Big 3 Roofing Companies Posted 31% Revenue Gain in ’22, Well Ahead of Lumberyards and Big-Box Home Centers, Webb Analytics’ Construction Supply 150 Finds

America’s three biggest roofing suppliers posted a combined $35.38 billion in revenue during 2022, 30.7% better than the year before, a new report finds.

Webb Analytics’ latest Construction Supply 150 (CS150) has ABC Supply posting 2022 revenue of $18.5 billion, up 25.9% from 2021. Meanwhile, SRS Distribution reported a 51.5% gain to $8.72 billion and Beacon Building Products posted a 23.6% increase to $8.16 billion. Those results put ABC Supply in fourth place out of the 150 construction supply companies listed in the report, while SRS was 9th and Beacon 10th.

Those revenues are for U.S. operations only and include sales by non-roofing operations. This is particularly true for SRS, which has both landscaping and pool supply divisions, and for ABC Supply, whose L&W Supply division is one of the nation’s biggest drywall specialty chains. Beacon’s holdings include a distribution company, Dealers Choice, that sells both private-label and other manufacturers’ products.

The three roofing companies’ 30.7% gain put the trio way ahead of the performance by the nation’s biggest lumberyards, which recorded an 18.1% increase. The three also did nearly 10 times better than Home Centers and Hardware Stores on the list, including The Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menards. That subgroup rose just 3.3%. The entire CS150 rose 9.5%.

How did the Big Three grow so much compared with the others? Webb Analytics finds two big reasons: Store growth and lumber.

ABC, SRS and Beacon together acquired 97 locations and opened 68 others last year, thus providing billions in revenue they didn’t have in 2021. Of those, 60 of the acquisitions as well as 60 of the Greenfield openings were roofing operations.

Meanwhile, the lumber price rocket, propelled lumberyards to a 59% revenue rise in 2021, began to plummet in 2022.

“Prices paid at the mill for major lumber species dropped 62% to 73% between January and December last year,” noted Craig Webb, President of Webb Analytics and CS150’s author. Much of the CS15 was affected — even giants like The Home Depot, which posted only a 4.3% rise in 2022, partly because its lumber sales rose 0.8% in 2022 compared with 18% a year before.”

The entire 58-page PDF report is available for download at https://www.webb-analytics.com.

Some of these numbers might differ from what CS150 companies have reported publicly because the report separates members’ activity in Canada and Mexico. Beacon’s Canadian stores took in an estimated US$269.3 million, a 23.4% gain. ABC Supply didn’t own any Canadian stores until November 2022, so it doesn’t have any Canadian revenue yet..SRS is solely U.S.-based.

The CS150 collects data for most but not all of the biggest building material suppliers, but it isn’t an exact list of the nation’s 150 biggest dealers because some private companies decline to reveal their numbers. Webb Analytics estimates the entire construction supply market has risen to $615 billion. Based on that estimate, the CS150 companies account for two-thirds of the total.

About Webb Analytics

Webb Analytics is a data and research consultancy that helps executives in construction supply spot the trends, threats, and opportunities that matter most. It’s led by Craig Webb, one of the nation’s best-known industry figures and the former editor-in-chief of ProSales, the construction supply industries most honored publication. Aside from the Construction Supply 150, Webb Analytics also produces an annual deals report, consults with dealers, publishes research reports, and speaks at industry events. Contact him at cwebb@webb-analytics.com.