Quarterly reports from HARDI will correlate key indices, such as new home starts; commercial construction; remodeling spending; key commodity prices; interest rates with monthly sales data; and more.

Heating, Airconditioning and Refrigeration Distributors International (HARDI) has launched a new series of quarterly economic forecasting reports specific and exclusive to the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry. Titled Targeted and Regional Economic News for Distribution Strategies, or T.R.E.N.D.S., these quarterly reports are prepared by Alan Beaulieu and the Institute for Trends Research complete with analysis and management recommendations for HVACR wholesale distributors.

Each quarter an Executive Summary and a fully detailed state-by-state report will be available for each HARDI region. These reports will correlate key indices such as new home starts, commercial construction, remodeling spending, key commodity prices and interest rates with monthly sales data provided by HARDI distributor members. All HARDI distributor members will have access to each regional Executive Summary and will be provided each region’s complete detailed reports at no cost simply by participating in the confidential monthly sales reporting. Supplier and service vendor members of HARDI can subscribe to the complete reports or just the Executive Summaries.

“The timing is perfect for this new management tool to help our members get in front of changes in their local economies rather than trying to play catch-up,” said HARDI Executive Vice President,Donald Frendberg. “There is currently no central source for this kind of HVACR focused information, especially anything that is broken down to the state level. Our members don’t have the time to research all of this data but can now easily identify the best leading indicators for their businesses.”

The first of these reports spanning January through April, 2008, have been posted towww.hardinet.orgas will the second report expected in early July. After those access will be limited to members. In May ITR’s Alan Beaulieu presented the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Regional Reports at their combined regional meeting held in Hardyston, NJ, then focused on the Central and Great Lakes Regions at their combined meeting this month in Lake Geneva, WI.

The T.R.E.N.D.S. forecasts will be featured at the HARDI Fall Conference, October 25-28, 2008, in Phoenix, AZ, as an integral part of the Conference theme,Economic Climate Control.  “Most of our members have been through and survived a number of economic downturns over the years,” stated Frendberg, “but this time there seem to be far more uncertainties, so it is HARDI’s top priority to arm our distributors with the most powerful management tools available to help them not just survive, but grow through this slowdown.”