LBM’s Top Recruiters Spot These Hiring Trends. Here's What You Should Do About Them

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 Process

Webb Analytics: How has the search for people at lumberyards and specialty building material dealers evolved in recent years?

SnapDragon: We are observing a notable rise in inquiries for both hourly positions and middle to upper management roles. Organizations are recognizing the need to invest in leadership talent to drive growth, foster innovation, and navigate an ever-evolving business landscape. Strengthening the leadership bench has become a priority. For hourly roles, the demand remains consistently high, but the struggle lies in finding candidates who demonstrate a strong work ethic, reliability, and a commitment to their responsibilities. 

GRN Hudson: Since 2020, we've never seen top performers more risk-averse than they are today. Candidates who would have jumped at a 20% raise and promotion three years ago are now declining opportunities because they fear being "last in, first out" in an uncertain economy.

Misura Group:  We're living in a tale of two worlds.Companies that have made "must be effective at attracting and developing talent" a non-negotiable leadership benchmark are thriving. Companies with struggling leadership are getting exposed on the P&L.

Hiring Outside the Industry

What are companies’ views about recruiting people from outside the construction supply industry to take on C-suite jobs, and how have those views evolved?

LBM ER: Our clients—independent retail LBM dealers—tend to be hesitant about filling C-suite roles with individuals from outside the building materials industry.

Misura Group: Talent pools from outside our industry are often richer and, frankly, less expensive. But companies forget to look for candidates with empathy and experience for the perpetual chaos of the construction jobsite. The best external hires are often people who spent their high school and college years working at their uncle's construction company, then went on to build supply chain careers in more progressive industries. When you combine measuring individual traits and personal interests with their broader career history, you can accurately calculate whether a candidate will thrive in building products and significantly reduce your risk.

Regarding CFOs, there’s an odd trend that private building industry companies continue to hang onto: Dramatically overcompensating CFOs compared to other C-suite leaders. The root cause? Deep financial skills are usually lacking among building industry leaders, so we tend to overvalue talents we wish we possessed. Here's the reality: there's a large supply of excellent CFO talent from broader U.S. all industry supply chain and manufacturing industries who have successfully transitioned to building materials. But the lack of financial competency among our industry leaders creates an overvalued mindset and embarrassingly low benchmarks for what constitutes CFO excellence.

SnapDragon: There growing openness to the idea of hiring talent from outside. While this trend is gaining traction in certain segments, it’s important to note that the demand for industry-specific expertise, particularly in C-suite roles, remains exceptionally strong. The need for leaders with deep, specialized knowledge of their respective industries is at an all-time high.

GRN Hudson: Dealers and lumberyards have become less open to outside C-suite hires. This segment is intensely relationship oriented. Builders and contractors want to work with people who understand supply chain complexity, seasonal cycles, and the trust-based nature of the business. We’ve heard there have been high-profile external C-suite hires at dealers that failed in the past 24 months because they underestimated the relationship capital required to succeed.

Manufacturers are cautiously experimenting with outside talent, but the success rate is mixed at best. External C-suite hires succeed when they bring a specific high-value skill (turnaround expertise, new product launch experience, manufacturing automation knowledge) that translates across industries. They fail when they're hired for "general management" positions without deep respect for building materials industry nuances.

Pay Scales

In past years, recruiters have told me that their clients have unreasonably low notions about how much they need to pay to hire people today. What’s the case now?

Misura Group: Our industry has come a long way on compensation norms over the past five years. Everyone saw the high profits the industry generates with the right people, and how fast those profits can crash with the wrong people. But there's one area that still concerns me: the wage bands that large corporate organizations set through their HR departments. The data used to create these bands comes from public companies because that information is free and easily accessible. The trouble is that your company is NOT Home Depot. You lack their systems, their brand recognition, and the lower operational hurdles that come with a consumer-facing retail business model and narrow job descriptions. We've become effective at working with executive leaders to reset how their wage band data is collected, incorporating privately held companies with business models and job descriptions that actually match their own. That's when compensation planning starts reflecting reality instead of fighting it.

