Combine millions of data points from more than 9,000 sources with instant visualizing technology and what have you got? Retail Pulse: A new, better, and more accurate way for Do it Best members to improve their operations.

While many U.S. construction supply and home center dealers hesitate over installing self-checkout options, a big DIY center has opened in Japan with a side store featuring a round-the-clock, cashier-less format.

Commentary by Craig Webb QXO’s acquisition of Kodiak Building Partners is raising lots of concerns across LBM. Vendors, buying groups, industry leaders, executive recruiters, and potential acquisition targets all are wondering about the impact on them as Chairman and CEO Brad Jacobs keeps pushing to grow QXO into a $50 billion company by 2030. The $2.25 billion purchase of Kodiak’s 110 locations and 5,500 employees in 26 states (particularly Florida and Texas, source of 40

By Craig Webb Billy Bastek, Merchandising EVP, The Home Depot Uncertainty and affordability are making it tough today for people to spend on new homes and remodeling, but the buildup in home equity should provide the fuel to power future growth once lending rates decline, The Home Depot's Executive Vice President for Merchandising says. Billy Bastek told several hundred people gathered Feb. 18 for the annual Storehouse Project breakfast in Orlando, FL, that "the industry is

Builders FirstSource's 2026 outlook, presented to analysts with its 2025 4Q and full-year financial report By Craig Webb Builders FirstSource's   report that its fourth-quarter net income plummeted 83% from the year-earlier period adds to a series of recent economic reports that point to more hard times ahead for dealers. Analysts had expected BFS to accumulate $336 million worth of adjusted EBITDA in the final three months of 2025. Instead, the nation's biggest full-service

DEALERS 84 Lumber — Dave Rumbaugh — VP of Purchasing 84 Lumber — Dan Tumilty — Area Manager ABC Supply — Karl Hager — Branch Manager ABC Supply — Blake Roach — OSR Aubuchon Co. — Adam Ranslow — Paint Associate and Retail Sales Big C Lumber — Kurt Gibson — Window and Door Shop General Manager Big C Lumber — Courtney Kaptur — General Manager — Three Oaks, MI Big C Lumber — Danny Moser — Operations Manager — Elkhart, IN Big C Lumber — Ted Zebell — VP of Operations DEALERS Builde

Construction supply facilities acquired (blue pins), newly opened (green), or closed (red) YTD 2026. Source: Webb Analytics Impressive as QXO's purchase of Kodiak Building Partners may be, it shouldn't blot out mention of 11 other acquisitions in construction supply over the first six weeks of 2026. Of those others, the biggest by far was White Cap Construction Supply' s purchase of Colony Hardware , a tool specialist with 58 locations. White Cap is regarded by some observe

By Craig Webb QXO announced Feb. 11 it will purchase Kodiak Building Partners  from Court Square Capital Partners  for about $2.25 billion. Kodiak generated about $2.4 billion in revenue and $211 million in EBITDA in 2025, putting the multiple at about 10.7x EBITDA and 0.95x sales. The deal includes 110 locations across 26 states with roughly 5,500 employees serving more than 10,000 customers, a QXO spokesman said. It excludes Kodiak Interiors Group ,  which Kodiak Building

Electronic shelf labels increasingly are popular at hardware stores. By Craig Webb Three hardware store tech leaders Feb. 4 put electronic shelf labels (ESLs), delivery services, and online and operational advances high on their lists of planned improvements this year. But they also stressed that the most important item on their lists was to actually do something. "You've gotta keep forging ahead and never settle," said Scott Jerousek, CEO of Wellington, OH-based Farm and Hom

Matt Leiser of Cleveland Research shows Orgill market attendees on Feb. 5 what The Home Depot and Lowe's are doing this year. (Craig Webb photo) By Craig Webb Conflicting trends are likely to make this a "flattish" year for hardware stores and home centers, Cleveland Research Co.'s partner for home improvement told Orgill customers Feb. 5 at the distributor's 2026 Dealer Market. Matt Leiser also urged dealers to pay attention to how The Home Depot and Lowe's are tweaking t

By Craig Webb A former executive at LBM Advantage and Lumbermens Merchandising Corp. has launched a new member-owned alliance for lumberyards, truss plants, and door shops operating in the Southern U.S. Conroe, TX-based Southland Lumber Co. "was created in response to mounting challenges facing independent operators, including industry consolidation, loss of regional market knowledge, workforce shortages, limited cooperative options, and declining transparency," Southland

Megadeals produce highest number of locations acquired, but overall M&A location dropped significantly, Webb Analytics’ Deals Report shows   The biggest, deepest report on acquisitions, new-store openings, and closures in construction supply makes clear 2025 simultaneously was both the busiest and slowest year for M&A in this decade. Viewed by the number of facilities acquired, 2025 saw 56% more locations acquired than in 2024 and more than in 2021 through 2023 combined. But

HBSDealer's Ken Clark, Kodiak Building Partners' Chad Finnigan, and US LBM's Jonathan Green listen to Gayatri Narayan of Builders FirstSource during the tech session of the LBM CEO Summit Jan. 27-28 in New York. By Craig Webb Some of the nation’s biggest and most successful construction supply operations gathered in New York Jan. 27-28 for the second annual LBM CEO Summit, sponsored by HBSDealer and The Misura Group . Here are key snippets of what was said. LBM Tech Leaders F

The explosive growth in web searches powered by artificial intelligence mandate that construction supply companies need to satisfy AI robots’ expectation or risk getting shut out of customer searches.

This list reveals the scores of people who have changed jobs in dozens of construction supply facilities, just since mid-December 2025

Builders FirstSource's Jan. 2 purchase of truss maker Premium Building Components has helped kick off a busy start to M&A in construction supply in 2026. There have been 5 deals for 10 years and plans to open 46 new facilities.

By Craig Webb, President, Webb Analytics Doing a takeoff has always been more than just quoting prices. It was your opportunity to discuss prices, find drawing and structural errors, spot code violations, recommend improvements, and above all strengthen your ties to the customer. The good news is that tech advances and artificial intelligence will make the actual process of doing takeoffs far quicker and easier. The problem is that these advances sometimes could cost you busi

By Craig Webb, President, Webb Analytics Construction supply is a team sport, and building that team remains frustratingly hard. What are your hiring prospects in 2026, and how do you need to adjust your ways if you hope to bring in the best people? To answer these questions, we reached out to four leading executive recruiting firms: SnapDragon Associates, The Misura Group, GRN Hudson, and LBM Executive Recruiting (LBM ER) . Here are excerpts of what they said. The Search Pr

DEALERS 84 Lumber -- Christopher Gould -- Multi-Family Components Ace Hardware Corp. -- Mark Blickenstaff -- Field Sales Manager Allram Lumber -- Rick Buckwheat -- Construction Consultant/OSR Allram Lumber -- Ike Glaze -- Sales Rep Arnold Lumber -- Valerie Mello -- Sales and Inventory Specialist Builders FirstSource -- Daniel Braun -- Sales Trainee Builders FirstSource -- Donald Crumpler -- VP Supply Chain Operations Builders FirstSource -- Jason Kindle -- Truss Designer, Mul

LBM facilities acquired (blue pins), newly opened (green) or closed (red) YTD 2025. Source: Webb Analytics The 2025 M&A market is ending quietly, with only about two-thirds as many deals as last year and only three-quarters as many buyers. But the deals that did take place often were enormous, involving 1.5 times as many facilities as were acquired last year and four times more than in 2023. As of Dec. 10, the Webb Analytics Deals Database shows a total of 1,797 facilities ha