Big Deals Aside, LBM's M&A Pace Is the Slowest Since 2021

By Craig Webb

Barring a surge in end-of-year deals and excluding just three of nearly 100 transactions, construction supply's M&A market in 2026 appears headed toward its most tepid results in half a decade.

The chart above from Webb Analytics shows why. Of the 843 locations that have changed hands so far in 2026, a total of 592 occurred in just three deals: QXO's purchase of Kodiak Building Partners, QXO's takeover of TopBuild, and SRS Distribution's acquisition of Mingledorff's.

The 95 other deals to date have have landed just 251 locations. Two of the most recent were one-store deals, in which Builders FirstSource acquired L&P Building Products of Las Cruces, NM, and R.P. Lumber bought White Mountain Lumber of Green River, WY.

Among other transactions:

• Houchens Food Group did a two-fer in Kentucky, buying Farmers Hardware of Russellville and Maines Hardware & Building Supply in Warsaw.

• SiteOne Landscape Supply took over Bedrock Environmental Seed & Supply, which has two locations in Pennsylvania and one in Ohio.

• Hartville Hardware bought Dutchville Truss & Components of Minerva, OH.

• Rycenga Lumber acquired Weber Lumber of Muskegon, MI.

• David Stine, a member of the Stine family that owns Louisiana's Stine Lumber, bought Lockhart (TX) Ace Hardware.

There also have been 165 actual or planned store openings this year. That's 20% fewer than that 205 openings last year.

What's happening in 2026 continues a trend toward megadeals amid lower overall activity. It began in 2024 with The Home Depot's purchase of SRS Distribution. Before then, big takeovers were a relative rarity and tended to be within the LBM community; such as when BFS absorbed BMC. Now we're seeing newcomers like Brad Jacobs of QXO burst onto the scene, and home centers like The Home Depot and Lowe's move purposely into the pro market.