GRN Hudson: Most companies are still mentally anchored to 2018–2019 compensation levels.. But the smartest companies have learned, sometimes painfully, that a bad hire is the most expensive decision they’ll ever make because of the lost revenue, damaged relationships, stalled initiatives, and the cost of restarting the search 12–18 months later.

LBM ER: We have not encountered clients with unreasonably low expectations for compensation. Today, they make an effort to understand the market and set pay levels that are competitive. 

SnapDragon Offering candidates less than their stated salary expectations remains a common trend. However, this approach has backfired for many companies, costing them exceptional candidates who are now more informed than ever about their market worth. In today’s transparent job market, where salary data is readily accessible, top talent is less likely to settle for offers that undervalue their skills and experience. At the same time, the growing influence of Private Equity is reshaping the compensation landscape, particularly at the C-Suite level, where we’re witnessing significant salary spikes. Beyond the executive level, there has also been a notable upward trend in salaries across various roles.The primary challenge is that, in order to attract new talent, they often need to offer compensation higher than that of their existing employees.

Perks and Benefits

Are there any perks/benefits that are getting more popular, either because they’re offered by companies more often or because candidates are asking for such perks more often? 

GRN Hudson: The perks that matter have shifted from "nice-to-haves" to "deal-breakers."

The Top 4 Perks we're seeing in 2025: 1) After personal and professional growth, candidates seek advancement, and stability. 2) Signing bonuses are aren't just "sweeteners" anymore, they're compensation bridges. Companies use them to solve the internal equity problem. 3) Experienced candidates have earned 3-5 weeks Personal Time Off through their hard work and dedication. Younger candidates not only want generous amounts of PTO time but also flexibility on when they can use it. 4) We're seeing 3 days in office / 2 days remote as the new standard for non-field sales roles and other types of roles that can be done remotely.

SnapDragon Some of the leading companies in various industries are scaling back on traditional employee benefits, such as 401(k) matching programs, health insurance contributions, and other perks. This shift seems to align with a growing preference among candidates for higher take-home pay over long-term or indirect benefits. Additionally, remote work opportunities have seen a notable decline this year.

Misura Group: Long-term incentives have become much more common today. The 4% 401(k) match is now the price of admission, not a differentiating factor. What's really moving the needle? Profit sharing, phantom stock, and ESOPs. There are lots of innovative ways to align ownership, shareholders, company leadership, and key contributors around the long-term goals of the company. Smart leaders are using these tools to create real wealth-building opportunities beyond just salary. The other area where we're seeing significant traction is direct investment in training and development. Offsite training programs, in-house coaching, and company-sponsored schools are powerful ways to prove your commitment to someone's career growth and not just talk about it.

Relocating

How willing are most candidates to relocate? If they are less willing today, what do companies and recruiters like you do to find decent candidates? 

LBM ER: Most candidates recognize that changing employers may require relocation. However, the new role must provide a compensation and benefits package that makes the move worthwhile. When recruiting for independent dealers, the issue of relocation has been somewhat mitigated by the growth of large national LBM companies. Employees from these organizations are accustomed to relocation as part of career advancement and are often receptive to opportunities with independent dealers that allow them to remain in a single location.

SnapDragon: Limited housing inventory and significantly higher interest rates have created substantial barriers for homeowners looking to move. Rental prices continue to climb, and availability has become increasingly scarce, making it difficult for individuals to secure affordable housing in new locations. As a result, organizations are increasingly focusing on sourcing and developing local talent to fill critical roles.

GRN Hudson: The people who were mobile three years ago are still mobile today. What has changed is the financial math, especially for mid-level candidates. A Territory Manager who bought a house at $250,000 with a 3% mortgage simply can’t afford to buy at $500,000 with a 6.5% rate—even with a healthy raise.  Executives and senior leaders, however, are still relocating at comparable rates because the compensation, career upside, and long-term ROI justify the move. When companies embrace relocation and structure compelling packages, they unlock an entirely different level of A-player candidates they would’ve never hired locally.

Misura Group: Ninety percent of our projects still require relocation. Committed career professionals will still move. The candidates who are willing to move aren't settling—they’re investing in themselves. Those are exactly the people our clients want to hire.