A
Th e
Component Manufacturing dverti$ dverti $ er
Don’t Forget! You Saw it in the
June 2022 #14275 Page #92
Adverti$$er
A Closer Look at Webb Analytics’ 2022 Construction Supply 150: Lumberyards, Dealers, and Component Manufacturing Craig Webb President, Webb Analytics
W
hen the 52-page Webb Analytics’ 2022 Construction Supply 150 Report was released on May 3, the top headline was: Report Shows Lumberyards’ Revenues Soared Far Above Gains for Specialty Dealers, Big-Box Stores. Indeed, high-flying lumber prices helped drive a 19.2% revenue increase by this year’s Construction Supply 150, with vast differences in growth depending on how much wood a company sold. The group, which arguably accounts for the lion’s share of construction product sales in America, took in $373.73 billion last year from their U.S. operations. CS150 members’ operations in Canada and Mexico added another US$20.57 billion, pushing the total to $394.30 billion, also a 19.2% gain from 2020. The number of branches in the U.S. run by CS150 members grew 7.6% to 13,711, while there was a 32.1% increase in Canadian and Mexican branches, bringing the non-U.S. total to 847 and pushing the North American count to 14,558. The increase looks similar to the 18.6% rise in sales during 2020 that was reported by pretty much the same CS150 membership. But top-line appearances deceive. Largely because of softwood lumber’s 116% price increase between January 2020 and January 2022, according to the Producer Price Index, lumberyards with manufacturing operations saw their revenues shoot up 58.6% in 2021 from the year before. This group—one of five subcategories tracked in the CS150—gets a lion’s share of its revenue from sales of framing lumber as well as from manufacturing wood-based components like trusses, wall panels, and custom molding. Thus, a huge amount of what these dealers stock sold for drastically more than it did just a few years ago. Other subgroups benefited from lumber, too; Lumber sales at The Home Depot rose 18% in the year ended Jan. 31, 2022, while at Lowe’s the lumber section’s revenue grew 16.5% and contributed one-fifth of the big box’s total revenue gain. But most other home centers and hardware stores don’t count on lumber as much to keep the doors open. As a result, overall sales for this subgroup increased just 11.1%. That’s half the increase that this same group achieved in 2020, when COVID struck and launched a home improvement boom. Meanwhile, specialty building dealers—companies that primarily sell non-lumber products, such as roofing, siding, and drywall—recorded a 26.5% gain in sales. Continued next page
PHONE: 800-289-5627
Read/Subscribe online at www.componentadvertiser.com
FAX: 800-524-4982