How it started
History
Prior to co-founding BuildDirect, Jeff Booth was a home builder. After experiencing "complexities and inefficiencies", Booth founded BuildDirect in October 1999 with friend Rob Banks. Their goal was to simplify the home improvement industry. The first years focused on shipping heavyweight home improvement materials. In 2002 they launched www.Builddirect.com, an e-commerce site for home improvement products and building materials. The company grew quickly, doubling in size from 2002 to 2004.
During the 2008 financial crisis, the company nearly went out of business but survived by changing its business model to include suppliers lending their product on consignment to BuildDirect warehouses. In 2010, the company built a supply chain for shipping heavy goods "anywhere to anywhere", and in 2016, they launched the BuildDirect Home Marketplace. The company initially sold home building materials but has since diversified to include other products such as furniture, home decor, lighting, and outdoor living items.
On June 10, 2015, Builddirect acquired DraftingSpace, a software company based in Waterloo.
From Wikipedia’s article on BuildDirect, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3