As do-it-yourselfers depend on parent companies, those businesses that do it for others depend on The Home Depot Supply, a subsidiary of The Home Depot. In addition to the homebuilders and construction contractors one would expect, customers also include facility maintenance professionals and government agencies.

This current customer mix is the result of The Home Depot Supply merging with two other subsidiaries of The Home Depot (Maintenance Warehouse and Apex Supply) and The Home Depot’s acquisition of White Cap Construction Supply in 2004. Working with the General Services Administration has also opened up new opportunities for The Home Depot Supply.

Building business
Many new residential production builders turn to The Home Depot Supply Builder Solutions as demand for new homes stays strong. The company offers turnkey flooring, window treatments, countertops, as well as design center services. The Home Depot Supply’s experts assist builders in making design choices as well as scheduling and overseeing the installation for entire housing developments.

In 2003, the company provided these services for more than 50,000 homes across the country, making it the national leader in supplying and installing flooring for the residential construction market. It serves 17 of the top 20 homebuilders in the US and operates in 24 markets, including 11 of the top 25 new home construction markets in the country.

Combined with design services are The Home Depot Supply’s advantages for construction contractors, which were made possible through White Cap, a leading distributor of specialty hardware, tools, and materials. When it acquired White Cap, Jim Stoddart, president of The Home Depot Supply, said the move was made, in large part, with customers in mind.

“White Cap’s expertise will help The Home Depot Supply more fully satisfy its customers’ needs,” he stated in a company press release. “White Cap is the clear leader in this highly fragmented market, and we’re pleased that its leadership team will continue to play an integral role in the organization. We believe this acquisition will be accretive to earnings, and we are most excited about the opportunity it provides for future growth.”

As part of The Home Depot Supply, White Cap offers more than 65,000 products ranging from brand-name construction materials to safety equipment, from work wear to landscape lighting in more than 70 locations across the country. It also can track down hard-to-find items contractors need.

Cutting the red tape
With two General Services Administration (GSA) Schedule contracts, The Home Depot Supply works with government customers to ease their purchases of building, repair, and maintenance products from its retail stores and catalog. The GSA creates long-term, government-wide contracts with commercial firms to offer access to more than 4 million commercial services and products.

The largest retailer with a GSA Schedule contract, The Home Depot is also one of the largest suppliers of building, repair, and maintenance products available to all federal agencies through GSA’s Hardware SuperStore Multiple Award Schedule Program. When the first contract was awarded in July 2003, Bob Nardelli, chairman, president, and CEO of The Home Depot said the company was pleased to expand its government business.

“During the past year, we have been putting the people and processes in place to ensure we follow the correct procedures to act as a federally approved contractor,” he said in a company statement. “The Home Depot takes compliance very seriously. A GSA Schedule contract enables us to provide a higher level of commitment and service to the federal government, and it opens the door to additional, large-scale government business opportunities.”

Within The Home Depot Supply are specially trained government account managers who understand how to do business with the government and, in many cases, have prior government or military experience. These account managers provide personal attention to ensure government customers get the most from their interaction with The Home Depot Supply, as well as its parent company, and offer a number of time- and cost-saving processes such as online catalog orders, and freight-free and next-day delivery.

Stock room to hotel room
It isn’t just government customers who are leveraging the breadth of The Home Depot Supply. It is a leading supplier of maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) products to owners and managers of multifamily, hospitality, educational, commercial, healthcare, and government properties.

Again, the company is an industry-leader, boasting a 98.5% fill rate, which ensures customers have access to the products they need, when they need them. The Home Depot Supply offers thousands of in-stock products including electrical, lighting, plumbing, housekeeping, janitorial, and HVAC supplies. It also provides free, next-day delivery on catalog items from its network of more than 20 warehouse locations across the United States and Canada. As always, personal attention is part of the equation as more than 200 field account managers and an extensive customer service organization develop personalized relationships with customers.

Much of the ease of working with The Home Depot Supply stems from its Web site. Not only does it provide information about the company, but also its entire product catalog. Customers can browse the virtual catalog or do a “quick order” right from the front page. There also are useful links to customer training, a warehouse/store locator, material safety data sheets, and UPS tracking.

Exclusive details
But it is personalized attention and the fact that The Home Depot Supply offers a “one-stop” approach to business customers that convinced HomeVestors of America, Inc. to make the company its exclusive building materials supplier.

“Home Depot offers our franchisees a single point of contact for the complete range of products needed to transform undesirable houses into appealing, comfortable, marketable homes,” said J. David Young, president of HomeVestors, when the partnership was announced in February 2004. “We stand to benefit from unfettered access to the finest quality products and materials at the best prices.”

According to Stoddart, this is the type of relationship the company hopes to foster. “We’re very pleased with this agreement with HomeVestors,” he said at the time. “Because of our ability to provide a wide range of product and service offerings to HomeVestors, we are able to participate in a unique growth sector in the real estate market. It’s another example of The Home Depot growing by extending its business to meet new opportunities.