Top 200 Industry Scoreboard

The business of selling lumber and building materials felt a number of seismic influences in 2016, and not only at the top of the HBSDealer Top 200 Industry Scoreboard. Single-family residential construction – the bread and butter of the lumberyard industry – picked up the pace in 2016, increasing from 714,500 starts to 781,500, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Though still a far cry from 2005’s record 1.7 million, last year’s 9.4% gain is reflected in the sales numbers of the companies on the following pages.

Mergers and acquisitions swept over the industry in 2016, dramatically reshaping the top of the list – L&W Supply was acquired by ABC Supply; Stock Building Supply was acquired by BMC; and ProBuild was rolled up into Builders FirstSource. The industry’s most active consolidating force of the past several years, U.S. LBM Holdings, appears on the list in the No. 5 position, and many of its semiautonomous brands are included down the list.

HBSDealer editors began preparing the list months ago. Companies for which estimates have been made are indicated with an asterisk.

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ABC Supply Company

BELOIT, WIS.
#1 $7,200,000,000

❚ Top dog on the Top 200 thanks to its acquisition of perennial Top 20 competitor L&W Supply (from USG Corporation), plus a steady stream of acquisitions. The 136-location L&W Supply will operate as a separate division.

❚ Other 2016 acquisitions: Trumbull Vinyl Products (Cortland, Ohio), Sidewinder Supply (Show Low, Ariz.), GK Building Supply Corp. (Port Chester, N.Y.) and T&C Supply (Flagstaff, Ariz.).

❚ Founded 35 years ago by Ken and Diane Hendricks. An award to honor the memory of Ken went to Pat Keeney, manager of a branch in Coon Rapids, Minn., and Robert Amar, manager of the Houston Branch.

Builders FirstSource

DALLAS
#2 $6,367,284,000

❚ Its 2015 acquisition of ProBuild Holdings still plays out for this 2015 HBSDealer Pro Dealer of the Year award winner.

❚ Operates in 74 of the top 100 metropolitan statistical areas.

❚ As of its latest filing: Sales to single-family homes make up 70% of total, multi-family makes up 7%, and repair and remodel/other gets 23%.

❚ Putting independents on notice in a recent financial presentation: “Many competitors are small, privately owned businesses with limited product offerings, access to capital and IT infrastructure. We are well-positioned to execute, share and capture from those smaller local distributors.”

Zeeland Lumber & Supply

ZEELAND, MICH.
#82 $97,000,000

❚ Recently acquired Commerce, Mich.-based Maverick Building Systems to strengthen its position in the Detroit metro area – and further its expansion from western Michigan into northern Indiana and eastern Michigan.

❚ Maintains seven locations, which include three full-service lumber and building material yards, three truss and component operations and one sales office/showroom location.

❚ Embraces the modern customer’s desire to text, email and call their orders in. It also saw the opportunity to throw in a virtual showroom after a tornado ripped through one of its truss plants in 2014 – and expand the location from 3,000 sq. ft. to 14,000 sq. ft.

Lezzer Lumber

CURWENSVILLE, PA.
#61 $130,700,000

❚ Celebrating 90 years in business in 2017. Three generations, one fire and several expansions later, the company operates 11 retail stores, a truss manufacturing facility and three commercial door locations, serving Pennsylvania and the surrounding states. Lezzer also employs 425 people.

❚ It’s not just retail for Lezzer. In 2010, the company formed Lezzer Energy Services, which services the Marcellus Shale gas industry with various services and supplies. The division also developed and manufactured Truss Pond, a portable above-ground water impoundment system, in 2012.