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Tag: Building Materials

The Reset is Real: What Building Materials Hiring Looks Like Right Now

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

May 28th, 2026

A monthly read on hiring across LBM, distribution, manufacturing, and private equity, straight from the SnapDragon desk. For clients and candidates.

The hiring market in building materials has shifted. If offers feel harder to land lately, you are reading the market correctly.

Companies moving deeper into 2026 are more selective and more intentional about who they hire. The rushed processes, inflated comp packages, and name-your-number environments that defined the last few cycles have slowed considerably. Candidates are running smarter searches. Companies are interviewing harder. The conversations that turn into hires look nothing like they did 12 months ago.

That is not a problem. It is a recalibration. The companies and candidates who adjust to it move forward. The ones still operating by 2022 rules stall. Here is what we are hearing across the desk, every week, in real searches.

Market PulseIndustry Brief

You already know the headlines. M&A is accelerating, suppliers keep pushing price increases, single-family demand is soft, and earnings pressure is real for the distributors most exposed to new construction.

Read past the headlines, and the operational picture is what matters. Acquisition fatigue is pushing good people into the market. Margin pressure is changing the kind of commercial talent companies want. Soft demand is reshaping where they are willing to add headcount at all. That is the context. The rest of this is what we see happening because of it.

By the NumbersThree Numbers We Keep Coming Back To

8 in 10
Firms still cannot fill their salaried roles. The shortage did not go away. It compounded.
Low Single Digits
Where wage growth has settled, down hard from the double-digit swings of 2024.
10 Days
The decision window strong candidates now expect. That is our number, from our searches.

Candidate IntelligenceCandidates Are Not Chasing Jobs. They Are Escaping Problems.

This is the single most important pattern we are seeing on the candidate side, and the one most companies are still missing in how they position their roles.

Most mid-level and senior candidates we speak with right now are not looking for an upgrade. They are leaving a specific problem behind. Ask the right follow-up questions and the same answers come back, repeatedly.

  • Benefits are shrinking. Health-plan changes, retirement contribution cuts, PTO compression. Small individually, additive over time.
  • More responsibility, no upside. Scope expanded over the last 18 months. Comp, title, and authority did not follow.
  • No clear growth path. A ceiling that became visible. The person above them is not leaving, and the role above does not exist yet.
  • Acquisition fatigue. The third reorg in two years. New ownership, new leadership, new metrics. The job they took is no longer the job they have.
  • Leadership turnover. The person they joined for is gone, and the culture they came for left with them.
  • Culture shifts. The pace, the priorities, the way decisions get made changed. They did not.
  • Do-more-with-less burnout. Headcount cut without changing the process. Same work, fewer people, longer hours.
  • Stability concerns. Soft division performance. Layoffs at peers. Quiet signals from the top. They are getting out before they have to.

When a candidate says they are open to a move, we do not take it at face value. We dig until we find the real reason they are having the conversation at all. That answer tells you everything about their commitment and what is driving them.

The implication for hiring companies is direct. If your opportunity does not visibly solve the specific problem the candidate is escaping, compensation alone will not bring them across the line.

Candidates running from acquisition fatigue need to see leadership stability before they see a base number. Candidates absorbing scope creep need role definition before they weigh variable comp. Candidates burned out on do-more-with-less need to see real operational investment before they trust the growth story. Solve the actual problem first. Then have the compensation conversation.

Client IntelligenceCompanies Are Not Panic-Hiring. The Name-Your-Number Era Is Over.

On the company side, the urgency that produced inflated offers and compressed timelines over the last two years has cooled. Companies are moving with more deliberation, asking harder questions about long-term fit, cultural alignment, and what a candidate will build before stretching the comp envelope.

That is not bad news for candidates. It is a healthier process. It requires a recalibration of expectations set in a fundamentally different cycle.

The compensation conversation is still happening. It is just different. Strong talent is still being paid strong numbers. The days of companies bidding wildly against each other for every qualified person are leveling out, but decisive, realistic, genuinely aligned candidates are still closing offers in line with current market data.

Where things stall is the candidate who walked in expecting a 25-to-30 percent jump because that is what the market allowed 18 months ago. Companies are no longer rushing to meet that. They are taking a much harder look at value, fit, stability, and impact first.

The Bigger PictureThe Talent Paradox: Slower Hiring, Same Shortage

Here is what makes this market unusual. Hiring has slowed, but the underlying talent shortage has not. It has compounded. Roughly eight in ten firms still report difficulty filling salaried roles, and the industry needs hundreds of thousands of net new workers over the next two years. The math did not get easier. It got harder.

At the same time, building materials is staring down a decade-in-the-making wave of retirements. The institutional-knowledge layer, the people who know the customers, the regional dynamics, and the supplier relationships, is starting to step out. Companies that never built an internal development pipeline are about to feel that gap acutely.

This is not the candidate’s market people think it still is. It is not a buyer’s market either. It is a precision market.

The companies that hire well will outperform. The ones that wait it out will fall behind on bench depth. They cannot rebuild in a recovery.

What’s WorkingThe Companies Winning Right Now Share a Profile

Across the searches we have closed in the last 90 days, a consistent pattern shows up at the companies landing the candidates everyone else is chasing. It is not about being the biggest, best-known, or highest-paying. It is five things, applied consistently.

01Clear expectations

Communicated early, repeated in the offer, documented in writing. The candidate knows exactly what they are walking into.

02Strong, stable leadership

The candidate meets leadership, finds it credible, and sees it staying. Stability is now a closing tool.

03A real opportunity

Not language about growth. A defined path, timeline, and next role. Specific beats inspirational.

04Consistency

How the company shows up in the first conversation matches the fifth. No bait-and-switch on scope, comp, reporting line, or culture.

05Active investment in the existing team

The candidate sees a company investing in the people already there. That signals the offer they get today will still be true in two years.

People want a reason to stay before they need a reason to leave. The companies that understand this are the same ones still attracting the candidates everyone else is also trying to reach.

Action ItemsWhat This Means for You

If You Are a Candidate

  • The companies worth joining are still hiring. They are more selective, not closed.
  • Be able to articulate precisely what problem you are leaving. Vague answers stall.
  • Recalibrate to current market data, not the 2022 peak. Decisive and realistic candidates land the role. Inflated and tentative ones stall.
  • Lead with what this role solves for you, not just what you bring to it.
  • If your current employer is the problem, decide whether you are leaving or negotiating. Going to market to extract a counteroffer is the fastest way to burn your reputation.

If You Are a Client

  • Compensation will not save a process that has not built real conviction in the candidate.
  • Lead with leadership stability, role clarity, and growth path. Comp confirms the offer. It does not open the conversation.
  • Move with urgency. A 10-day decision window is now the standard, not the exception.
  • Treat the candidate’s reason for leaving as a hiring signal, not a credential check. If you cannot solve their problem, the offer will not land, regardless of the number.
  • Invest in the team you already have. Retention is now a hiring strategy. People stay when they have a reason to, not when they cannot find an exit.

Closing ThoughtWhat to Take Into June

The market may be tougher. In many ways it is becoming healthier. Great candidates are still getting hired. Strong companies are still growing. The businesses that communicate clearly, move with urgency, and stay intentional are the ones winning.

The strongest hires of the next 12 months will happen at companies that lead with clarity, move with conviction, and treat hiring as a strategic function rather than a transactional one. The candidates who land the best offers will be the ones who can say exactly why they are moving and what they want next, without hedging.

If you have an open search, a stalled offer, or a key seat you are about to backfill, the hiring conversation in building materials is different from what it was 12 months ago. Our market intelligence covers compensation, candidate availability, and the real reasons people are moving across LBM, distribution, manufacturing, and private equity.

Let’s Talk →

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail · Construction

From the Ashes of Inner – Seal

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

May 21st, 2026

How Louisiana-Pacific turned a catastrophic product failure into one of the industry’s great comeback stories, and what it says about the character of the people who build America.

Case Study · Building MaterialsThe Fall: When Inner-Seal Failed

In the early 1990s, Louisiana-Pacific Corporation was riding high. The company was among the largest wood products manufacturers in North America, and its Inner-Seal OSB siding was flying off distributors’ shelves. Builders loved the price point. Homeowners loved the look. What no one anticipated was what would happen next.

Inner-Seal lap siding began failing at alarming rates across the country. The product was an oriented strand board siding treated to resist moisture, and it proved deeply vulnerable to exactly the thing it was supposed to repel. Water infiltrated edges, seams, and cut ends. Siding swelled, buckled, and rotted. In some cases, it failed within just a few years of installation.

The scale of the problem was staggering. Hundreds of thousands of homes were affected. Class action lawsuits mounted in state after state. The company’s reputation was in freefall. Contractors who had staked their own reputations on recommending the product felt burned. Distributors were caught in the crossfire.

$375M+
The settlement LP paid out in 1996, one of the largest class action cases in building products history. LP’s stock cratered. The building press wrote the company’s eulogy more than once.

The failure was not just in the siding. It was a test of what the company and the industry were truly made of. And yet, rather than fold, Louisiana-Pacific made a decision that would define its next quarter-century. It went back to work.

AccountabilityThe Reckoning: Accountability Before Reinvention

What separated LP from companies that simply collapse under the weight of failure was its willingness to face the problem squarely. Rather than minimize the lawsuits or drag out litigation indefinitely, the company settled, paid, and began the painstaking work of earning trust back. That meant not just fixing the product. It meant rebuilding the entire foundation of how the product was made, tested, and brought to market.

Engineers went back to square one. The core challenge was genuine: how do you create a wood composite siding that performs across the full range of North American climates, from the humid heat of the Gulf Coast to the wet, cold winters of the Pacific Northwest? The answer LP’s team developed over years of material science and field testing became the basis for what would eventually be called SmartSide.

Late 1980s – Early 1990s

Inner-Seal gains wide market adoption, praised for affordability.

Mid-1990s

Widespread moisture damage reported across the country. Class action lawsuits filed in multiple states.

1996

LP settles for more than $375 million, one of the largest building products class action settlements in history.

Late 1990s – Early 2000s

Engineers reformulate the product using SmartGuard technology, incorporating heat-treated strands, zinc borate treatment, and a proprietary resin system.

2000s

LP introduces SmartSide with a 5/50-year warranty. Skeptical trade partners begin cautiously re-engaging.

2010s – Present

LP SmartSide grows to become one of the top-selling engineered wood siding products in North America.

The ComebackSmartSide and a Different Confidence

SmartSide is not merely a rebranded version of Inner-Seal. It is a fundamentally different product, built on a genuinely different technology. The SmartGuard manufacturing process treats each wood strand with zinc borate, a natural mineral compound with proven resistance to moisture, fungal decay, and insects, before those strands are bonded under heat and pressure with a proprietary resin system. The result is a product that moves and breathes differently than its predecessor, and that has the field performance record to prove it.

Perhaps most significantly, LP backed the product with a warranty that most competitors would not touch: 5 years for labor, 50 years on the product itself. That warranty was not just marketing language. It was a commitment that forced LP to get the engineering right, because the financial exposure of another mass failure would have been existential.

The trade channel was skeptical, and reasonably so. Distributors who had warehoused Inner-Seal returns, contractors who had re-sided homes at their own expense, and builders who had faced furious homeowners were not eager to take another chance on an LP siding product. LP’s sales representatives hit the road, attending trade shows, hosting product demonstrations, walking job sites, doing the slow, unglamorous work of rebuilding relationships one conversation at a time.

What made the difference came down to three factors.

01Genuine material innovation

The zinc borate treatment and resin system addressed the actual root causes of Inner-Seal’s failures, not just the surface symptoms.

02A warranty with teeth

The 5/50-year warranty forced internal accountability. Engineers had to build something that could actually survive it.

03Sustained relationship repair

Rather than expecting the trade to forget the past, LP invested years in rebuilding trust through transparency, training, and presence.

It worked. Slowly, then emphatically.

Today, LP SmartSide is one of the leading engineered wood siding products sold in North America. It competes directly, and wins, against fiber cement, vinyl, and traditional wood in the new construction and remodel markets. The brand that once symbolized failure in the siding category now symbolizes durability, consistency, and quality.

Industry PatternAn Industry Built to Outlast Its Hardest Days

LP’s story is remarkable, but it is not unique. The building materials industry has a long and underappreciated tradition of resilience: companies, distributors, contractors, and manufacturers who face failure, absorb the lessons, and build something better.

The Defective Drywall Crisis, Late 2000s

Chinese-manufactured wallboard caused corrosion and health complaints in thousands of homes across the South and Southeast. Domestic manufacturers and distributors stepped in, product standards tightened, and the industry emerged with stronger import protocols and testing requirements.

The Pressure-Treated Lumber Reformulation, Early 2000s

When CCA was phased out for residential use, the industry developed alternative preservative systems on an accelerated timeline, a massive technical and logistical undertaking executed without widespread market disruption.

What these recoveries have in common is not luck. They reflect something structural about the people who inhabit this industry.

The building materials business is not for people who need instant gratification. It rewards patience, integrity, and the kind of accountability that comes from putting your name on something that will stand, or fall, for decades.

Building materials professionals live with long feedback loops. A product installed today may not reveal its flaws, or its excellence, for five, ten, or twenty years. That reality selects for a particular kind of person: someone who thinks past the immediate transaction, who values their reputation more than any single sale, and who understands that trust in this industry is earned slowly and lost fast.

The PeopleWhy This Industry Attracts People of Character

The LP SmartSide story is ultimately a story about values: the values of the engineers who rebuilt the product honestly, the sales representatives who walked back into skeptical distributors with their heads up, and the company leadership that chose accountability over evasion when evasion might have seemed easier.

Those values are not incidental to success in building materials. They are prerequisites to it. And they show up at every level of the industry.

Accountability

Your name is on what gets built. In this industry, you cannot hide from a product that fails. The work outlasts the sale, and the sale outlasts the relationship that produced it.

Long-Term Thinking

Products last decades. Careers should too. Building materials careers are built on relationships, not transactions. The professionals who win here measure their work in cycles, not quarters.

Trust-Building

Chosen for what they do when things go wrong. Distributors, contractors, and builders choose partners they can rely on when problems surface, not just when conditions are easy.

Resilience

Markets cycle. Products fail. People rebuild. The companies that survive in this industry are built on teams willing to start over, learn from the failure, and get it right the second time.

Distributors in this space carry decades of institutional knowledge about which products perform and which do not, knowledge that only comes from showing up consistently, asking hard questions, and staying curious. Contractor relationships are built over years of reliable supply, honest communication about lead times and availability, and the willingness to make problems right when they inevitably arise.

And sales in building materials is, at its core, a long game. The best representatives in this industry do not win business by talking. They win it by listening, understanding a contractor’s workflow, a builder’s margin pressures, a distributor’s inventory realities, and then showing up with solutions that actually work.

