facilities. 

Boise, Idaho-based Boise Cascade Holdings has posted a $3.7 million net loss for the third quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with a net loss of $5.6 million in the year-ago period. Sales for the quarter totaled $627.98 million, up 5.8% from $593.50 million in the third quarter of 2010.

Clearwater Paper Corp. has entered into an agreement to sell its Lewiston, Idaho, sawmill to Idaho Forest Group of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

The transaction includes the sale of Clearwater Paper's sawmill, planer mill, dry kilns and related assets, along with log and finished goods inventories and timber under contract, in the aggregate amount of about $30 million. 

Top 100 Distributors list


"Your decision to not include Boise Cascade's Building Materials operations on your list of top wholesale operations is inconsistent and misleading to a wide variety of audiences. Your reasoning for our deletion was apparently based on the fact that Boise Cascade is both a wholesaler of a broad line of building materials and a manufacturer of wood products. Clearly we do not understand this reasoning after having been on the list for decades.

Boise, Idaho-based BMC appointed Keith Costello, a 26-year veteran of the construction business and former Orco Construction Supply executive, as its VP sales. 

As Home Channel News continues its march across the United States touting high-performance hardware store retailers, here are three champions of -- from west to east -- diversification, customer centricity and gardening prowess: