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Expo reflects housing slide

Many companies at the two-day Construction Expo 2006 in Tampa find demand weak. Others are adapting amid the industry slump.

Without houses, there's scant use for hanging cabinets, laying tile, installing air conditioners or affixing ceiling molding.

So the housing market's relative plunge this year was apt to ripple into the Tampa Convention Center, which for the past two days hosted Construction Expo 2006.

Many suppliers of materials and equipment - think plastic molded pillars, granite counters, backhoes and PVC fencing - reported varying degrees of sales sluggishness.

But the surest sign of the downturn was the foot traffic among the 200 booths. Let's say there was little need to throw elbows.

"Oh, it's off tremendously," was Rob Coulter's assessment of convention interest this year. He manned the booth of R&J Custom Cabinets, based in Pinellas County. "It's the domino effect," Coulter added.

Stephanie Reyes, standing before rows of black aluminum, white plastic and wooden fence panels, said her company is waiting for a rebound that refuses to arrive.

"The last month and a half it's been like, 'What's going on?' " said Reyes, whose company, Fence Outlet of Tampa, serves builders such as D.R. Horton.

Not everyone was singing the blues. Douglas Mullins of Tampa's Geoject, which underpins homes susceptible to sinkholes, reported a healthy stream of SOS calls from Pasco and Hernando counties.

"Spring Hill is the sinkhole capital of the world. We have a lot of customers up there," Mullins said.

Another hedge against the housing industry's hurt: Supply the more resilient commercial construction sector.

That's what Foam Factory Inc. is doing. Sales are up $2-million this year over last for laminated foam architectural embellishments like cornices and Corinthian columns. Apartment buildings and upscale shops like them.

"Residential is backing off, but commercial's just as hot as can be," Foam Factory's Bob Dod said.

The company tallied 40 leads Tuesday morning, but watched them taper to six that afternoon. Wednesday was slower still.

Even free candy bars and donut holes couldn't draw hordes to Joshua Jermaine's booth. He's a vice president of St. Petersburg's Liberty Leasing, which finances heavy equipment purchases for small- and mid-sized contractors.

Jermaine vouched that his business is steady. But looking into the convention hall, where the spiffy new cranes and tractors from Volvo and Kubota were sitting largely empty, he sensed an ill wind blowing through residential construction.

"It definitely hasn't been a parade of people in here," he said.

James Thorner can be reached at 813 226-3313 or thorner@sptimes.com