The TakeawayWhat LP’s Journey Should Inspire

For anyone building a career in building materials, LP’s arc from Inner-Seal to SmartSide is worth sitting with. It is a reminder that failure, even spectacular, expensive, reputation-damaging failure, is not the end of the story unless you decide it is. It is also a reminder that the path back from failure is not clever marketing. It is doing the hard work honestly, for as long as it takes, until the work speaks for itself.

The building materials industry will always need that kind of person. It always has. The homes, commercial buildings, and infrastructure that shelter and connect millions of Americans do not get built by people who cut corners or chase quick wins. They get built and rebuilt by people who care about doing things right.

LP SmartSide stands on millions of homes today as proof that resilience, when it is grounded in genuine integrity, is more than a comeback story. It is a business model.

The industry endures because the people in it do.

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail · Construction

The Talent Cost Of Consolidation

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

May 14th, 2026

What 833 deals in a single quarter is doing to the people who actually run building products companies.

The story being told about building products M&A right now is a story about deals. Deal volume, multiples, strategic buyers versus financial buyers, who is buying whom, and at what premium. That is the story the trade press wants. It is not the story that determines whether the deal works.

The story that determines whether the deal works is the one that never makes the press release: where the best operators inside the acquired company will be twelve months from close, and who is going to replace them when they leave.

Market Intelligence · M&AWhat the Market Is Actually Doing

The first quarter of 2026 produced 833 deals in the broader building products and construction sector, up from 707 the year prior. TEV/EBITDA multiples expanded to 10.93x from 9.65x. Strategic buyers drove 86.6% of that volume. Private equity, operating primarily through add-ons, accounted for another 10.1%.

833
Deals in Q1 2026, up from 707 the year prior
10.93x
TEV/EBITDA multiple, up from 9.65x
86.6%
Of deal volume driven by strategic buyers
10.1%
Driven by private equity, mainly add-ons

The headline transactions tell the same story at scale.

Lowe’s → Foundation Building Materials $8.8B

Closed October 2025. Picked up 370+ branch locations and a senior leadership team with 200+ years of combined industry experience.

QXO → Beacon Roofing Supply $11B

Taken private in April 2025. QXO has since announced a $17B agreement to acquire TopBuild, targeting a $50B revenue platform within the decade.

CRH → Eco Material Technologies $2.1B

Added meaningful scale in fly ash and pozzolans.

Home Depot → GMS

Extended the 2024 SRS acquisition deeper into the professional channel.

According to Bain’s 2026 M&A report, the center of gravity in building products M&A has shifted from scale plays to scope and capability plays. The buyer is no longer purchasing the footprint. The buyer is purchasing what the acquired company knows how to do, and the people who know how to do it.

That is where the math gets uncomfortable.

The Real NumbersThe Data Nobody Is Putting in the Deal Model

EY research puts average post-merger employee turnover at 47% within the first year and 75% within three years. MIT Sloan analysis of population-level acquisition data found that 33% of acquired workers exited within the first year, compared to 12% turnover among regular hires with similar tenure and skill profiles.

47%
Average post-merger employee turnover within the first year, per EY research, climbing to 75% within three years. MIT Sloan found 33% of acquired workers exited in year one, against 12% turnover for comparable regular hires.

The departure rate concentrates in exactly the roles the acquirer paid for: senior executive, technical leadership, regional sales, and business development.

A scope-and-capability acquisition that loses 33 to 47% of its senior operators within twelve months is not the deal that was modeled. It is a different deal entirely.

The ImplicationWhat This Means Operationally

For anyone running a building products business right now, whether you are acquiring, being acquired, or competing with both, the consolidation cycle has three implications worth naming.

01The acquirer’s recruiting problem starts at close, not in year two.

The institutional knowledge sitting inside the acquired company is the thesis. When the integration team strips out autonomy, layers in matrix reporting, or quietly retires the product roadmap that attracted the talent in the first place, the people who carried that knowledge are answering competitor calls within the quarter. The retention package is necessary. It is not sufficient.

02The competitor’s recruiting window is open right now, and it closes faster than most leaders realize.

Every announced transaction in this sector creates a quiet pool of senior operators who were not actively looking and are suddenly listening. They are not on LinkedIn. They are running divisions, hitting numbers, and waiting to see what integration actually feels like before they decide. The candidates who matter most in this window are the ones nobody is messaging. The conversations that produce placements over the next six months are happening through deep sector relationships, not through job boards.

03The acquired leadership team has 90 days, not 18 months.

Founders and senior leaders who stay through close are evaluating two things by the end of the first quarter post-deal: whether their team is being protected, and whether the work they signed on for still exists. The decision to stay or leave is usually made well before the official 12-month retention milestone. By the time HR notices the trend, the resignations have already been written.

Looking AheadThe Implication for Hiring in 2026

Consolidation in building products is going to continue through 2026. Lower borrowing costs, pent-up affordable housing demand, data center construction, and a backlog of private equity capital are all pointing in the same direction. The market math supports more deals, not fewer.

The talent math is the constraint nobody is solving for.

The firms that come through this cycle with the right teams will not be the ones with the largest networks. They will be the ones who understand the operators inside their market well enough to act before the rest catches up. That requires real conversations with people who are not in the market. It requires intelligence about who is moving, who is restless, who is being courted, and who has just been handed a retention agreement they are not sure they want to sign.

If you are integrating a recent acquisition and watching your senior bench look at the door, competing against a consolidator that just absorbed your most direct competitor, or sitting inside a company that has just been acquired and trying to read the next twelve months, this is the conversation.

We have current intelligence on which leaders in recent building products transactions are in motion, which retention agreements are not holding, and what the market is paying right now for the operators most likely to move. We can identify the candidates worth your time before a competitor reaches them, and we can position your business as the place they stay, not the next place they leave.

Reach Out. We’ll Tell You What We’re Seeing →

The SnapDragon Standard

We do not send offers hoping they will work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail · Construction

The Technical Sales Rep Is the Most Underpriced Role In Building Materials

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

May 7th, 2026

An architect in Charlotte told us last week that her firm has stopped taking meetings from outside sales reps who cannot speak to assemblies. Not unwilling. Unable.

The product binder used to be enough. It is no longer enough, and the reps who still operate that way are being filtered out of the spec process before they even know it. That is the conversation, and it is happening across LBM right now: in regional architecture firms, in builder pre-construction meetings, in code official walk-throughs. The role of the outside sales rep in building products has split.

Most companies have not adjusted their comp model to reflect it. The cost of that gap is now showing up in two places at once: revenue that walks to a competitor with a better-spec’d product, and technical reps who walk to a manufacturer that pays them what they are worth.

The role split. The comp model did not.

14
We have had 14 conversations with technical sales candidates in LBM over the last three weeks. Every one of them is being recruited. Most are weighing two or three live offers. The market has moved.

What Actually ChangedTwo Roles, One Comp Sheet

Five years ago, the LBM outside sales rep had a clear job. Know the product line. Manage the territory. Hold the relationship. Close the order. That role still exists. It still pays well. It is not what we are talking about.

A second role has emerged alongside it, and most companies are paying both versions on the same comp sheet. The technical sales rep is the person who can sit with an architect and walk through a fire-rated assembly without flipping through a binder. Who can advise a builder on a continuous insulation strategy and where the dew point lands. Who can present to a code official and defend a product substitution with engineering data, not a spec sheet and a smile.

