Like many stories, this one started with a rumor: Builders FirstSource was closing two stores in Iowa, a dealer told me. Digging into that story revealed a much bigger tale involving how actively America’s biggest full-service lumberyard has been shedding some underperforming locations (some it might never have wanted) while upgrading and consolidating other yards and revamping itself to get through sluggish times.
While BFS has touted its 19 locations acquired these past 15 months, it won’t comment on what crowdsourcing indicates have been at least 34 closures of facilities that have occurred since January 2025 or that will take place soon. At least 14 of those closures are truss or millwork operations, a minimum of 10 of the 34 were acquired when BFS merged with BMC in 2020. At least a couple dozen surviving locations are taking in workers and customers from closed branches, and/or are being “repurposed.”
This turbulence actually has been going on all this decade. According to BFS reports for Webb Analytics’ Construction Supply 150, the company’s dealer count has grown by just 15 locations between the end of 2021 and the end of 2025. But over that same period, Webb Analytics has recorded 110 locations that BFS purchased and another 10 that it opened as greenfields. To produce a net gain of just 15 locations after those 120 additions, it would have had to close 105 others.
What’s going on? A BFS spokesperson would only point Webb Analytics to a statement in the company’s latest earnings call: “We’re moving aggressively on the evaluation of our facilities and consolidations, consistent with what we’ve been doing over the last two years. These actions are driven by our ongoing focus on optimizing capacity utilization across the network. We continue to evaluate our footprint to ensure capacity is aligned with starts and projected growth. In addition, our plants are increasingly more efficient due to sustained investments in technology, automation, and process improvements. Those investments allow us to consolidate activity into fewer, more productive facilities while maintaining our on time and in-full service levels.”
That is the case in some places, such as when two window-millwork facilities were closed and folded into a bigger new location, and when a new yard in Woodland, WA, replaced a closed one in Longview, WA. But according to some informed outsiders, there may be other reasons, too.
The first involves leases, particularly stemming from its merger with BMC. Many of the more than 150 locations that BFS got in the merger were yards that BMC had been leasing from companies it acquired over the years. (Stock Building Supply, which BMC took over in 2015, also was an active lessor.) Similar leasing activities were common when ProBuild was created largely from Lanoga and The Strober Organization in 2005. BFS took over ProBuild in 2015.
Leases often can run 5, 10, or even 20 years. Veteran industry observers—some of whom negotiated these leases—noted that the closure of some old BMC yards might be happening now because five years have passed and thus the leases might have expired. It’s possible BFS never wanted some of these yards, the veterans added, but when you’re offered the chance to buy over scores of locations in one fell swoop, you’ll accept some dud yards for a chance to get star locations.
A second reason for the closures could be that some aren’t being permanently shuttered, but rather are being mothballed until busier times return. A prominent figure in the sale of used truss equipment said he hasn’t noticed any increase in equipment for sale in areas where BFS is closing. If BFS was shutting some of those plants forward, it would make sense to strip the truss tables and sell the saws.
Consolidating overlapping facilities is another possibility. This was particularly likely in Colorado as soon as BFS bought Alpine Lumber in late 2024. Since then, two truss plants and a lumberyard in the Centennial State have closed.
Then there’s strategy to consider. BFS’ acquisition earlier this year of truss plants in Ballston Spa and Queensbury, NY, gave it a new territory to sell a value-added product. Likewise, buying Truckee-Tahoe Lumber put it in fast-growing Reno, NV, and the adjacent Lake Tahoe area, while acquiring O.C. Cluss Lumber puts it into Western Pennsylvania. At the same time, rural locations are going away including in Fergus Falls, MN (pop. 14,329), and Hawarden, IA (pop. 2,700).
Finally, there’s the housing economy. BFS predicts zero growth in single- and multi-family starts and only 1% repair and remodeling growth in the areas its serves. This comes after a 2025 in which net sales declined 7.4%, net income plummeted 60%, and adjusted EBITDA shrank 32%. Its stated game plan in a weaker economy includes moves to right-size its network, optimize capacity, tightly control discretionary spending and overhead, and trim capital expenditures.
In other words, opening and closing properties is something big dealers do regardless of the economy if they hope to be efficient. But when times are tight, it’s particularly important to cut what you can, when you can. That may be the case now.