January 2021
What's happening and what matters in construction supply, from Webb Analytics President Craig Webb.
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Announcing LBM's Next Great Benchmark:
The Construction Supply 150 List of Top Dealers
The LBM industry ought to know a lot more about itself than it does today. You can fill that gap by helping create an illuminating new benchmark: The Construction Supply 150 report on America's biggest building material suppliers. Powered by a Webb Analytics survey and a lot of research, the CS150 will list the top 150 firms selling building materials to pros. But it will go far beyond that, breaking down the numbers to show the size and scale of LBM's subsegments and revealing important metrics that show how the industry is performing. It'll be published in late spring. Learn more, and then take part.
What Does ACS + US LBM + SRS + ABC Spell?
A Quick Start for Dealer Acquisitions in 2021
American Construction Source's news this morning that it bought Builder's Resource Group, a two-store operation in Wisconsin, means we already have had 29 LBM facilities that changed hands, closed, opened, or soon will open in 2021. Builder's will be folded into ACS' Arrow Building Center. Earlier this month, ABC Supply's L&W Supply purchased Merrimack Building Supply, US LBM took over Gilcrest/Jewett, SRS Distribution's Heritage Landscape Group bought Wolf Creek Distribution, Curtis Lumber absorbed Wiley Bros., and Jaeger Lumber bought West Essex Lumber. More

Coming Thursday: Webb Analytics' LBM Deals Report for all 2020. It will be downloadable for free, courtesy of Building Industry Partners
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80 People at 56 Companies Get New Jobs, Promotions in LBM
Ben Skoog (right) is just one of dozens of people who have reason to smile this month: They have new jobs in LBM or have been promoted. Skoog joined Do it Best as Director of Brand Integration, responsible for branding initiatives and marketing for all of the co-op's members. Elsewhere, 84 Lumber named two new VPs, National Lumber in Massachusetts has a new EVP and VP, and there are new managers at TAL Holdings, SRS Distribution, Mead Lumber, and McCray Lumber. More
Britain is creating a national regulator to help assure that construction materials used in housing are safe. The action stems from the 2017 Grenfell Towers fire, in which faulty materials and suspect sales tactics are blamed for causing 72 deaths.
What should independents think of the recent flurry of purchases by big dealers? My latest blog for ECI suggests those giants have learned from the past and thus might present more of a challenge than they did before. Be prepared to up your game.
Levelset Creates Advisory Board
If you're known by the company you keep, then I've gone up a notch. Earlier this month, Levelset, which helps credit managers in constructio, announced the creation of a Credit Management Advisory Board featuring five major figures in credit and collections, plus me.

The board members, clockwise from upper left: Jen Martin, senior director of credit and AR, Kodiak Building Partners; Rachel Sales, senior director of financial services, SRS Distribution; Jon Flora, president and CEO, NACM Business Credit Services; Thea Dudley, a credit and collections consultant; Barry Dombrowski, credit director, Emser Tile; and Webb Analytics' Craig Webb. More
Worth Reading ...
They Could Have Danced All Night
What's the most amazing video posted on YouTube in the past month? You can make a strong argument for one by Boston Dynamics that brought together all its robots to show off their moves, set to the 1962 Motown hit "Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)." The set features two Atlas prototype robots, the dog-like Spot, and a wheeled model called Handle. One commentary noted that Atlas could barely walk in 2013. Now watch it shimmy--nearly 267 million viewers already have. More
Need LBM Research? Data? A Webinar Speaker?
If you want to run a better LBM company, Webb Analytics can help.

Webb Analytics was created by Craig Webb, who for 12 years served as editor-in-chief of ProSales, the nation's most-honored publication for construction supply executives. Webb Analytics alerts dealers to trends, threats, and opportunities from around the globe to help LBM insiders and investors make better decisions. He does it through personal (and online) visits, custom research, data, strategic consulting, speeches, roundtables, board work, and business development services.

Prior to joining ProSales, Webb worked as an editor and reporter at The Wall Street Journal in Brussels and New York. He served as chief economics reporter for United Press International, covered Congress and the White House for McGraw-Hill, was trade editor at the Journal of Commerce, and worked for other organizations in newsrooms from Indiana to Italy.

Contact him at cwebb@webb-analytics.com or by phone at 202.374.2068.



Webb Analytics LLC | 202.374.2068 | cwebb@webb-analytics.com
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