This rep is not managing a territory. They are functioning as a technical consultant who happens to carry a sales number. They show up six months before the order, in the room where the specification gets written. By the time the contractor calls to reorder, the work is already done. The product has already been spec’d in.

The reps who can move an architect, a builder, and a code official in the same week are being paid like they answer the phone for a living.

Real-Time Comp AnalysisGeneralist vs Technical: What the Market Is Paying

The numbers below are not aspirational and they are not surveys. They reflect 14 active candidate conversations and 9 client engagements SnapDragon has had in the LBM space over the last 90 days, across distributors and manufacturers in the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Texas markets. We have anonymized for confidentiality. The structure is real.

Generalist Outside Sales
Territory & Account Management
Base
$70K – $90K
Set on territory size and inherited account base.
Variable
1% – 2%
Commission on territory revenue, book $4M–$8M.
Bonus
$5K – $15K
MBO or margin bonus, paid Q1 following year.
Car / Expense
$8K – $12K
Vehicle allowance, fuel card, standard reimbursement.
Realistic Total Comp
$110K – $160K
Top quartile pushes $175K. Mid-range is the floor of where conversations are happening.
Technical / Specification Sales
Specification Influence & Engineered Products
Base
$95K – $135K
Set on technical fluency, certifications, spec track record.
Variable
2% – 4%
Higher rate on specified business. Rewards what the rep created.
Project Bonus
$5K – $25K
Per major project with documented spec influence.
Car / Expense
$10K – $15K
Broader regional travel, AIA events, technical CEU presentations.
Realistic Total Comp
$180K – $275K
Top quartile in EWP, mass timber, and envelope is clearing $300K, in real offers right now.
$90K
At the realistic mid-point, the technical rep earns roughly $90K more than the generalist for work the generalist cannot do. That is the gap your comp model needs to close, or the gap your competitor will use to take your best people.

The Math Most Models MissWhat One Specified Project Is Worth

A generalist comp model treats every dollar of revenue the same. The order that walked in over the phone and the order that took six months of architect meetings, sample submittals, fire test data review, and code official sign-off are paid identically. That is the structural problem. Look at it on a single project.

Worked Example · Mid-Rise Multifamily

A specified EWP package worth $2.4M to the distributor

Total project value$40,000,000
Engineered wood scope (LVL, PSL, joists, mass timber)$2,400,000
Generalist comp at 1.5% blended commission$36,000
Technical comp at 3% on specified business$72,000
Plus project bonus for documented spec influence$15,000
Technical rep, one project, total variable$87,000

One project. One year of pipeline work. The technical rep earned $51,000 more on this single specification than the generalist comp model would have paid for the same revenue. Multiply that across the three to five major specified projects a strong technical rep is closing per year, and the gap between the two comp models becomes the difference between keeping that rep and losing them.

The objection we hear from distributors is that this math sounds expensive. It is not. The technical rep delivered $2.4M of revenue on a project the generalist model would not have won, because the generalist rep would not have been in the room six months earlier when the engineer was writing the framing schedule. The cost of paying for specification influence is small compared to the cost of not having it.

Where the Premium ConcentratesThree Categories Driving the Squeeze

Across the technical sales pool, the premium is not evenly distributed. It concentrates in three product categories where specification work is the gating function and where the candidate pool is structurally short. These are the categories where we see the most aggressive offers and the fastest candidate movement.

Engineered Wood Products & Mass Timber

+28% over base

CLT, glulam, LVL, PSL, and mass timber panel systems for commercial and mid-rise construction. The market is growing into Type IV-A and IV-B construction, and the pool of reps who can engage structural engineers on connection details and load paths is not keeping pace. Premium is highest here.

Fire-Rated Assemblies

+22% over base

UL-rated wall, floor, and roof assemblies, perimeter fire containment, and through-penetration firestop systems. As IBC requirements have tightened around mid-rise wood, the ability to navigate UL listings, defend substitutions, and present to AHJs has become a revenue-generating skill. These reps close specifications generalists cannot reach.

Building Envelope

+18% over base

Air barriers, vapor retarders, continuous insulation, water-resistive barriers, fenestration integration. As energy codes push toward IECC 2024 adoption and builders absorb the cost of envelope failures, the rep who can consult on envelope performance sits upstream of the purchasing decision. The detail conversation is the sales conversation.

A rep with depth in two of these three categories is, in the current market, the most aggressively recruited profile in LBM outside sales. The candidates know what they are worth. They are also patient. They will wait for the right offer.

From the ConversationsWhat We Are Hearing in the Market

The clearest signal that the role has changed is what people are saying in the rooms where the work happens. These are paraphrased composites from recent conversations. Every voice represents a real pattern, repeated.

“I lost two of my best reps last year to manufacturers. Both went to companies with a specification track and a different comp plan. They told me the issue was not the number, it was that the comp plan I had to offer did not value what they actually do. I am rebuilding the structure now.”

Regional VP of Sales · Southeast Distributor

“I take meetings with reps who can teach me something. If a rep walks in and asks what I am working on, the meeting is over. If a rep tells me they reviewed a recent UL test report and wants to talk about how it changes the assembly, I will give them an hour and I will probably specify their product.”

Architect · 80-Person Firm, Mid-Atlantic

“My current employer pays me on a percentage of my territory. The spec’d projects take 9 to 14 months. The reorder business takes 9 to 14 minutes. Same commission rate. I am leaving for a manufacturer with a project bonus on documented specifications. The math is not close.”

Technical Sales Rep · 12 Years EWP

“The reps that get on my short list are the ones who can talk through a value engineering exercise without losing the assembly performance. There are not many of them. The ones who can do it have my number on speed dial. I do not even ask the others to bid.”

Director of Pre-Construction · GC, Texas

The Structural GapWhy Most Models Compress the Premium Out

The comp model is rarely a deliberate decision to undervalue technical work. It is usually inherited. Most distributors have run a single sales comp template for 15 or 20 years, built when the rep population was homogeneous and the work was homogeneous. The model did not anticipate the role split, so it does not differentiate against it. The result is structural compression. Three patterns we see consistently:

What the Model Says

“Same product line, same territory framework, same commission rate. We are being fair by treating everyone the same.”

What the Rep Hears

“The work I do is not valued differently than work that does not require my training. So my training is not valued. So I should take it somewhere it is.”

What the Model Says

“The numbers sort it out. If the technical rep generates more revenue, they earn more on commission. The model rewards performance.”

What the Rep Hears

“My 14-month spec’d project pays the same rate as a reorder. The math punishes the work that builds the future of this company. I am subsidizing the rest of the team.”

What the Model Says

“We promote our best technical people into management. That is the career path. The comp grows when they take on a team.”

What the Rep Hears

“The reward for becoming the best technical seller is to stop selling. I do not want to manage. I want to specify. Pay me to do what I am good at.”

Each of those gaps is a resignation letter waiting to be written. The companies pulling ahead in Q2 2026 have stopped trying to retrofit the technical rep into the generalist model. They have built a parallel track.

The Path ForwardWhat the Companies Winning This Talent Do

The pattern is consistent across the manufacturers and distributors we work with who are landing and holding technical sales talent. None of it requires a wholesale rebuild of the comp structure. It requires four deliberate moves.

1

Create a Distinct Title and Track

Technical Sales Specialist, Specification Sales Manager, Architectural Sales Consultant. The title signals to the candidate, the team, and the customer that this is a different role with a different mandate. It is a parallel track with its own ladder, not a senior outside sales rep.

