Taking the Reins
The expansion of the satellite showrooms comes at a time when Holmes Building Materials’ ownership is transitioning from John to Matthew. The father-son handoff is scheduled to take place in 2018, a time Matthew has been preparing for since childhood. Matthew graduated college in 2007 and served as a superintendent for a building company as way to get experience on “the other side of the desk.”
“It was a great experience, and I learned a lot,” he said.
In 2011, Matthew came back to the family business and started in outside sales, putting to use his knowledge of building construction. He has since worked in other departments and in recent years has taken on an operations leadership role as he prepares to take over as the fourth-generation owner.
The business was first established in 1959 by Matthew’s great-grandfather, Phillip and grandfather, Mike. At that time, the business was known as Holmes Brick and Salvage. The father and son team would buy dilapidated old buildings, demolish them and re-sell the brick, beams and windows.
John Holmes got into the business while attending college in the 1980s. As he took on a bigger role, great-grandfather Phillip stepped aside. Around the mid-80s, as customers who bought the repurposed materials also began to ask for new products, John helped transition the business from Holmes Brick and Salvage to Holmes Building Materials. He also helped strengthen the company’s focus on new construction.
“Some of the guys dad went to college with were some of our first contractor customers,” Matthew said.
The original Holmes Building Materials still sits on the same site as when it was known as Holmes Brick and Salvage. While the yard was once located on the outskirts of town, it is now surrounded by Baton Rouge growth. Even though the store has 8,000 square feet of hardware store and 60,000 square feet of shed space, a good number of builder customers never see the lumberyard, Matthew said. The lumberyard’s customers are split evenly between pro builders and commercial contracts. “Most have never been to the store. They have an outside salesman who waits on them, and there is no reason for them to be in the store.”
Holmes Building Materials opened a second store in Denham Springs, La., in 2005, just a few months before Hurricane Katrina hit the area. The Denham Springs location is much more residential-based and tends to fluctuate with the housing market, Matthew said. Together, the two lumberyards often balance each other out. When one is experiencing lower sales levels, the other tends to pick up the slack.
