HBSDaily

Moen has been a supporter of affordable housing for Hispanic residents for the past eight years.

Ivy Zelman says there is plenty of opportunity for growth in the single-family housing market and home improvement.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores reported a 2.8% drop in revenue during the second quarter of 2014, sluggish results that president and CEO Bruce Johnson attributed to a highly promotional sales environment among competitors.

The roofing products manufacturer will get exclusive treatment on the home-improvement membership site.

The U.S. Census Bureau announced Thursday that advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for May, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $421.1 billion, an increase of 0.6% from the previous month, and 4.3% above May 2012.

Building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers -- NAICS code 444 companies -- were up 10.1% from last year. The sector’s adjusted sales were $26.387 billion, up from $26.158 billion in April. 

The Fatmax hose is the first in a new series of watering products that aims to solve problems such as kinking and unmanageable weight.

BarkClad is promoting a siding product designed to mimic the beauty of traditional poplar bark siding.

“We’ve been working for the past several years to perfect a sustainable alternative to natural bark siding, and SmartBark is the exciting result,” said Brian Summers, corporate operations officer of BarkClad. “We’re thrilled to be able to bring to the marketplace this ingenious new product that builds on our company’s long tradition of excellence.” 

October housing starts declined from the upwardly adjusted pace in September, but stayed above the million mark.

The seasonally adjusted annual rate of new housing units started came in at 1,009,000, down 2.8% from the prior month.

Compared with a year ago, total starts increased 7.8%.