For Kodiak, a ProDealer of the Year award
It all started in 2011 as an idea to invest in a steel fabricator with loads of potential just outside of Denver.
Over the ensuing years, and following a disciplined path of rolling up a collection of businesses in LBM and distribution, Kodiak Building Partners has grown to well over 100 locations in 25 states. Mixed in with all of its business decisions during that span was a core principle: to maintain a fiercely local approach that honors the proud, family-business legacies associated with these trades.
That impressive growth, along with a commitment to the values of the industry, combined to carry Highlands Ranch, Colorado-based Kodiak Building Partners to a new distinction: It’s the 2023 ProDealer of the Year.
The annual ProDealer of the Year award, selected by the editors of HBSDealer in concert with the National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association, is designed to recognize a high-performance lumberyard with a commitment to best practices and the best values of the lumber and building material industry.
“We founded Kodiak with a vision to create a culture that empowers local leaders to succeed in the communities they serve,” said Kodiak CEO Steve Swinney. “So this award is fitting recognition for our continued focus on empowering our operators in a locally led organization that honors the legacy of the great independent operators who built our industry.”
The chief executive added: “Congratulations go entirely to the 6,100 incredible members of our team across the country who serve their communities every day and collaborate to be ‘better tomorrow than we were today.’”
You can see this continual-improvement approach at work in the operations of market leaders from Zarsky Lumber in Texas to Goodrich Lumber of Massachusetts. And from Sunrise Builders Supply of Mississippi and Tennessee to home town Direct Lumber and Door in metro Denver, to name a few.
The ProDealer of the Year award ceremony will be one of the highlights of the annual ProDealer Industry Summit – held this year in Kansas City Oct. 4-6.
The Summit is co-hosted by HBSDealer and the NLBMDA.
“I was extremely impressed by all the lumber and building material dealers I spoke with at NLBMDA’s Spring Meeting and Legislative Conference this year,” Swinney said. “The industry continues to be defined by the driven, entrepreneurial businesses that are essential to the customers they serve in small towns and major cities from coast to coast.”
The upcoming ProDealer of the Year Award ceremony will also recognize the Independent ProDealer of the Year, Hilltop Lumber of western Minnesota.
For more information about the 2023 ProDealer Industry Summit, click here.
