Oct 24, 2012 3 min read

As 84 Lumber Co. prepares to open a new store in South Fayette Township Friday, the company finds itself in far better financial shape than it has for several years. “We will be profitable this year,” said company spokesman Jeff Nobers during a telephone interview this week. After feeling the head-on effects of the national housing collapse that started in the second half of 2007, then lingered for five years, 84 Lumber, the country’s largest privately held supplier of building materials, is finally seeing a welcome improvement to its bottom line. According to Nobers, annualized sales for 2012 are at $1.6 billion, up by $200 million over last year. “We’re looking at this as a watershed year,” he said, noting that the company has a positive focus on 2013 and 2014. While 84 Lumber now has half the stores that it had before the downturn – 251 versus 500 at the peak of the home building boom prior to 2007 – it’s encouraged by what it sees in the marketplace. Its positive year reflects some equally upbeat national readings on builder sentiment and new home starts. Last week, the U.S. Commerce Department said builders broke ground on homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 872,000 in September, a 15 percent increase from August. Applications for building permits, an indicator of future construction, jumped nearly 12 percent to an annual rate of 894,000, the highest since July 2008. Home construction is 82.5 percent higher than the recession low of April 2009. While activity is still well below the 1.5 million rate considered to be a healthy building year, the surge in construction suggest builders believe the housing rebound is sustainable. While home starts are important, Nobers said the most promising statistic is in the increase in building permits being issued across the country. “Home starts (is business that has) already happened for us; building permits are what’s going to happen,” he said. He added that another positive sign is that more lumber mills and drywall plants are reopening in various parts of the country. Back in the Pittsburgh region, 84 Lumber constructed its new store, a two-story model with a showroom and warehouse at 8400 Presto-Sygan Road, to serve the Bridgeville and South Fayette area. It replaces an older store that will be taken down to make way for an entrance to Newbury Market, a town center retail development taking shape just off the Bridgeville exit of Interstate 79. According to Nobers, 84 Lumber is supplying materials to Newbury, a planned residential community of about 400 single-family and townhomes being developed behind Newbury Market. He said the project is an example of the steady growth of the residential real estate market here. “This region never boomed, it never busted, but we’ve seen steady growth here,” he said.