By Jill Ralph. Builders may have a reputation for being slow to adopt new product innovations, but they still seem to recognize brand innovators.
A new annual brand use study released this month by the publisher of big builder provides a fresh glimpse of how America’s builders, builder developers, and general contractors rank brands in 70 product categories according to familiarity, use, quality, and innovation. The complete results are available at: www2.builderonline.com/bldgproducts/brandstudy/builder_brand_study.asp
Among the companies with the highest response rates for being innovators in their product categories:
| Leaders in Innovation | ||
| Company | Percent | Category |
| 1 DuPont (Tyvek) | 35 | House Wrap |
| 2 American Honda | 32 | Generators |
| 3 Kohler | 30 | Bath Fixtures |
| 4 Corian (DuPont) | 23 | Solid Fixtures |
| 5 Kohler | 23 | Kitchen Sinks |
| 6 U.S. Gypsum | 22 | Wallboard |
| 7 DeWalt | 22 | Power Tool Accessories |
| 8 Owens Corning | 21 | Insulation |
| 9 James Hardie | 20 | Fiber Cement |
| 10 Cultured Stone | 18 | Manufactured Stone |
| 11 Velux | 18 | Skylights |
| Source: Builder Magazine; Hanley-Wood, LLC | ||
