[September 11, 2013]

Truss and Wall-Panel Component Manufacturers Stand Ready to Respond to Framing Labor Shortage

MiTek (News - Alert), a Berkshire Hathaway company (NYSE: BRK-A, NYSE: BRK-B), announced today that a recent NAHB survey found that 48% of America's home builders could not find framing crews in the first quarter of 2013, up 30% from 2012. The severity of the labor shortage was underscored by Builder magazine's editorial theme for August, entitled: Help Wanted: Will the Labor Shortage Stifle the Housing Boom. In one feature article from that issue, Builder magazine points out that "Concerns about labor shortages started surfacing more than a year ago, about the same time the housing market began showing signs of sustained recovery. A survey of builders conducted by John Burns Real Estate Consulting released in the Fall found that shortages were causing delays of up to three weeks to start houses, and up to three months to finish them."

To assist builders with time- and labor-saving measures, MiTek also announced that the component manufacturers it serves stand ready to provide an immediate solution to help resolve the framing labor shortage -- in the form of precisely manufactured, affordable roof trusses, floor trusses, and wall panels. These components are designed using MiTek's industry-leading SAPPHIRE™ software and built by skilled labor in controlled manufacturing facilities. Roof, floor, and wall components arrive at the jobsite in staged deliveries, where they can be quickly assembled with a fraction of the labor required for traditional stick framing.

"Housing starts are showing sustained growth, and they are predicted to spike to a run rate of 1.3 million by the end of 2014, and 1.5 million in 2015," said MiTek's Gregg Renner. "That's good news, but it also indicates that the framing labor shortage won't ease, and builders need a different approach to framing houses. That's what MiTek's component manufacturers offer."

"Structures that are designed and produced by MiTek's network of component manufacturers using SAPPHIRE™ Structure offer a better-quality, low-cost solution for today's labor shortage," Renner added. "One recent case study shows that using trusses and wall panels can cut overall framing times in half when compared to stick framing. With home building clearly moving to a 'production-custom' posture, builders are discovering that even complex trusses are remarkably more efficient and economical than framing from 'sticks' on site."

Learn more at www.BuildabilityNow.com/LaborSavings

Source (News - Alert) of the NAHB statistic: See numbered "page 2" at this link: http://eyeonhousing.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/hmi-march2013splq-external.pdf

About MiTek

A Berkshire Hathaway Company, MiTek is the world's leading supplier of state-of-the-art engineered products, software, and services for the residential building components industry. The Company prides itself on providing a competitive edge for each of its customers. Although MiTek's operations are global, its business focus is always local, and the Company has a well-earned reputation for customer dedication. Every product and service MiTek delivers is designed to answer real customer needs. Learn more: http://www.mitek-us.com/.

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