Home Depot and Lowe’s Doubling Down on Pro Business

With the overall new construction market, as well as big DIY projects still stalled, the two largest national chains are prioritizing the professional contractor sector. In reporting their most recent quarterly results—which together point to continuing tough conditions in the building trade—both Depot and Lowe’s said they see their pro sectors continuing to expand and […]

Japanese Giant Buying Up US Home Builders

Sumitomo Forestry’s latest acquisition is Tri Pointe Homes which it agreed to buy for $4.5 Billion. The Japanese firm, which traces its roots back to its original logging business started in 1691, paid a 29 percent premium for Tri Pointe. Publicly traded Tri Pointe Homes sold more than 6,400 units in 2024 and it’s just […]

As Pacific Palisades Rebounds, It’s Robots That Are Doing the Heavy Lifting

Barely 15 months since the wildfires that devastated tens of thousands of acres, the rebuilding process is in full swing. They are still counting up the toll, but between the Palisades fire and the nearby Eaton fire in California last January, 30 lives were lost and as many as 14,000 structures were destroyed over the […]

What It’s Like Living in Mass Timber in Brooklyn

After opening last year as New York City’s first mass timber structure, residents are settling into a new environment. The experience of living in the city’s first mass timber structure is driving a robust and growing conversation among current and future residents that is likely to impact future such developments. With that in mind, Metropolis, […]

Another 3D-Printed Housing Development in the Works in Texas

Zuri Gardens will eventually comprise 80 detached homes built from a combination of low-carbon concrete mixes. Developers around the country continue to experiment with 3D-printed homes, many of them in Texas. In Houston, the city’s first hybrid 3D-printed housing community is now taking shape. Zuri Gardens will be a “100-percent affordable” subdevelopment in the city’s […]

Ace Hardware Outperformance Encouraging for Building Trades

Record revenues for its fourth quarter and full year provide positive signs for the business going forward. The big national hardware cooperative reported consolidated revenues rose 9.9 percent to $2.5 billion for the three months ending Jan. 3. Total wholesale revenues were $2.3 billion, an increase of 10.0 percent compared to the prior year fourth […]

QXO Latest Deal Continues Its Building Products Ramp-up

With the acquisition of Kodiak as its latest deal, QXO is building on its plan to consolidate the highly fragmented building products industry. Kodiak is being acquired for $2 billion in cash and 13.2 million QXO shares. When the deal was announced, the total size of the transaction was estimated by QXO to be $2.25 […]

James Hardie Closing Two Facilities in Consolidation Move

The big building supply company is focusing on fewer, more efficient facilities going forward. The company said it is “taking steps to optimize its manufacturing footprint” and will close manufacturing facilities in Fontana, CA, and Summerville, SC, within the next 60 days. The sites’ manufacturing operations, which represent approximately 6 percent of the company’s year-to-date […]

Remembering Frank Gehry

He’ll always be more associated with metals like titanium but the famed architect has a long history working with wood. Gehry died in December at age 96 and will forever be known for his signature Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, along with the dozens and dozens of projects that followed, most of which used exotic […]

Home Depot Sees 5 to 6 Percent Growth Ahead

Short-term business conditions remain difficult but the big retail chain sees housing momentum returning. “Our Market Recovery Case reflects our performance expectations once we see momentum in housing activity and increased spend on larger projects driven by pent-up demand,” Richard McPhail, executive vice president and chief financial officer for Home Depot, told an investor and […]