Developing a positive reputation can take years or even decades of hard work. Some of the biggest companies in the world spend millions of dollars to emphasize that they “think different” to their customers. In the LBM world, a bad reputation can be the death knell for any dealer. Relationships between dealers and builders matter, so much so that one poor experience could be the domino that fells a formerly successful titan.
Hammond Lumber Co., headquartered in Belgrade, Maine, has developed a reputation as being the go-to dealer for other dealers to sell their business to. Since its first acquisition in 1983, the company has slowly but surely climbed the ranks of the ProSales 100 list, culminating with the 2018 acquisition of EBS Building Supplies, which helped its annual revenue soar 54.6% to $252 million. The acquisition brought 10 locations and roughly 320 employees under the Hammond banner, and launched the company to number 25 on the 2019 ProSales 100.
Perhaps most impressively, the acquisition went incredibly smoothly. CEO Mike Hammond attributes this to a team that’s been through acquisitions and has had the chance to complete the process again and again.
“EBS and the acquisition of 10 branches has been our largest acquisition to date. I felt very comfortable with it because we have a very experienced team with which we have done many acquisitions before. We all have mental telepathy with one another. When one acquisition comes to fruition, our ops guy, our inventory person, our human resources, we all know what we’ve got to do because we’ve done it six times before,” Hammond says.
That major acquisition, Hammond’s successful ERP conversion to Epicor’s BisTrack, and an award-winning safety program have all added up to secure Hammond Lumber Co. as ProSales’ 2020 Dealer of the Year.
