Pie chart showing market share of building material suppliers, 2017
ProSales research

The ProSales 100's growth in 2017 not only outpaced its Big Box rivals but also helped the LBM sector to a slightly larger share of the overall building material and supplies markets, ProSales calculations indicate.

The $55.9 billion in revenue by ProSales 100 dealers in 2017 represents 17.2% of the $325.9 billion that the U.S. Census Bureau estimates all building material and supplies dealers sold. That's one percentage point better than in 2016.

Revenue reports by The Home Depot and Lowe's suggest they accounted for 31.0% and 21.0%, respectively of the market last year. The other big box of note, Menards, is estimated by Forbes to have generated $9.5 billion in sales in 2017, so that would give it 2.9% of the market.

Deduct the totals for the PS100 and those retail giants from the total and it appears that all other building material and supplies dealers--including all independent LBM dealers and home centers--held a 27.9% market share in 2017, down from 28.5% a year before. Here are the totals for each group and their percentage change from 2016.

Sales ($blns)
2017 2016 % Change
ProSales 100 $55.9 $49.4 13.2%
Other Dealers $91.0 $86.9 4.7%
Home Depot $100.9 $94.6 6.7%
Lowe's $68.6 $65.0 5.5%
Menards $9.5 $8.7 9.2%
All Sales $325.9 $304.6 7.0%

The $325.9 billion Census estimate excludes sales by hardware stores and paint stores.

In terms of market share, here are the numbers in table form:

2017 2016
ProSales 100 17.2% 16.2%
Other Dealers 27.9% 28.5%
Home Depot 31.0% 31.1%
Lowe's 21.0% 21.3%
Menards 2.9% 2.9%

As with a lot of market share numbers, this one needs some asterisks. First, the fiscal years for both Home Depot and Lowe's finish at or near the end of January, so the 2017 numbers we're using include sales from January 2018. Second, the Census Bureau won't report final sales numbers for 2017 until next spring, so the overall total could change. And third, we're relying on Forbes' estimate of how Menards did.