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Partner Interview
Published August 23, 2024

Builders FirstSource & US Building Materials Market: Supply Chain, Market Consolidation and Specialty Products

Executive Bio

Former Executive VP of Strategic Accounts at Builders FirstSource

Interview Transcript

Disclaimer: This interview is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a basis for investment decisions. In Practise is an independent publisher and all opinions expressed by guests are solely their own opinions and do not reflect the opinion of In Practise.

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How did the market view Builders FirstSource when they started this strategy? Because, like you said, they changed the market, so it must have created some waves.

The difference is that there were really two transformational changes that occurred. The first was the move to value-added products and services. I was reading through one of the old investor decks from several years ago, and I looked at a pie chart from around 2005, when we had just gone public. Back then, the company was about 52% lumber and lumber sheet goods and 48% value-added and specialty products. Now, in 2024, it's 25% lumber and lumber sheet goods and 75% value-added and specialty products.Why is that important? Because you're taking the commodity risk and dropping it from 50% down to 25% of the company's revenue, completely changing the landscape. Now, you not only have significantly higher margins, but those margins are more predictable and sticky. The real change came with the move to components instead of stick framing houses, do you know what that means?

This is a snippet of the transcript.to get full access.

It seems to happen much more in North America across various industries. You get a few big players who show price discipline and avoid competing each other to death.

It didn't used to be that way. The guy who didn't have the business would get desperate, leading to irresponsible practices. Now, enough excess supply has been taken out of the market through M&A. There's a good balance with plenty of competition, but more discipline because there are fewer players.

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