The driving force in the creation of Builders FirstSource is the desire to provide professional class building materials and services to the country's homebuilders on a national basis.

During the 1990's, the building materials industry experienced significant changes. Homebuilders began to grow via acquisition, creating large national competitors. Similar consolidation also took place with building materials manufacturers. It was only a matter of time before the building material supply industry - those companies between the consolidating manufacturers and consolidating homebuilders - experienced the same trend. Builders FirstSource was born from this industry evolution.

Builders FirstSource seeks to be the leading supplier of structural building materials to homebuilders. The Company's key to success is being able to give personal attention to the local builders' job sites and also provide them with benefits that can only be offered by a large, national competitor. Builders FirstSource's goal is to provide outstanding products and services to every customer, regardless of size. Builders FirstSource can offer its customers market leading products and services smaller competitors struggle to match.

In March 1998, a management team supported by JLL Partners, a private investment firm with committed capital of $2.2 billion, acquired Builders' Supply & Lumber Company from The Pulte Corporation.

Builders FirstSource continues to grow through a combination of strategic acquisitions and internal expansion. Since March of 1998, the company acquired twenty-three companies, each of which was already an outstanding supplier to professional homebuilders in the markets they serve. The resulting organization generated pro forma revenue of approximately $2 billion, in 2004. As of December, 2009, Builders FirstSource operates 55 distribution centers and 51 manufacturing facilities in 9 states.

Builders FirstSource will continue to acquire outstanding market leaders in the building products distribution industry. The scale of advantages of a large organization and the ability to spread best practices to newly acquired companies gives Builders FirstSource the opportunity to focus on the changing dynamics of today's home delivery process. Builders FirstSource believes this focus is a strategic advantage in meeting, and even shaping, the evolving housing construction industry in the United States.