The PS20

Paul Hylbert

Paul Hylbert Illustration: Lane Dupont Executive status at Wickes, PrimeSource, Lanoga, and now ProBuild. Leadership roles in two of LBM’s biggest associations. Responsibility today for 13,000 employees at 470+ locations. Arguably, no one has been bigger in the building materials industry over the past 20 years than Paul Hylbert, and nobody matters more now. His operation stands the best chance of becoming the first truly national building material dealer. And while ProBuild isn’t the category-killer The Home Depot was for retail-oriented lumberyards, it is viewed with concern by independents from Florida to Alaska, particularly those in metro markets where ProBuild is staking its future. Such concern is valid when competing with a guy whose slight build belies his status as a three-time college football letterman, and whose first yardstick for measuring a ProBuild yard is by how much it’s beating the opposition.

–Craig Webb

Random Lengths

We dare you to name a more influential source of information within the dealer community than Random Lengths, the Eugene, Ore.-based service that provides prices for about 1,600 lumber products. In a business where turning a profit hinges in large part on buying commodities at a better price than your competitor, Random Lengths’ books and newsletters provide the benchmarks used by everyone in the industry, from bankers and dealers to mill execs and tree farmers. Random Lengths earns such respect in part by closely guarding its independence, choosing to forgo advertising revenue in favor of subscription dollars. Also, the company has never forecast prices. Some complain Random Lengths’ numbers are more of a rough guide than a true picture of what’s happening, but they still rely on the reports. At least one mill, preferring to leave dealers in the dark, fought the creation of a yardstick devoted to one of its products. –Andy Carlo

Cordless Power Tools

Computers have lots in common with cordless power tools. Both got big boosts from the government (the military for computers, NASA for cordless tools) in their infancy, both at first were big, clumsy and laughably underpowered, and both evolved steadily and rapidly to transform how people do business. Now, thanks to lithium-ion batteries, the race to produce lighter, faster, and stronger tools shows no signs of slowing. But the cordless tools saga is about marketing as well as technology. Years ago, a builder’s toolbag might contain several different brands, with each manufacturer known primarily for making a particular tool. But then Black & Decker revived the DeWalt brand name and began pushing a robust array of cordless tools–all of them with interchangeable batteries. That encouraged builders to start buying suites of tools, particularly from DeWalt. And that, in turn, forced the other manufacturers to sell a wider variety of goods.

–Craig Webb

Going Mobile

When Martin Cooper, a Motorola researcher, made his first hand-held mobile phone call in a lab in 1973, he was about to change how the world runs. He certainly affected LBMs. Mobile phones and Blackberry-type devices radically changed how salesmen could reach their contractor customers, check on a delivery, or change orders on the fly. It was no longer necessary for a new job site to install a landline or for remodelers to borrow a homeowner’s phone. Pro customers could place an order directly from the job site; some dealers joke that they get a new call each time a builder enters a room. Mobile devices and cell phones allowed drivers to snap photos of products as delivered to the site and give the sales desk the ability to track the progress of a delivery, thus ensuring efficiency and quality service. The mobile revolution also permitted LBM executives to check e-mails and appointments with greater ease, whether on their way to the office or getting off an airplane.

–Andy Carlo