Housing Giants - October 10, 2008 - (Page 10)

Moves News & Moves By Jennifer Powell, Staff Writer Manufacturer suffering Mounts as Housing sluMp Deepens The malaise of the housing industry has now spread to the supply side of the housing industry with the Chapter 11 filing of a well-known wood window manufacturer: Hurd Windows & Doors of Medford, Wis. Hurd is caught up in the bankruptcy of parent Monarch Holdings of Ortonville, Iowa, a filing brought on by the high cost of lawsuits against a Monarch millwork subsidiary. But it seems likely the housing slump still played a major role. (Neither Hurd president Dominic Truniger, nor David S. Mulcahy, sole owner of Monarch, returned calls from Housing Giants.) Industry insiders say the pain of the housing downturn, now three years old, is widespread among manufacturers caught in a squeeze between builders (who can’t sell houses, and certainly can’t raise home prices) and their own materials and transportation costs, pushed up by the energy crisis. “Nobody is immune,” one supply-side executive told us. “Every manufacturer is closing plants and laying off people. The smaller, privately- HoMe BuilDer unDer fire froM M.D. attorney general Douglas F. Gansler, Maryland Attorney General, filed charges against Smart Development/Premiere Homes. The home builder is charged with violating the Consumer Protection Act. The charges allege Premiere Homes, based in Rockville, Md., had a termination clause that would allow the company to terminate contracts without liability if it failed to build the promised homes. According to the Office of the Attorney General, the company used this termination clause to cancel contracts after one year, when housing prices rose, and refused to build unless consumers signed new contracts agreeing to pay a higher price for the same house. 10 HOUSING GIANTS.10.10.08 www.HOUSINGGIANTS.cOm http://www.hurd.com http://monarchmanufacturing.com http://www.oag.state.md.us/ http://www.oag.state.md.us/ http://www.oag.state.md.us/Press/2008/082608.htm http://www.premierehomesmd.com/ http://www.premierehomesmd.com/ http://www.housinggiants.com

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