2

Differentiate Commission on Specified Business

The structure we see working most often is a tiered commission: standard rate on reorder and pull-through, premium rate (often 1.5x to 2x) on revenue tied to a documented specification. That requires a Specified Project Tracker the rep maintains and the manager reviews. The infrastructure is light. The behavioral signal is heavy.

3

Add a Project Bonus Tied to Spec Influence

A flat bonus paid per major project where the rep can document specification influence, most often $5K to $25K depending on project size. This separates the reward for winning the spec from the reward for landing the order. Both matter. They are not the same work.

4

Build a Non-Management Technical Career Path

The Senior Technical Sales role should pay equivalent to a Sales Manager. The Principal Technical Sales role should pay equivalent to a Regional Sales Director. The rep who is great at specification work and does not want to manage should still have somewhere to go. In most companies they do not, so they go to a competitor that has built that path.

None of these moves are theoretical. We have seen all four executed in the last 12 months by clients who came to us because they had lost a technical rep and did not want to lose another. Each now has a comp structure that competes for the next one.

The Question on the TableDesigned to Attract, or Designed to Push?

If your sales organization includes reps doing specification work and your comp model does not differentiate them from the rest of the team, the answer is push. Not because anyone designed it that way, but because the model was built for a role that has since split, and the version generating the most revenue is the version paying the structural cost of that compression.

The companies that have built the parallel track are using it as a recruiting weapon, and the conversation they are having with technical reps is increasingly the same one: show me a comp model that values specification influence the way our customers value it. The companies that cannot answer that question are losing the candidates. The companies that can are building the next generation of their sales force.

The candidates exist. The only question is whether your comp model lets you compete for them.

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

If you are building a technical sales capability, or losing technical reps to competitors with better comp structures, this is the conversation. We can show you what your offer will look like to the candidate before you make it, and help you build a structure that competes for the people you cannot afford to lose.

SnapDragonAssociates.com →

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail · Construction

Your Hiring Strategy Is Either A Weapon or A Liability

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

April 30th, 2026

At the last three LBM industry events we attended, we asked the same question to dozens of owners and operators: what is keeping you up at night?

Two answers, every time. Capital. And people.

The capital conversation gets all the airtime: interest rates, lender appetite, what the next 18 months look like for middle-market deal flow. The people conversation gets nodded at and tabled. Which is strange, because every operator we know will tell you the same thing when pressed. It only takes a handful of bad hires in critical seats to undo a year of operational gains. They drive the best people out. They drag the team’s standard down to their own. And the damage shows up two quarters later, in numbers no one initially attributes to a hire.

The people problem is not that great operators do not exist. They do. The problem is where most companies are looking for them, and who they are asking to do the looking.

The Wrong SpecialistYou Wouldn’t Set Your Own Broken Leg

Cut your finger? Grab a bandage. That is what internal resources are for.

Break your leg? You do not pull up YouTube. You go to the ER and ask for an orthopedic surgeon, someone who has done this a thousand times and does not have to think about it.

So why would you hand a mission-critical hire to a general job board, or pile it onto an HR team that is already running benefits, payroll, compliance, employee relations, and three open requisitions on the operations side?

1 : 80–120
Internal HR teams in middle-market LBM companies typically run one HR professional per 80 to 120 employees. That person is usually carrying five jobs at once.

Asking them to also run a director-or-above search, to map the regional competitor landscape, identify the passive candidates who are not applying anywhere, build relationships with people who will not return a cold InMail, and pressure-test a finalist’s cultural fit against your specific operating environment, is asking them to do a sixth full-time job in their spare time.

They are talented professionals. They are not surgeons. And the pressure to “just get it filled” leads to the same outcome almost every time: a hire that looked right on paper, did not take, and cost more on the way out than the search would have on the way in.

The Real MathWhat a Bad Hire Actually Costs

The damage is not a line item. It is a system effect.

$270K–$540K
A bad director-level hire typically runs 1.5 to 3 times the position’s annual compensation once you account for severance, lost productivity, the replacement search, ramp time, and downstream turnover. For a $180K seat, that is the cost out the door before you have replaced the role.

And here is the hidden cost most owners miss. Every month a critical seat sits open or under-performing, the next-best candidate in the market gets one month closer to accepting somewhere else. The cost of doing nothing is not zero. It is the silent loss of the person who would have actually solved the problem.

From a Recent Search

A mid-sized LBM platform filled a senior operations seat in 45 days through their internal team. The candidate had the resume. He did not have the relationships in the regional supplier network the role actually required. He was out within nine months. The replacement search took 14 weeks. The seat was effectively dark for 11 months total, across two hiring cycles, two onboardings, and one exit. The original “fast” hire was the most expensive thing the company did that year.

The StandardFront-Load the Effort, or Pay for It Later

The best hiring advice has not changed. Put the rigor in before the offer, not after.

That means a real candidate pool, not the four resumes that came in through the posting. It means an evaluation process that pressure-tests cultural fit and operational instinct, not just credentials. And for the seats where the stakes are high, the ones requiring specific industry experience, specialized skill sets, or relationships you cannot manufacture in 90 days, it means bringing in someone who lives in that market every day.

Not a generalist. A firm that knows the LBM landscape, knows the candidates who are not visible on LinkedIn, knows the difference between a resume that looks right and a person who will still be performing at 24 months.

The argument is not that internal recruiting is wrong. It is that a brain surgeon and a triage nurse have different jobs, and pretending otherwise costs you the patient.

Before your next critical hire, ask one question. If this person is still in the seat 24 months from now, performing at the level we need, what will we have done differently in this search? If you cannot answer that question, you are not running a search. You are running a posting.

Your people are your competitive advantage. The ones you don’t hire are too.

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

SnapDragonAssociates.com →

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail · Construction

Technical Fluency Is Now a Leadership Requirement

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

There is a quiet shift happening in how private equity sponsors, boards, and search committees are evaluating candidates for senior leadership seats in 2026. It does not show up in the job description. It does not appear in the posted comp band. But it is reshaping which candidates advance past the second interview, and which ones get thanked for their time.

The shift is this: technical fluency, and specifically AI fluency, has moved from a nice-to-have to a baseline expectation at the executive level. Candidates who cannot articulate how they would deploy AI and automation into their function from day one are being filtered out quietly, and often without being told why.

This is not a tech-sector phenomenon. It is happening in building products distribution, in industrial manufacturing, in construction, and in the retail networks that sit downstream of all three. The sponsors funding these platforms are asking a question that did not exist on a 2023 screening rubric: Does this leader understand how to operationalize AI, or will we need to hire a second executive to compensate for the one we just placed?

“AI is not displacing employees. It is highlighting the ones worth retaining. What the data is showing, and what we are seeing on the ground every week, is that the leaders who treat AI as a strategic thought from day one are the ones keeping their seats. The ones who push it off are quietly being compared to candidates who already have the answer.”

-SleepyHouse.org

What the Data Is Actually Showing

The 2026 labor data tells a story that most public commentary has gotten partially right and partially wrong. The popular narrative is that AI is replacing jobs. The more accurate read is that AI is exposing which jobs were already structurally underproductive, and which leaders were already operating below the standard the market now requires.

In the first quarter of 2026, the tech sector alone shed nearly 80,000 roles, with close to half of those layoffs explicitly attributed to AI and workflow automation in SEC filings and earnings call language. Block cut roughly 40 percent of its workforce, with leadership stating directly that intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company. Amazon flattened management layers as a deliberate restructuring priority. Accenture told its workforce that those who cannot be reskilled will be exited. These are not rumors. They are documented moves from sophisticated operators, publicly stated.

