LMC's board appoints Eddie Crosslin of Crosslin Supply as a member; he brings decades of industry experience to company board, including extensive M&A know-how

Consolidation is a constant topic of conversation in the industry these days as it continues to intensify and create change. The interest in the lumber and building material sector remains high, including private equity groups. As just one example, 1st West M&A closed six deals in just 15 months in 2021-2022 with several more pending letters of intent.

Eddie Crosslin knows the impact of consolidation all too well. His family’s firm, Crosslin Supply Company, was acquired by ProBuild Holdings back in 2007. Just five years later in 2012, ProBuild shuttered his family business. Yet in the months that followed, Eddie not only brought his family’s business back to life, but he did so in the original location opened by his great-grandfather in 1933.

LMC is excited to announce that Eddie brings his decades of industry experience and his unique perspectives to the LMC Board of Directors.

“The consolidation we’re seeing today is causing companies to just get larger,” Eddie said. “But there are a lot of builders that don’t want to become a number on a huge corporations’ customers list. They want people who will care about their business, treat them with respect, and try to work with them to make them successful.”

“We are very excited to have Eddie Crosslin join the LMC Board of directors. His years of experience in the industry and working on numerous LMC committees will add a tremendous amount of value to the board.” Said Mark Torrisi, Chairman of the Board and President of Jackson Lumber and Millwork.

Crosslin Supply’s Journey to Renewed Independence
In 2007, Eddie Crosslin and his family received and accepted an offer to sell their business to Pro-Build. Upon acceptance, Crosslin’s facilities in Franklin, Spring Hill, and Smyrna, TN became part of ProBuild’s East Region.

The acquisition was strategic for ProBuild. Buddy Ables, then President of Pro-Build East Region noted that Nashville was among the top 20 markets in terms of permit activity. When ProBuild acquired the company, Eddie stayed on as the General Manager of the Smyrna location before progressing into an area sales manager role.

Just five years later in 2012, ProBuild exited the Nashville market, and in 2015, Builders First Source acquired ProBuild in an all cash deal worth $1.63B.

The day Eddie got the news that those locations that had been with his family for decades would stop trading; he wasn’t alone. Pro-Build shuttered as many as 50 facilities that day.

“They closed them all in one day,” Eddie said. “The economy was so bad at that point.”

Like many owner-operators, Eddie has been part of his family’s business since he was a young child. Founded in 1933, Crosslin Building Supply Inc. has been family-owned and operated with the exception of those five years when it was absorbed into Pro-Build.

Eddie pulled the business permit to re-start the Eagleville location in March 2012 and over the next three months, the economy in Nashville began to pick-up. In a report from the Downtown Nashville Partnership published in July 2012, the editors kicked-off their findings with an audible sigh of relief, simply stating “What a difference a year makes.”_{Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/NASH947BPPRIVSA}

Eddie and his family had been LMC members since 1987 until the sale was agreed. One of his first calls after pulling the permits to re-start the business was to LMC to talk about his path back. “I was fortunate to get back in very quickly,” Eddie said. “It was a great experience.”

Business Today
Eddie has been working in the lumber and building materials industry for his entire life. Like so many in our industry, Eddie grew up doing virtually every job possible in the family business: he worked the yard, drove trucks, pulled orders, and managed dispatch. He worked his way up through the company before reaching VP and then becoming a director of the company. He also has a BS and MBA from the University of Tennessee Knoxville. Although Crosslin Building Supply is back in the hands of the Crosslin family, consolidation is happening faster than ever, Eddie notes.

For Eddie, LMC membership is a key part of his strategy to compete going forward.

“For businesses like mine, LMC is essential for us to be able to compete with those large companies,” Eddie said. “As a group, LMC dealers are larger than any of those corporations. If dealers can see the value in all of us working together and purchasing together, then there will be a place for us in this industry.”