According to recent NAHB surveys, specialty retailers, lumber yards, and wholesale distributors are the primary sources for building products, collectively accounting for about 70% of purchases by both builders and remodelers. Lumber yards are particularly favored for structural materials like plywood, sawn lumber, and engineered wood products. Notably, remodelers are three times more likely than builders to shop at home improvement centers, especially for hand and power tools, which are commonly purchased by both groups at these outlets.
NAHB explains one major difference between builders and remodelers was the share of those who purchase products from home improvement centers. Remodelers are three times as likely to buy products at this channel of distribution compared to builders. Nevertheless, one specific product category, hand & power tools, is purchased at home improvement centers by a majority of both remodelers (68%) and builders (56%). Of those that do purchase hand & power tools at home improvement centers, 11% of remodelers purchased at least one other product there compared to 3% of builders.
