Scott Cannon cEo, Bigrentz
The pandemic led to a rise to improve the home, with millions of North -Americans who paid money on DIY projects and updates. These projects have led to a sales leap for some of the largest home improvement chains in the country, but in recent years that the frenzy has cooled, or perhaps more precisely, has evolved.
With high household prices and stubborn mortgage rates that the owners keep in place, many choose to renew, often in ways that add square images, build additional housing units or kitchens and bathroom baths. These types of jobs are large, which require professional contractors.
This change has not gone unnoticed by the industry. Home Depot and Lowe, the two largest retailers of world -home improvement, are now making bets on $ 1 billion to capture the professional market share (“Pro”). From distribution network acquisitions to enlarged loyalty programs, these companies are repositioned not only as stores for homeowners, but as essential partners for contractors.
Here is why the one who owns the “Pro” $ 450 million will owe the next one to the retail construction.
Prioritize professionals
Why are the pros is so critical? One of the key reasons is the frequency of purchase and the size of the ticket: many professional contractors make frequent, repeat in bulk purchases, which provides a much larger part of the store volume than the occasional trip by a DIY.
Another reason why professionals are so important for retailers are stability and margins. While consumer moods can fluctuate, affecting DIY spending, professional work tends to be more constant and provide retailers of more resistant revenue. Even during market falls, many contractors are constantly occupied, including repairs or insurance paid jobs, such as replacing the socket and soil after a water leak. To this, the purchases of contractors often have better margins, as professionals care more about the reliability and quality than to pursue the lowest price. In short, the benefits are the customers who spend the most, often return and stick, making them central to the growth of any retailer.
Stats do this. Professional contractors are already promoting a disproportionate income. At Home Depot, professional customers only make up about 10% of the customer base, but represent about half of all sales. Lowe’s, historically more focused on DIY, reports a smaller professional mix (around 20-25% of sales), but says that the figure is growing. In the first quarter of 2025, Lowe even saw sales sales sales of pro.
Mergers and acquisitions as a signal
Nothing indicates a strategic priority, such as billions of dollars in acquisitions.
Lately, the big chains have been in a purchase purchase for companies that are used for professionals. Last year, Home Depot announced a massive acquisition of $ 18.25 million SRS distribution (its greatest agreement ever), as well as a $ 4.3 billion agreement to acquire GMS from the construction product distributor. The acquisition of SRS was only folded in about 760 branches across the country, massively expanding the scope of Home Depot to specialized working materials and adding about $ 50 billion estimated to the man’s management market.
In order not to let go, Lowe made its own agreement of $ 8.8 billion to acquire foundation building materials, a dry land wall distributor, insulation and other interior construction supplies. This agreement provides more than 370 Lowe distribution centers and access to 40,000 new professional clients through the company network. This is a massive investment aimed at strengthening the Lowe contractor business.
These are huge structural bets on professional domain. The message is clear: consolidation in the professional supply chain is not a trend of passage, but is the next battlefield.
The Saas Playbook: Enterprise Over Consumer
This change in retail construction reflects the evolution of software from consumer applications to business solutions. SAAS companies have long learned that business customers can often deliver the value of consumers’ lives, not only through larger sizes, but also through multiannual contracts that are often paid in advance. That is, business accounts are more profitable, more predictable and a better basis for long -term growth than pursuing millions of individual users.
For the retail sale of construction, the benefits are the “business accounts” of the improvement of the home. Serving them requires a more intensive approach to service, but once secured, they are loyal and enormously valuable.
This loyalty does not automatically come. The advantages expect representations of dedicated accounts, commercial credit lines, priority service, mass prices and digital tools to manage projects. Home Depot and Lowe have responded with loyalty programs and technology offers that mimic Enterprise Saas relationships.
Like important, retailers are starting to deploy business quality technology to serve professionals at scale. This means that the tools that simplify complex hiring, automate the coordination of the sellers and say that the materials arrive exactly when and where they are needed. By incorporating intelligence in these work flows, platforms can take costs and frictions from all projects and, in order to do so, become indispensable partners to contractors.
The future is professional
The Pro Services market is not only great, it is to redefine the operation of the industry. To go after this opportunity, the chains of large boxes are remodeling in hybrid distributors in the detailed-whatolesale, more deeply embedding the daily work of the contractors.
This is not a trend that happens: it is a reestablishment. The billions of acquisitions and technology make it clear that the actual contest is not the one who sells the most painting on weekend Diyers. This is who becomes the ideal platform for professionals. Whoever arrives will first shape the next was the construction of the retail.
Scott Cannon is the CEO of Bigrentz, A construction contracting software company.