What connects them is not a blanket headcount reduction. It is a specific pattern: the roles being cut most aggressively are in the middle, where process, coordination, and information routing are used to justify a salary. Goldman Sachs compensation data shows the labor market is bifurcating in a specific way. Senior operators who can work effectively with AI are commanding premium compensation. Junior and middle-skill roles are facing structural displacement. The generalist middle manager whose primary output was status updates, meeting coordination, and the translation of information between layers is the role AI is absorbing fastest.

AI is not replacing people. It is exposing which roles were built around producing measurable value, and which ones were built around looking busy.

The Middle-Management Reckoning

For years, a particular style of middle management has thrived inside established businesses. The pattern is familiar to anyone who has spent time in a mature organization: managers whose calendars are full but whose output is difficult to name, whose authority rests on information asymmetry between the layer above them and the layer below, whose presence is justified by the complexity they themselves help create. These roles survived not because they generated value but because the process of measuring them honestly was politically expensive.

AI is making that measurement cheap. When a senior leader can deploy a tool that summarizes a hundred status updates in seconds, the manager whose primary function was synthesizing those updates has a different conversation to have with their boss. When an operator can run scenario analysis against the consolidated financials in the morning, the layer of analysts whose primary function was producing that analysis has a different conversation. The work did not disappear. The justification for a full-time human performing it did.

This is not a talking point. It is what the Q1 2026 data is actively showing. IBM tripled its entry-level hiring in 2026 while simultaneously flattening its management structure. Amazon eliminated 14,000 corporate roles in a push for faster decision-making, explicitly naming the collapse of coordination layers as the goal. The organizations doing this are not cutting indiscriminately. They are cutting in a pattern. And that pattern reveals what the market has learned to value, and what it has learned to tolerate no longer.

What PE Sponsors Are Now Screening For

This shift in what the market values is reshaping senior leadership searches in real time. According to Deloitte’s 2026 finance research, 87 percent of CFOs now consider AI extremely or very important to finance operations, and integrating AI agents ranks as a top transformation priority for 54 percent of them. Technology fluency has been named explicitly as a baseline board expectation for the modern CFO. Translation: a candidate who cannot speak fluently about AI deployment is no longer a candidate for the seat.

PE sponsors are formalizing this shift. Alvarez & Marsal’s PE practice now runs AI diligence and AI readiness assessments as part of deal evaluation. CLA’s 2026 outlook for private equity explicitly predicts that portfolio workforces will shift toward AI-savvy generalists and strategic thinkers, with reduced reliance on mid-level specialists. Deloitte’s PE value creation framework names CEO and CFO sponsorship of AI transformation as a critical success factor for portfolio returns. When a PE firm is screening an operating partner, a portfolio CEO, or a CFO for a platform investment, the question being asked behind the scenes is whether this leader will drive the AI roadmap or whether they will need to be replaced in 18 months because they cannot.

The implications ripple through every C-suite and senior operator search. A COO candidate who cannot articulate how they would deploy agentic workflows into operations within the first 90 days is being compared unfavorably to the candidate who can. A VP of Sales candidate who cannot speak to how AI will reshape territory management, lead scoring, and pipeline visibility is being compared to the one who has already done it. A CFO candidate who cannot govern AI outputs, let alone deploy them, is being compared to a pool of candidates who can. In each case, the technical fluency gap is not a tiebreaker. It is becoming the first cut.

Why This Reaches Into Building Materials

The instinct in building products, distribution, and construction has historically been to assume that technology shifts happen somewhere else first. That assumption is no longer holding. A 2026 BuildOps report found that 78 percent of commercial contractors are already using or testing AI tools. ServiceTitan’s 2026 industry report found that the share of contractors reporting measurable results from AI more than doubled year over year, from 17 percent to 38 percent. Autodesk’s 2026 panel described this year as the transition point where AI moves from “future trend” to “industry baseline” across construction. The sector that was supposed to be late is closer to the middle of the curve than most of its leaders realize.

That timing matters for every senior leadership search currently running in LBM, distribution, industrial, and construction. The platforms being stood up today are being stood up on the assumption that AI will be deployed into sales, operations, finance, and HR within the first year of ownership. A leader who is not prepared to operationalize that assumption is not a leader the sponsor will fund.

The Opportunity on the Other Side

For candidates, the accurate read at this moment is not that the ground is shifting beneath them. It is that the ground has already shifted, and the tools required to stand on the new ground are more accessible than they have ever been. AI itself is now the fastest, cheapest, and most patient teacher available. A senior operator who commits a focused month to working alongside these tools, building real workflows, and developing an informed point of view on their own function’s AI roadmap will be in a different competitive position than a peer who spends that same month avoiding the topic.

“The seasoned operators win this cycle if they want to. Twenty-five years of judgment does not become obsolete. What changes is the floor underneath it. The operators who add AI fluency to the judgment they already have become the most valuable people in the market. The ones who do not add it are the ones being quietly filtered out of shortlists they used to lead. The tools are here. The knowledge is accessible. The responsibility has returned to the individual.”

– SleepyHouse.org, Strategic Partner, SnapDragon Associates

The phrase “I do not really use computers” used to be a harmless personal preference. A decade ago, it was a quirk. Today, it is a data point that a board, a sponsor, or a search committee registers and files away. It rarely gets said out loud in the interview. It just quietly changes the shape of the shortlist. The opportunity, and it is a real one, is that this is a learnable fluency. The seasoned operator who brings deep judgment, industry knowledge, and leadership experience and then adds AI fluency on top of that foundation becomes one of the most valuable and rare candidates in the 2026 market.

What This Means for Boards, Sponsors, and Candidates

For boards and PE sponsors, the implication is practical. The screening rubric for any senior seat opened this year should include an explicit evaluation of the candidate’s AI fluency and their articulated plan for deploying automation into the function they are being hired to lead. Without that screening step, the cost of the wrong hire is no longer 18 months of underperformance. It is 18 months of falling behind a competitor who made the right hire.

For candidates, the implication is equally practical. The seat you are being interviewed for in Q2 2026 was specified in Q4 2025 by sponsors who have already updated their expectations for the role. If you are preparing for that interview the way you would have prepared in 2023, you are preparing for a seat that no longer exists.

The future does not belong to AI alone. It belongs to disciplined, accountable, technically fluent leaders who know how to deploy it well. Human-led. Augmented. Accountable. That is the profile winning searches right now, and it is the profile that will define executive hiring through the remainder of the decade.

THE SNAPDRAGON STANDARD

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

If you are a sponsor updating your screening rubric for a senior search, or a candidate preparing for one, we’d welcome the chance to talk. The expectations for executive leadership have shifted faster than most job descriptions reflect, and the search strategy needs to match what the market is actually pricing. Connect with SnapDragon Associates here.

LEADERSHIP ARCHITECTURE  ·  PRECISION SEARCH  ·  SINCE 2004

PRIVATE EQUITY  ·  MANUFACTURING  ·  DISTRIBUTION  ·  RETAIL  ·  CONSTRUCTION

Q2 2026 Building Materials Hiring: Compensation Ranges, Market Intelligence, and What the Data Means

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

April 16th, 2026

Salary intelligence and market signals from the searches we are running right now.

Market Intelligence · Building MaterialsThe Q2 2026 Hiring Environment

As we turn the corner into Q2 2026, the building materials market looks very different from what it did 18 months ago. February 2026 posted the slowest construction hiring rate on record. Sawmill capacity is contracting. PE rollups are reshaping compensation bands at the top of the org chart. And the candidates running the best divisions are not on LinkedIn.

