The construction supply industry saw high lending rates and a relative lack of big transactions result in 22% fewer deals involving 2.6% fewer locations in 2023 vs. 2022. There also were 10% fewer buyers, with several big players barely present. But greenfield openings, while down 5% from 2022,...

Webb Analytics’ monthly people roundups have tracked changes involving 1,241 folks at hundreds of LBM operations this year. Thousands more jobs that we didn’t spot likely have changed hands, in part through help provided by construction supply’s leading recruitment and...

Dramatic falls in lumber prices caused America’s biggest sellers of building materials to record in 2022 less than half the revenue gain they achieved the year before, Webb Analytics’ latest Construction Supply 150 (CS150) reveals. The group, which arguably accounts for two-thirds...

Where you wanted to be and what you wanted to sell both figured mightily as factors in construction supply’s acquisition, openings, and closures activity in 2022. Deals were almost as numerous as in 2021, but big deals were rarer. Meanwhile, greenfield openings were far more...

ABC Supply is going to Canada. Lowe’s is leaving it. SRS Distribution continues to diversify. Builders FirstSource is right-sizing its company in advance of America’s expected home-building slump. And US LBM is still hungry for truss plants. These are among some of the strategic...

Year-to-date, the construction supply community has had 97 deals made by 50 buyers. At this same point in 2021, Webb Analytics counted 102 deals by 50 buyers. So much for predictions of a slowdown in M&A in 2022. What’s different is the size of the deals: A total of 255 yards have...

Collect dozens of anecdotes from travels, panels, emails, and social media interactions, as I have recently, and three trends emerge to summarize the state of construction supply today: Dealers say demand remains strong, with only marginal easing of supply chain pressures. In contrast,...

When one of housing’s biggest optimists changes his outlook, attention must be paid. Stephen Kim, senior managing director and head of Evercore ISI’s Housing Research Team, had declared in September 2020 that housing had entered a Golden Age. But that changed on June...

When the 52-page Webb Analytics’ 2022 Construction Supply 150 Report was released on May 3, the top headline was: Report Shows Lumberyards’ Revenues Soared Far Above Gains for Specialty Dealers, Big-Box Stores. Indeed, high-flying lumber prices helped drive a 19.2% revenue increase...

Pro-oriented, residentially focused construction supply companies acquired 671 locations and opened 154 others in 2021, capping one of the busiest years ever for lumberyards, specialty dealers, and related firms, Webb Analytics’ just-released 2021 Deals Report finds. [For charts and...