When a lumberyard that has anchored a Kansas town since 1878 closes its gates, the ripple effects reach every homeowner and contractor in the area. The site will be razed to make room for a national discount retailer, and the owners plan to reopen down the street with a different mix: hardware, paint, sundries, and […]
When a large building product distributor canceled its fall dealer market and held an online buying event instead, the move reflected a wider shift in how construction retail works. Dealers who once traveled hundreds of miles to walk aisles of samples now log in from their counters, and the change has outlasted the crisis that
Most sellers know their customers buy more than they sell them. The gap between what an account purchases and what it buys from you is the largest untapped revenue in any territory, and it stays untapped because nobody asks the question out loud. Reading what top-selling tools reveal about practical tool buying is a reminder
An economic shock exposes what a construction company actually values. When revenue contracts, payroll absorbs the first hit, projects on the schedule get re-ranked overnight, and long-held assumptions about growth stop holding. The companies that came through the disruption with their teams intact were the ones that had already thought through their priorities, often with
Market corrections hit construction companies harder than most industries because demand can disappear in a matter of weeks while payroll, equipment payments, and overhead keep running. Contractors who have survived multiple downturns treat them as recurring events rather than one-off surprises, and their playbooks look similar each time: protect cash, stay transparent with lenders, and
Pressure-treated lumber is one of the highest-volume products a building material dealer sells, yet most of it moves on price. Dealers who add a little education to the transaction capture the customers who would otherwise shop around: homeowners trying to figure out how long a treated wood deck lasts, and contractors comparing grades for a
The most common mistake in building material sales is also the easiest to fix: sellers do not ask for the order. A widely quoted figure in sales training holds that 90 percent of sellers never ask, and one veteran lumber salesman who has listened to thousands of sales calls says the number is accurate. Most
Building product manufacturers court professional installers with structured loyalty programs, commonly called pro programs or preferred programs. A manufacturer that recently refreshed its program for building professionals across the United States and Canada bundles priority lead referrals, marketing tools, samples, literature, branded merchandise, five-year limited labor coverage on eligible products, and an official certificate homeowners
When a community lumberyard closes, the ripple effects reach every contractor and homeowner who depended on it. Granville Lumber Co. in Granville, Ohio, shut its doors on March 31, 2020, days shy of its 70th anniversary, after years of pressure from big box competition and a shrinking labor pool, with the pandemic downturn as the
Hard times arrive without warning: a financing freeze, a material shock, a permit slowdown that empties the schedule book. The first instinct is to work harder, but the leader who is exhausted, anxious, and glued to bad news makes worse decisions. The priority in a downturn is the person making the calls. This article collects