3.3%
February 2026 construction hiring rate, the slowest on record. Job openings fell to 202,000, down from 230,000 in January and 53,000 below year-ago levels. Source: BLS data released March 31, 2026.

That is the backdrop SnapDragon is searching against right now. Below is the intelligence we are seeing across the searches we are running, the offers our clients are making, and the real conversations we are having with candidates currently in the seat. These are the ten roles driving the most search activity in LBM, manufacturing, distribution, retail, and PE-backed building products platforms, with the compensation ranges the market is actually paying in Q2 2026.

01C-Suite Operations

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The COO seat has shifted. In a market where new construction has cooled, and R&R is carrying the demand curve, COOs are being hired to drive operating discipline, integrate acquisitions, and protect margin without the tailwind of volume growth. PE-backed platforms are competing hardest for this seat, and the comp bands have moved accordingly.

Base Salary$200K–$285K

Total comp at PE-backed platforms now regularly exceeds $450K, with national mid-to-large firm averages trending toward $466K total.

What the market is telling us

The candidates closing at the top of this band are being measured on working capital efficiency and EBITDA protection, not top-line volume. Value-creation architecture has replaced pure growth as the COO mandate at PE-backed platforms.

02C-Suite Finance

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

New to this list, and earned. PE influence has reshaped the CFO seat in private building products companies more than any other role over the last 24 months. Boards are paying for CFOs who can sit at the strategic table, drive a recap or sale process, and bring sophisticated FP&A to businesses that have historically run on instinct.

Base Salary$200K–$300K

Equity participation is now standard at PE-backed platforms.

What the market is telling us

Industry experience is no longer a non-negotiable for this seat. But transaction experience is.

03Manufacturing Leadership

Director of Manufacturing

Lumber and engineered wood production has stayed essentially flat for two years while sawmill employment has continued to decline. The Directors of Manufacturing winning offers right now are the ones who have driven measurable output through automation and labor-efficient process redesign, not the ones managing larger crews.

Base Salary$190K–$230K

What the market is telling us

Engineered wood products (CLT, LVL, mass timber panels) are pulling premium offers. Operators with EWP experience are commanding $15–25K above the standard band.

04P&L Leadership

General Manager

The widest comp band on this list, and the most variable. A GM running a single yard with $30M in revenue is a very different hire than a GM running a multi-location distribution platform at $200M. Both titles read the same on LinkedIn. The market is paying for the second one and competing aggressively for it.

Base Salary$165K–$340K

What the market is telling us

P&L ownership at scale is the dividing line. GMs who have run a unit with full P&L authority and have hit plan in a flat market are the most-pursued candidates we are tracking.

05Commercial Leadership

Vice President of Sales

The market has moved on this role. Two years ago, the VP of Sales was hired to grow the top line. In Q2 2026, the brief is different: protect the customer base, deepen wallet share, and build a sales discipline that does not depend on a rising market to deliver. The candidates closing at the top of the band can do both.

Base Salary$170K–$235K

OTE with variable typically $250K–$320K. Q1 2026 base growth has run 4–6% industry-wide; Northeast offers are landing 10–15% above national averages due to competition for off-market talent.

What the market is telling us

The candidates we have been placing successfully have strong CRM discipline and have led a sales organization through a flat or contracting cycle, not just a growth one.

06Sales Management

Sales Manager

The Sales Manager seat is where the labor compression is most visible. Companies are trying to hire at 2023 numbers. Candidates know what 2026 looks like. The gap is what is killing offers.

Base Salary$130K–$170K

OTE typically $180K–$220K. A Northeast premium of 10–15% is consistent here.

What the market is telling us

Offering candidates less than their stated expectations is the single most common reason searches stall at the offer stage right now. The candidates have the data. They know the market.

07Regional P&L

Regional Manager

Regional Manager demand is being driven almost entirely by acquisitive PE platforms building regional density. The role has expanded beyond sales oversight into integration leadership, which is why the band has moved up.

Base Salary$135K–$170K

Performance bonuses typically add $20–40K.

What the market is telling us

Candidates with multi-state P&L experience and acquisition integration on their resume are getting two and three offers in parallel. We are seeing 10–15 day decision windows close.

08Technical Sales

Technical Sales Representative

We have replaced the generic “Outside Sales” label here because the market has moved past it. Building products are getting more specification-driven, more performance-rated, and more code-sensitive. The reps who can sit with an architect, a builder, and a code official and move all three are the ones our clients are paying a premium for.

Base Salary$90K–$130K

Commission and bonus frequently doubles total comp.

What the market is telling us

Technical fluency is now the differentiator. Reps with engineered wood, fire-rated assemblies, or building envelope specification experience are commanding 20% premiums over generalist outside sales candidates.

09Operations

Operations Manager

Operations Managers are absorbing more: tighter labor markets, leaner headcount, more reliance on automation, and more expectation around data fluency. The compensation has moved accordingly, though not as fast as the role’s complexity has.

Base Salary$135K–$180K

What the market is telling us

WMS, ERP, and operational analytics fluency now show up in nearly every brief we take. Candidates who can speak to specific systems they have implemented are differentiated immediately.

10Technical Design

Truss Designer / EWP Designer

Demand for this role is steady. The candidate pool is not growing. The pipeline of designers entering the field has not kept pace with retirements, which is why salaries on the upper end of the band have continued to climb in a market where many other roles have flattened.

Base Salary$80K–$115K

What the market is telling us

Designers with MiTek, Alpine, and Simpson Strong-Tie software fluency plus EWP experience are the hardest seats to fill in the entire LBM category.

The ImplicationWhat This Means for Q2 2026

The building materials market is not soft. It is selective. Companies that read the February hiring data as a signal to slow down their searches are the ones losing the candidates they need most. The frozen labor market is not a buyer’s market. It is a market where the best candidates are not moving without a reason, and the firms that can frame the right reason are still winning offers.

That framing is the work. It is the difference between sending a job description and presenting an opportunity. It is the difference between a search that closes and one that walks at the offer stage.

Want a custom compensation report tailored to your market, region, and role, or a walk-through of the searches we are running in your sector? Let’s talk.

Connect With SnapDragon →

The SnapDragon Standard

We don’t send offers hoping they work. We send offers knowing how they will land.

Leadership Architecture · Precision Search · Since 2004

Private Equity · Manufacturing · Distribution · Retail · Construction

Give Me SPACE: A Modern Guide to Smarter Hiring

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

It is shocking how many companies hire employees with almost zero preparation. Managers often rush to fill a seat without thinking about what the business actually needs, what kind of person will thrive, or what specific goals the role must achieve.

When you skip the planning phase, you rely on gut feelings instead of data. This leads to costly mistakes. To hire the best candidates and avoid the duds, you must nail down the details. You need a clear picture of the required characteristics, skills, and background.

We use a simple acronym to vet candidates: SPACE. It helps us guarantee we match the right talent with the right organization for long-term success. But the hiring game has changed. You can no longer rely on paper resumes and a quick phone call. We now have access to incredible technology, from AI screening to advanced behavioral apps, that makes the SPACE framework more powerful than ever.

Here is how you can use SPACE, supercharged by modern technology, to transform your hiring process.

The SPACE Hiring Framework

S – Skillset

You need a baseline skillset just to consider someone for a role. This includes education, work history, certificates, industry knowledge, and hard skills. The skillset is the easiest element to spot, which is why most companies spend too much time here. Many hiring managers assume a perfect resume equals a perfect fit. This is completely false. The skillset is just the first piece of the puzzle.

