By Pepper Fisher
SEQUIM – Thomas Building Center in Sequim has been acquired by Kodiak Building Partners, an Englewood, Colorado-based principal investment firm. The transaction took effect on July 1.
Kodiak Building Partners describes themselves as an acquisition firm specializing in acquiring and supporting locally owned and operated building materials companies.
Thomas Building Center has been in business for more than 50 years.
Tony Steinman, President of the company, says the customer experience hasn’t changed with the new owners.
“If you would have never seen the press release you would have never known, because nothing changes on the front end. The only thing that changes is some back office reporting procedures, banking and things of that nature. But our sign isn’t changing. It’s still Thomas Building Center.”
Founded in 1972 by Rand and Vern Thomas as a modest lumber yard, Thomas eventually grew to become a foundational construction supply company in the downtown area. And even though Rand Thomas is no longer the owner, he approves of the sale and believes it will be good for the employees.
“It’s great that that group bought it. They own a lot of lumber yards, and they just let the lumber yards pretty much do what they were doing. They try to buy family-owned, successful yards, and try to keep the management, and try to keep all the same employees, and go forward with it. If they let the same group we have there stay there, they’ll do fine. We have a great group of employees.”
Thomas Building Center also operates “Power by Thomas,” a power equipment and Stihl dealer, and “Rentals by Thomas,” a tool rental shop. Steinman says the new owners have indicated they intend to expand the tool rental offerings, and the fact that Kodiak owns more than 140 lumber stores means they have some extra buying power and new vendors that he can explore to potentially expose customers to some new product lines.
As for the employees of Thomas, Steinman says that’s a win, too.
“One thing I will say about Kodiak is that their benefits package is superior to what we offered, and we were top of the food chain with what we were offering. But, a little bit more PTO, they have a great medical plan, 401K, lots of good things to offer with regards to that. So, that was a big benefit to the employees there.”