A mid-year update from the president of CBUSA

Entering 2023, we braced for a significant falloff in production activity due to high interest rates. We prepared for the opportunities we knew the market would provide by focusing on vendor acquisition, national contract partnerships and increased engagement with builders. Here’s what we’re seeing in each of these areas:

Vendor acquisition:

• The slowdown in production has provided us a unique opportunity to recruit new local suppliers.
• In the first five months of this year, we added 181 local vendors to the network – a 35% increase over last year.
• Key categories seeing the most improvement include supply houses, trusses, window and doors, countertops, roofing suppliers and flooring.

National contract partnerships:

• On a national level, we’ve secured five new contract partnerships in key categories that we hadn’t been able to get in the last couple years as well as one renewal contract.
  • Ply Gem
  • Ferguson Lighting
  • GAF
  • RTIC Outdoors
  • Emser Tile
  • Schlage
• Critical categories include roofing, vinyl windows and lighting.
• We anticipate bringing a few more key contracts in the second half of 2023.

Engagement with existing partnerships:

• Our team has remained focused on increased engagement with our builders. Through one-on-ones, we’re helping members transition to suppliers and manufacturers that will provide better service and increased cost savings.
• An analysis of new contracts is revealing significant savings for builders. This is leading to more members transitioning to CBUSA’s preferred local vendors and national brand partners.
• The best time to consider a transition to a new supplier is during a slowdown like the one we’re currently in.

Looking forward to what’s to come

The end of Q2 looks promising, with signs of increased activity as homeowners adapt to higher interest rates. We’re also making progress on the addition of four new markets to further expand our reach and network strength.

Based on the combined number of closings by our builders in 2022, CBUSA ranked within the top 10 of the Builder 100 list for 2023. For context, CBUSA ended with 13,000 closings and $9 billion in revenue in 2022. This means as a united group, our members are performing at the same level as national builders.

I’m looking forward to the second half of the year and all the opportunities it’ll bring.