And with our strong drop-down in incremental volume, market outperformance and a flattish environment will drive margin enhancement. Of course, we’re continuing to lean out our operations and keep a key focus on total cost productivity, which is the hallmark of our execution culture. So, in ‘24, I think we’re, as we said here today, in agreement with the general assessment of a flattish market, and we intend to outperform in that market. I think importantly, longer term, we believe that there is a significant rebound in R&R spending when things normalize due to strong fundamentals. We’ve talked about the age of housing stock, strong home prices, strong equity levels and what we believe to be pent-up demand for R&R spending. So, it’s a volatile time and I think based on our demonstrated execution, we’re ready to go into ‘24 and feel good about it.
And we’re going to continue to invest in our brand service innovation to drive above market growth and win in the recovery.
Michael Rehaut: Great. That was — I appreciate the answer and the thoughts, Keith. Thanks very much.
Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Joe Ahlersmeyer of Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.
Joe Ahlersmeyer: Hey, everybody. good morning and thanks for taking the question.
Keith Allman: Yes. Good morning, Joe.
Joe Ahlersmeyer: I was wondering, I know you don’t disclose price for your Dec Arch segment, but I was wondering if you could give at least directionally if price added to the top line in the quarter and margin in the quarter. It didn’t look like it was maybe, the first quarter, where you didn’t call it out.
Keith Allman: Yes, Joe. We’re not going to get into specific discussion on price. So, price overall for Masco was around 1%, a little more in plumbing, roughly flattish in decorative. As we’ve talked about many times, we tend to be price-cost neutral in decorative over time. We have seen some sustained raw material deflation. Likely, price could be a little bit of a headwind here in fourth quarter, but maintain profit dollars.
Joe Ahlersmeyer: Right. That makes sense. So, there’s a follow -up. As you’re talking about getting back to 18%, that includes, I suppose, the deflation plus giving back the price, because that’s the mechanical margin benefit on the way down, right?
Keith Allman: Yes. I think when we talk about getting back to the 2019 margin levels of 18%, it’s more about driving cost savings initiatives, more about driving growth. If there is deflation and the inverse relationship to — if you do end up giving back price, that could help. But I think we really were focused on improving margins from a cost proactivity and driving growth side of things.
Joe Ahlersmeyer: Understood. All right. Thanks a lot.
Operator: Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sam Reid of Wells Fargo. Please go ahead.
Sam Reid: Awesome. Thanks so much guys for taking my questions here. I wanted to maybe dig a little bit on propane. It’s been a great growth engine for you guys. I understand there’s been a little bit of give back this year. Can you give us an update though on what the next leg of growth is from here and maybe touch on some of your initiatives specifically? I’m thinking job site delivery and maybe, where you are in terms of building out your propane sales force?
Keith Allman: Yes. thanks for the question, Sam. Propane’s been a great story for us and a lot of hard work and focus for really a decade now. It was — it wasn’t too long ago when this was just a small piece of our business and we’ve grown it now to be quite material. and the story has really been around staying focused on that segment of the market that we think we have a value proposition that really works. And it’s that contractor, who also paints and does other things and is already in the aisle shopping at the Home Depot and when you couple that with the quality of our paint and our brands, and our innovation that we put in the can, it’s in our cost competitiveness. It’s a very strong story for that contractor. We think that’s about half the propane business in total.
