ProBuild, America's second-biggest pro-oriented construction supply company, announced today it is closing 20 of its roughly 470 locations nationwide "in an effort to align our business with current market needs."

E-mails from ProBuild to ProSales announcing the closures did not list which 20 facilities were affected, but ProSales has been able to identify these locations:

  • Jackson, Wis. Plans for that closure became public earlier this week when ProBuild gave notice to the state of Wisconsin regarding its plans to shut the Jackson facility, located 30 miles northwest of Milwaukee.
  • Jacksonville, Fla. ProBuild's website says this location consists of a lumberyard, gypsum yard, a door/millwork manufacturing unit, a door and window showroom, a design center, and a commercial sales office.
  • Sequim, Wash. A lumberyard only.
  • Augusta, Ga. A lumberyard only.
  • Poway, Calif. This facility has a lumbeyard, showroom, door/millwork manufacturing unit, and commercial sales office. It will be consolidated with another facility in San Diego.
  • Phoenix This site had a lumberyard and components manufacturing plant.
  • Cottonwood, Ariz. This facility had a lumberyard, gypsum yard, and a showroom.

The other closures "include an assortment of lumber yards, component facilities, gypsum yards, and millwork facilities in both large and small markets," ProBuild said in one e-mail. In another, it described the action as involving "a small number of facilities in markets where customer demand no longer requires multiple locations or where market demand does not exist." ProBuild posted $3.2 billion in sales last year, down 27% from 2008, while the number of facilities it managed dropped from 505 at year-end 2008 to 474 at year-end 2009. The company has been hurt particularly hard by the slump in new home construction since 2005.

ProBuild had been the nation's biggest pro-oriented dealer on the ProSales 100 lists for 2006 through 2009, but earlier this year it was pushed down a notch when ABC Supply, the previous No. 2, acquired then-No. 4 Bradco Supply.

On Aug. 23, chief operating officer Bill Myrick took over as ProBuild's chief executive officer of ProBuild, succeeding Paul Hylbert, who had run the company since January 2007.