Dow and Buildscape E-Venture To Serve Global Building and Construction Industry; Open Marketplace Initially Targets $300 Billion U.S. Residential Construction Industry

Business Wire, May 15, 2000

Business Editors

MIDLAND, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2000

The Dow Chemical Company announced today it has formed a strategic alliance with Buildscape, Inc., a subsidiary of Riverside Group, Inc., to drive the growth of Web-enabled business solutions for the global residential and light commercial building and construction industry.

Buildscape, based in Jacksonville, Fla., delivers products and services to homebuilding professionals through www.buildscapepro.com which provides builders access to real-time product and procurement information, including pricing, availability and delivery. This allows builders to better manage the flow of materials, locate subcontractors and enhance their customer service.

"The residential building and construction industry is an important market for Dow, with approximately 11 percent of the products we manufacture ending up in components used in home construction," says John Schaw, business vice president, Fabricated Products, The Dow Chemical Company. "Buildscape and Dow share a vision of delivering value to this critical industry by creating an open marketplace where building material suppliers can broaden their services and builders can benefit from faster, more cost effective materials procurement."

Schaw says Web-enabled and wireless technologies are ideal for improving the efficiency of the building materials procurement process.

"The need for a comprehensive solution for the residential construction market has been largely left unfulfilled," Schaw explains. "Buildscape provides a solution, delivering broad-based service offerings that will drive efficiency improvements for builders, subcontractors, dealers, distributors and manufacturers."

Buildscape will offer services involving procurement, project planning, demand creation, job site support, information sharing and construction management. The company seeks to become the leading provider for the flow of information and commerce to the residential construction industry by enhancing current supply chain relationships.

"The relationship between professional builders and the lumberyard is the most critical point in the supply chain and enhancing this relationship has the greatest value creation potential in the market," says J. Steven Wilson, chairman and CEO of Buildscape, Inc. "The average new home in the U.S. costs $180,000, so an increase in efficiency of just a few percentage points means thousands of dollars of savings per home for the builder."

Buildscape will work in partnership with local professional dealers to apply technology to improve the quality and efficiency of their services and to develop direct channels of distribution for products and services that extend the core product offerings of material suppliers.

The e-business will also greatly simplify processes for builders, offering them access to a wider range of materials through affiliated suppliers and helping them consolidate all project information to improve post-closing management.

"This is a network of providers that will combine the reach and power of the Internet with local service and support to provide builders unlimited product selection," Wilson explains.

"The power of our e-commerce model is that it relies on the existing brick-and-mortar supply chain to do what it does best. Buildscape just enables everyone to do it more efficiently and with less wasted materials, time and money."

Buildscape, Inc. currently has active pilots operating in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Pennsylvania involving leading homebuilding suppliers and contractors. With the resources Dow is providing, Buildscape will rapidly expand its functionality and broaden its service offerings to all major U.S. construction markets over the next few months, expanding to Canada, Mexico and Europe shortly thereafter.

Dow is a leading science and technology company that provides innovative chemical, plastic and agricultural products and services to many essential consumer markets. With annual sales of $19 billion, Dow serves customers in 162 countries and a wide range of markets that are vital to human progress, including food, transportation, health and medicine, personal and home care, and building and construction, among others. Committed to the principles of sustainable development, Dow and its 39,000 employees seek to balance economic, environmental and social responsibilities.

Buildscape, Inc. delivers products and services to the homebuilding professional. Buildscapepro.com provides access to realtime product and procurement information, including pricing, availability and delivery. This allows builders to better manage the flow of materials, locate subcontractors and enhance their customer service. Buildscape, Inc. also operates www.buildscape.com, giving consumers access to building products and information for all their home improvement needs. Buildscape, based in Jacksonville, Fla., can be reached at (800) 552-0061.

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