Don't worry the deals will be coming....

A big driver of traffic to this blog has been the insight into the “deals” that have happened recently in our industry. So because of that, I get e-mails constantly either giving me “scoop” or asking me what’s next. As for the scoop, I really do vet it completely, as an example, when I first heard that EFCO was being bought by Pella, I actually discounted it immediately. Then I heard it again, and again, and then from another source, so that after a while I could not ignore. But I know there’s folks out there that think I’ll run with any thing I hear and that’s just not the case. Now with that in mind, I am hearing about a few deals, but some of the details have been too sketchy to run with, so as soon as I can get things more clear, I’ll clue you in.

Elsewhere…..

-- The NFRC letter from the NGA still has me stunned a few days later. I am just blown away that they are coming to the party, but the question is will they stay? I really hope they truly understand the efforts of the Carney’s, Webb’s, Culp’s etc who have had to navigate the nightmarish NFRC maze of meetings, proposals, task groups, committees and so on. If those folks, among others of course, did not keep dragging themselves to the meetings and so on, we’d be saddled with a seriously unusable program. Thanks to them, there’s hope. Now if NGA is serious, they’ll send a letter to DOE, they’ll work whatever contacts they have at AIA, they’ll get to the meeting in November, and they’ll make their voice heard. Like Greg Carney has told me on occasion, “I go to the microphone at NFRC so many times, I am sure they are blocking me out right now” and he’s probably right… so some fresh faces would work.

-- During this whole episode this week, I was asked what the communist Chinese think of the NFRC… I laughed… a lot… the communist Chinese don’t care about laws (among other abuses like making toothpaste without poison or lead in the Elmo Toys) so caring about the NFRC is not high on the list.

--Am I the only one who kind of raised an eyebrow after reading the Wall Street Journal story on PPG at the end of last week? CLICK HERE. The comment that left me curious was the Wall Street analyst who noted PPG is now more known for its paint products and specialty coatings. With the selling of its autoglass division and everyone seemingly dogging the glass side as a whole, it really left me perplexed. Then earlier this week there was a Q&A (HERE) with Victoria Holt who is PPG's Senior VP of Glass and Fiberglass and when the question was thrown at her about the outlook of the rest of the glass businesses her answer started with:

I'm not going to speculate on what the future looks like because at any point in time, things could occur.

Now am I the only one who is seeing something there? The question did not ask are you going to sell the flat side but “what’s the outlook” and to me I think the answer would just be rosy talking about products and potential and so on. Also I guess the reason my radar goes off is usually the answer in that case is like Vistawall’s was when they were asked 6 weeks before the Oldcastle deal if they were selling.

"We currently operate successful businesses throughout North America (North Star BlueScope Steel, Butler Buildings and Vistawall)," BlueScope Steel is committed to growing our North American business. In the last four years, BlueScope Steel's North American employee base has grown from 40 people to 4,000. It is a market that we are 100 percent committed to."

I don’t know maybe her answer which makes you think something is up is reverse psychology… I guess time will tell.

-- The baseball playoffs just started… but I will make my picks… first I am rooting for the Arizona Diamondbacks because a few reasons, but mainly anyone that wants to blatantly run Air Conditioning with the roof open when its 111 degrees out has some serious guts. Plus I think they will make it from the National League to face the Yankees in the World Series, with the Yanks winning it for an allegedly very ill George Steinbrenner.

-- Football pick- yes I am rolling- two in a row- two home dogs win outright. This week, I had a few thoughts but decided to stay with the home underdog angle and go with the 49ers at home getting 3 from Baltimore. I just don’t think the Ravens are that good and even though SF has Trent Dilfer playing QB, I like them to cover and win…

This week’s video is comical- its bizarre answers from the TV show Family Feud… well worth the 1:15 and a few chuckles to be had.