Kodiak Building Partners: All together now
Kodiak Building Partners’ success story is no secret.
It’s no secret in Colorado, where ColoradoBiz Magazine recently recognized the Highlands Ranch-based prodealer as its “Top Company” in construction.
It’s no secret to readers of HBSDealer, which chronicled the company’s decentralized and diversified approach — along with its carefully honed brand of due diligence — in our January cover story.
And it’s no secret to industry peers and the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, which in concert with HBSDealer, bestowed upon Kodiak the ProDealer of the Year award for 2023. The award is designed to recognize a high-performance lumberyard with a commitment to best practices and the best values of the lumber and building materials industry.
“We founded Kodiak with a vision to create a culture that empowers local leaders to succeed in the communities they serve,” said Kodiak CEO Steve Swinney. “So this award is fitting recognition for our continued focus on empowering our operators in a locally led organization that honors the legacy of the great independent operators who built our industry.”
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Kodiak’s leadership, from left: Don Barton, Jeff Smith, Mike Flood, Steve Swinney, Pat Flood, Matt LaScola, Brad Becker, Scott Barton and Mark Garboski. -
Since its inception in the Denver market in 2011, Kodiak has grown steadily from coast to coastl -
Accepting the 2023 ProDealer of the Year Award at the ProDealer Industry Summit in Kansas City.
Premier approach in Kansas City
When Premier Building Supply of Kansas City President Chris Borrego was named to lead Kodiak’s new Kansas City Market unit, the first thing he did was interview every employee.
“One thing I came across was the sense of a team,” he told HBSDealer. “It ran very strong in this organization. The market’s loaded with great competitors, and we’re the new guy on the block, so we have to bring our ‘A’ game and everything that we can to out hustle those guys.”
With that attitude, the Lenexa, Kan.-based division of Kodiak Building Partners has hit its early benchmarks and is looking to continue to grow.
Part of the strategy is to bring to the local market building innovations, while at the same time listening and responding to customer needs. Kansas City has traditionally been a stick-framed market, but the component-building share is growing, Borrego said. And that plays to the strengths of Premier Building Supply and its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.
Builders, Borrego said, are looking to decrease the cycle time, decrease waste, get to market quicker, get a better return on their investment— especially the more sophisticated builders.
Jason McDonald, director of sales, described the approach as flying the flag for components with a caveat: “We do it with respect” he said, “as opposed to coming in with an ego and saying ‘you need to build this way.’ We have to be able to cater to someone who wants to build with traditional rafters and stick framing.”
Regardless of the product, Premier strives to stand out as its name suggests.
“Everybody’s selling wood to a degree,” McDonald said. “And the way you differentiate in large part is by exceeding expectations.”
It all started in 2011 as an idea to invest in a steel fabricator with loads of potential just outside of Denver.
Over the ensuing years, and following a disciplined path of rolling up a collection of businesses in LBM and distribution, Kodiak Building Partners has grown to well over 100 locations in 25 states. Mixed in with all of its business decisions during that span was a core principle: To maintain a fiercely local approach that honors the proud, family-business legacies associated with these trades.
Six thousand strong
The chief executive added: “Congratulations go entirely to the 6,100 incredible members of our team across the country who serve their communities every day and collaborate to be ‘better tomorrow than we were today.’”
How is it going to accomplish that mission? After interviews with leaders throughout the company — and throughout the country — one answer jumps out. They’ll get better one market at a time.
“Kodiak leans into the idea of letting businesses operate independently,” said Jason McDonald, director of sales at Premier Building Supply of Kansas City. “Every market is somewhat unique and different, and it’s very difficult from a business strategy to apply a one-size-fits-all game plan at a national level.”
The subtleties and nuances that define market needs can differ rapidly, even in markets as close together as Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska, where McDonald witnessed first hand dramatic differences in building practices. “Kodiak has been very smart in letting the folks that know the community, folks that know the building practices and know what works — letting them set the strategy and set the game plan for the market.”
Striving to improve
PBS was founded in 2020 in Lenexa, Kansas. It’s one of the newest of Kodiak’s 35 operating units. President Chris Borrego pointed to the power of the local focus combined with the financial resources of the much larger organization as a competitive advantage.
It’s not just the paperless environment in the truss plant, the overhead monitors, the inking systems with the precision cut saws, it’s the spirit of continuous improvement, he said.
Despite the pandemic, PBS has been hitting all of the right metrics. And it’s planning to hit more.
“We’re just midway through a project right now looking at how we can ship an additional 25 percent out of this location,” Borrego said. “We know at some point we’ll be growing and expanding in the market, but in the meantime consistent with our growth, how can we get more out of here? And how can we do it more efficiently and save some money? It’s not just the dollars and cents, it’s how can we do better with the tools that we have?”
Like Kodiak itself, PBS is a diversified operation with activities split between manufacturing truss and panels and operating as a traditional lumberyard. Borrego says it’s a big benefit having a network to lean on.
“One of the strengths of Kodiak is that it is a great learning environment,” he said. “The company is loaded with talent and top-notch operators. These guys were in business for a number of years, and they’re also good partners in sharing information.”
Case in point Tony Shepley. The founder of Shepley Wood Products on Cape Cod in Hyannis, Massachusetts started his business on the back of a 16-foot flatbed truck 45 years ago. Today, it’s a Kodiak division with additional locations in Wellfleet and Nantucket, and 160 employees.
Shepley, who received a liftetime achievement award from the Massachusetts Retail Lumber Dealers Association late last year, described Kodiak’s ability to deliver a high-degree of autonomy to local market operators as a key differentiator.
Shepley sold to Kodiak Building Products in 2022, becoming part of Kodiak’s Retail Lumber and Gypsum Group. He continues to serve as president of Shepley Wood Products.
He recounts the early days of joining Kodiak: “What they said to me — and I had a hard time believing at first because it sounded almost too good to be true—was this: ‘Six months post-sale, your customers and your employees will not really know that anything has changed.‘
”And I said, ‘yeah, OK, that sounds great.’ And I’d have to say that was true then, but it’s also true now. It’s a year-and-a-half later. And that’s a remarkable story.”
