Maine Competitors
Only a few of the 2019 ProSales 100 have locations in Maine. That type of tightknit market means you’re interacting and competing with people you know on a regular basis and you’re as likely to discuss the result of a youth baseball game as you are the big builder rumored to come to town.
“My job as president is to be in tune with all of our markets, which is pretty much the state of Maine,” Hammond says. “I want to do the state of Maine well and so I need to know from lumberyards to customers to employees to wholesalers to manufacturers, I need to have my hand on the pulse of all those important groups.”
With such a dedication to networking, it’s only natural that talk of big dealers breaking into the state comes up. The last decade has seen some of the biggest consolidations in LBM history, and it’s always a concern for smaller dealers when a national chain comes to town. For Hammond, this means a strategy of proactive growth. It meant taking the knowledge that EBS was being run by a management trust of key employees with no real succession plan and reaching out. It meant laying the seeds over a period of five or six years, just having casual conversation about what the future of EBS looked like. And, ultimately, it meant acquiring EBS and expanding Hammond Lumber’s reach to the entire state of Maine.
The EBS Acquisition
From the perspective of many EBS employees, the acquisition by Hammond was a complete surprise. EBS was successful, ranking 80th on the 2018 ProSales 100 list.
“There was an ownership team at EBS and it was upper management people,” says Hannah Colson, CFO at EBS at the time of the acquisition and currently CFO at Hammond. “I think it was five originally and it was down to three. The general population just kind of expected that to just continue and hadn’t really thought about a change like this. When we made the announcement, it was a big shock to many.”
Part of that shock came from the tight lid that Mike and his team were able to keep on the discussions. After years of going through the process, they had learned where leaks commonly came from and were able to avoid news of the decision leaking out. On June 27, 2018, the acquisition was made public and the team at Hammond put into place its proven strategy for making everything go as smoothly as possible: Do nothing.
That’s an oversimplification, but for the most part, the former EBS branches were able to continue with business as usual. Instead of forcing a change right away, Mike and his leadership team took the time to sell the change to their new employees. Handouts were printed introducing the new employees to the Hammond family and frequently asked questions were answered so employees could bring something home to share with family members.
“Mike also had all these one-on-one meetings,” Colson says. “I don’t think he met with every single employee, but it certainly felt pretty darn close! Anybody that wanted to was certainly invited to have a meeting and it was really incredible that Mike took the time to do that. Looking him in the eye and shaking his hand and hearing how much he valued each person was really great for all the new employees.”
Hammond Lumber Company's acquisitions from 1953 - 2018. | ||||||||
1953 | 1983 | 1989 | 1997 | 2002 | 2010 | 2011 | 2014 | 2018 |
| Hammond Lumber was founded by Mike's grandfather, Clifton "Skip" Hammond. | Starbird Lumber in Farmington after a fire | Peter-Allen Lumber in Lewiston-Auburn | Fairfield Lumber in Fairfield | Former Wickers location in Bangor | Downeast Building Supply in Brunswick | Poole Brothers and New England Building Materials, adding three locations | Assets of Dexter Supply in Wilton | EBS Building Supplies, adding 10 locations |
