Webb Analytics’ 2025 Construction Supply 150 Reveals Dealers’ Struggle to Advance in Tough Times

 By Craig Webb, President, Webb Analytics

Cover of the 2025 Construction Supply 150

Over half of America’s most important sellers of building materials recorded sales declines in 2024, collectively taking in nearly $412 billion, Webb Analytics’ latest Construction Supply 150 (CS150) reveals.

The entire CS150 saw their revenues go up a modest 1.3%, and if you remove sales at The Home Depot and Lowe’s, the other 148 companies posted a mere 0.7%. Those totals would be even worse were it not for acquisitions and Greenfield openings. The companies that expanded reported a 1.6% rise in sales. Those that didn’t fell 2.4%.

At 59 pages and featuring dozens of charts and tables, the CS150 is the biggest, deepest publicly available report on the companies that supply lumber and building materials (LBM) to professional home builders and remodelers—the source of 83% of CS150 members’ revenues.

Webb Analytics estimates that CS150 companies account for more than two-thirds of a more than $600 billion U.S. market for their products. That number grows to $620 billion if you add the roughly $17 billion that some CS150 members get from operations in Canada and Mexico.

CS150 members had to slog through weak economic conditions in 2024. The number of single-family housing units under construction dropped 5.3% in 2024, multifamily units under construction were down 22%, and remodeling expenditures shrank 1.4%. In years like this, DIYer spending can be a lifeline, but volume was down in this area, too. Same-store sales revenue fell 0.3% at Ace Hardware stores, 1.8% at The Home Depot, and 2.7% at Lowe’s.

This year isn’t looking any more promising. Of the 112 CS150 companies that gave predictions for the year, 17 predicted declines, 10 expected no change, and 40 predicted increases of just 1% to 5%.

There were stark differences between dealer types. Revenues at lumberyards without manufacturing operations collectively declined 8.5% from 2023’s sales, while lumberyards with manufacturing declined 2.1%. The drop in 2023 from 2022 was easy to spot: Lumber prices dropped 48% over the year. But the decline was just 2.4% in 2024. Meanwhile, home centers and hardware stores grew 1.6% and specialty dealers (dealers that get most of their revenue from non-lumber products, such as roofing or drywall) rose 3.1%. The 25 dealers on the CS150 enjoyed revenue increases last year, while those below $1 billion declined. 

The report again reveals how important value-added products and services are to CS!50 members—and by extension, the construction industry. The Home Depot and Lowe’s get 3.2% of their total revenue (more than $7.77 billion) from installation services, while other CS150 members collect $2.07 billion more from installations. Manufacturing products is an even more important source revenue for the 80 companies on the CS150 that build trusses, create custom millworker, and operate door and window shops. Together, they get $14 billion from manufacturing things. All told, value-added produces and installation among to $23.84 billion, or 5.8% of total revenue.

The entire PDF report is available for download at https://www.webb-analytics.com. 

Some of these numbers might differ from what CS150 companies have reported because the CS150 report seeks to limit a company’s activity to the pro market. Thus, for instance, the CS150 counts only the part of Universal Forest Products that’s in its construction segment, and only the paint store operations at Sherwin-Williams .In cases where CS150 members’ fiscal years differ markedly from the calendar, this report pulls from quarterly report to get 2024 figures. The numbers also include contributions from some eligible companies that didn’t want to be identified.