The Tech Upgrade:
Instead of manually reading hundreds of resumes, use AI-powered screening tools. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) now feature smart algorithms that parse out exact skills rather than just looking for keyword matches. You can also deploy skill-assessment apps. If you need a coder, platforms offer automated coding tests that score candidates instantly. If you need a writer, AI tools can grade writing samples for clarity and tone before you even schedule an interview. Let technology handle the heavy lifting of verifying hard skills so you can focus your time on the human elements.

P – Performance

Past performance predicts future success. You want to see clear examples or metrics showing how a candidate made a quantitative impact. Did they increase sales, improve profits, launch products, cut costs, or decrease turnover? We all want a superstar, but we rarely dig deep enough to find out what quantitative results the candidate actually achieved. Most resumes list duties, not accomplishments. Quantify to justify.

The Tech Upgrade:
You no longer have to take a candidate’s word for their past successes. Use modern performance-tracking apps and data visualization tools during the interview process. Ask candidates to present a dashboard of their past wins using tools they are familiar with. Furthermore, AI reference-checking software can automatically survey former colleagues to verify specific performance metrics. These platforms generate comprehensive reports highlighting exactly where the candidate moved the needle.

A – Attitude

Does the candidate have a great attitude toward past jobs, coworkers, and employers? Do they genuinely want to be part of your team? A positive attitude is an absolute necessity. Even the most skilled worker will drag down your company if they bring a toxic mindset to the office.

The Tech Upgrade:
Gauging attitude through a standard video call is difficult. Today, you can use AI-driven behavioral assessments and sentiment analysis tools. These short, app-based assessments feel like simple games to the candidate, but they use neuroscience and AI to map emotional intelligence, problem-solving approaches, and general disposition. Some asynchronous video interview platforms also use natural language processing to highlight specific phrases that indicate a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset.

C – Culture Fit

How has the candidate worked successfully in the past? Do they thrive in a team, or do they prefer working as a lone wolf? How do they like to be managed? How do they handle criticism? What excites them? Ask deep questions to discover how they work and compare that to your internal company culture. We spend 40 to 50 hours a week working together. Making sure a new hire jives with your group is critical. A bad culture fit is the absolute worst hire you can make.

The Tech Upgrade:
Move beyond standard personality tests. Modern cultural alignment platforms allow you to survey your top performers to create a benchmark of your company’s unique culture. When candidates apply, they take a brief app-based assessment that compares their working style to your custom benchmark. This gives you a data-backed compatibility score. You can also use virtual reality (VR) or interactive simulation apps to drop candidates into real-world company scenarios, allowing you to see exactly how they collaborate and react to your company’s daily rhythm.

E – Evidence

Never assume. Ask for examples, reports, reference letters, certificates, and diplomas. You need tangible proof of their skillset, successes, and culture fit. It might feel uncomfortable to press for proof, but you simply cannot afford to skip this step.

The Tech Upgrade:
The days of asking for printed portfolios are over. Look for candidates who use digital portfolios, personal websites, or verified digital badges. Technologies like blockchain are now being used to issue immutable, verifiable credentials for degrees and certifications. You can instantly verify a candidate’s credentials with a single click. Additionally, use automated reference-checking apps that contact references via text or email, gathering confidential, aggregate data that provides concrete evidence of a candidate’s claims.

Start Building Your Superstar Team

There you have it, a simple, structured way to ensure your next hire is substantially better than your last. By combining the proven SPACE framework with modern AI tools, assessment apps, and digital verification, you can eliminate the guesswork from recruiting.

Keep SPACE in mind, equip your hiring team with the right technology, and you will get your next hire right the first time. Take a look at your current hiring process today. Identify one area, whether it is skillset screening or gathering evidence, and research a new tool to automate and improve that step. Your future team will thank you.

Let’s Connect →

About SnapDragon Associates

SnapDragon Associates is the premier executive recruiting firm exclusively serving the building materials industry. With deep-rooted industry expertise and a relationship-first approach, we connect top-performing talent with best-in-class companies across North America. Trusted by top industry leaders, we deliver hiring solutions that fuel growth and drive results.

Learn more at www.SnapDragonAssociates.com

What Employers Want to See and Hear from Executives Right Now

Written by Sarah Lucas on . Posted in News & Insights.

If you’re an executive thinking about making a move, the expectations from employers have shifted. I’ve been having a lot of conversations with CEOs and leadership teams lately, and the feedback is consistent across the board. At this level, it’s not just about experience. Everyone has experience. What separates top candidates is how clearly they can communicate their impact.

Today’s executive hiring market is focused on results, leadership, and clarity. Companies aren’t just hiring resumes. They’re hiring outcomes. Here’s what employers want to see and hear from executive-level candidates right now:

1. Ownership of Results

Employers want to know what you owned, not just what you were part of. Phrases like “I supported” or “I was involved in” don’t carry weight at the executive level. Hiring leaders are looking for individuals who take full ownership of outcomes.

Be clear about:

  • What you were responsible for
  • What decisions you made
  • What the result was

2. Quantifiable Business Impact

Numbers matter more than ever. Whether it’s revenue growth, margin improvement, cost savings, or team expansion, measurable results are what differentiate strong executives from the rest. If you can’t quantify your impact, it becomes much harder to stand out in a competitive market.

3. Strategy and Execution

Many candidates can speak to strategy. Far fewer can execute it. Employers are prioritizing leaders who can not only build a vision but also implement it, drive it forward, and deliver results. The ability to connect strategy to execution is one of the most in-demand executive skills right now.

4. Clear, Concise Communication

At the executive level, communication is critical. If you can’t clearly and simply explain what you do and the value you bring, your message gets lost.

Hiring teams are looking for leaders who can:

  • Simplify complex ideas
  • Communicate across teams and stakeholders
  • Clearly articulate business impact

5. Leadership and Team Development

It’s not just about what you achieve. It’s about how you lead.

Employers want to understand:

  • How you build and scale teams
  • How you develop and retain talent
  • How you influence culture and performance

Strong leadership is a key differentiator in executive hiring decisions.

6. Ability to Navigate Change and Uncertainty

The market is constantly shifting, especially in industries like building materials, manufacturing, and construction.

Companies are prioritizing executives who can:

  • Make decisions with imperfect information
  • Pivot quickly when needed
  • Lead teams through change and uncertainty

Adaptability is no longer optional. It’s expected.

The Biggest Mistake Executives Make

The most common issue I see? Executives speak too broadly about their experience. Strong candidates don’t just list responsibilities. They clearly explain what they changed, improved, or grew within an organization. That level of specificity is what captures attention and drives real conversations.

Final Thoughts: How to Stand Out as an Executive Candidate

If you’re considering a career move, take a step back and ask yourself: Can I clearly tell the story of the impact I’ve made? Because in today’s market, that’s what turns a conversation into an opportunity.

Ready to Talk About Your Leadership Needs?

Whether you’re planning for growth, thinking through succession, or need to fill a critical leadership role, we’d love to hear what’s on your mind. Reach out to our team and let’s start the conversation.

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About SnapDragon Associates

SnapDragon Associates is the premier executive recruiting firm exclusively serving the building materials industry. With deep-rooted industry expertise and a relationship-first approach, we connect top-performing talent with best-in-class companies across North America. Trusted by top industry leaders, we deliver hiring solutions that fuel growth and drive results.

Learn more at www.SnapDragonAssociates.com