Masonry Magazine May 1973 Page. 31
Let's Trade Off
# On the Trade-Offs
By KENNETH S. DASH
Director of Marketing Promotion
Brick Institute of America
Every successful builder knows intimately the meaning of the term "trade-off." Even the less sophisticated builder or the man who's new to the industry uses the trade-offs concept (often unwittingly) in the marketing of his houses and developments.
It's time the brick industry learned the meaning and application of trade-offs, as brick has become the prime trade-off material in housing today.
Simply stated, a trade-off is the decision of the builder to substitute one material for another in order to realize a cash savings which may or may not be funneled back into the house for amenities.
For instance, let's take the house that was designed to show brick on all four sides up to the gable. The builder, recognizing his leverage in a strong seller's market, does a quick construction cost take-off on the dollars involved in building a brick front with both the sides and the back going aluminum or hardboard or plywood siding. His calculations show a bottom line net savings of $1,000.
He then thinks about the real decision-maker in the buying process, the housewife. This immediately leads him to think of the kitchen and the baths. And this leads him to think of things like self-cleaning ovens, frost-free refrigerators, no-wax floors, central vacuum, finished half-baths, etc., etc., ad infinitum. That extra $1,000 would go a long way to supplying the lady (and the man) of the house with these elements which really do make life more casual and carefree. (And, after all, aluminum siding is basically maintenance-free, much on the order of brick, he argues).
What he has arrived at is the classic trade-off. And brick, the classic building material, is now the classic trade-off material.
Trade-offs are our NUMBER ONE marketing problem in getting more brick into housing today, compounded with availability and a remarkable, if not unique, seller's market. What can (Continued on page 35)
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