GeorgiaSnake, I will be happy to stop by and supervise.
Al, I hope you are wrong on HD, but I will keep my ear to the ground. My main concern with HD is that with their rapid expansion they are cannablizing sales from their existing stores. It seems like there is a HD on every corner. There are 3 HD's that are equidistant from my home.
I have said for years that HD should have a National tool rental chain(they have small rental depts. in some stores, Lowes has affiliated w/ Nation's rent), they should go after the homebuilder market(I am starting to see this now, it's a no brainer), they should have fastfood outlets in stores(I've seen one in their Buckhead store), and they should have a work clothing Dept.
It seems to me that they could easily generate big $$ from those additional revenue streams.
As a builder, I wonder why HD doesn't hire an outside sales staff and get the lion's share of the new home construction market. No lumber yard could compete with HD on price, and HD could ship large orders from central warehouses and send fillin orders(the "biatch" on new construction sales) from their retail stores.
What end of the business are you in?
Jim