In addition, the Boise SawTek system includes optimization capabilities to cut product for multiple jobs downloaded by designers in the front office, ink-jetting each piece of EWP by SKU and job and optimizing cuts to result in near-zero waste of product from a 30,000-foot run of 60-foot I-joists.
To protect value-engineered EWP against the searing Nevada heat, which can hit 120 degrees in the summer, all Bison engineered products are kept in a temperature-controlled indoor lumberyard, a first in the market for pro customers (Las Vegas Lowe’s and The Home Depot locations feature similar yards). “We try to buy quality product to reduce callbacks, so it makes sense that we in turn stress quality care of those products while in inventory or while being delivered,” explains Bybee. Remodeling of the Payless Cashways location also included complete resurfacing and re-racking for the 27-acre site that now employs 65, including a night shift that prepares loads and enables a next-day delivery guarantee.
Service Success Executing on value-added services like next-day delivery is helping Bison to keep a secure foothold thus far in the Vegas market. Their efforts include dispatching field service reps to verify every EWP order and some larger lumber orders with both builders and subcontractors to ensure jobs are delivered correctly and on time and enabling a 100 percent guarantee on EWP packages. Bison additionally assumes responsibility for cutting complex or custom holes in flooring systems at the jobsite and also inspects installation prior to the building inspector, red-flagging issues, conducting repairs, stapling a copy of the repair order to the affected I-joist or work area, and giving a copy of the repair order to the jobsite superintendent.
The service initiatives have sales rocking so far at the yard. Since a March 31 gala opening, which included a full dinner buffet, two Nascar stock cars, a country-and-western band, and a mechanical bull, there’s been little sign of the Vegas newcomer curse, with April sales of $2 million increasing to a May take of $3 million from a wide range of production builders, including Lennar, U.S. Home, Desert Wind Homes, D.R. Horton, and Technical Olympic USA. According to Bybee, the only problem so far has been obtaining enough drivers to keep up with the growing volume. Currently the yard is putting nine trucks on the road with about 26 loads a day.
If the good action in Vegas continues, it will be another territory secured as Bison gradually expands westward. Already the dealer has locations in Aurora, Colo., and Albuquerque, N.M., and an EWP shop in Phoenix. A new location in Eloy, Ariz., currently has only 16 employees, but with rail spur service and a roof truss shop it will eventually be the odds-on favorite for Bison’s Western operations hub.
“We have land acquired for a truss shop here in Vegas, but beyond that there’s not much for us to publicly talk about yet,” says Davis, noting the competitive atmosphere but still maintaining that Bison and its hot streak in Las Vegas are here to stay. “Our absolute total commitment to engineered wood and services has allowed us to easily segue into the lumber side,” he says. “If you can figure out how to do the hard stuff and do it well, you can do the easy stuff better than anyone in town.”
