84 Lumber is building on its reputation
Rick Shrum
In this 2018 photo, Maggie Hardy, owner and CEO of 84 Lumber Co., and Brownsville Area Superintendent Keith Hartbauer discuss security in schools after the company donated $7,396 to the district to purchase and install metal detectors in schools.
Courtesy of 84 Lumber
Joe Hardy launched 84 Lumber Co. in Eighty Four, where, 67 years later, it remains headquarters of a bustling, nationwide operation.
Courtesy of 84 Lumber
Maggie Hardy at the grand opening of 84 Lumber’s expanded Morgantown, W.Va., store earlier this year
It certainly is not out of character that 84 Lumber Co. continues to build … and build … and build.
“We have grown exponentially the last couple of years,” said Amy Smiley, vice president of marketing for the nation’s largest privately held supplier of building materials.
She was speaking by telephone from corporate headquarters in the Eighty Four section of North Strabane Township, where Joe Hardy founded the company in 1956. He, brothers Norman and Bob, and friends Ed Ryan and Jack Kunkle purchased land and buildings for a new “cash and carry” lumberyard, of which the brothers were sole owners.
Nearly seven decades later – despite a pandemic and a few down cycles typical of most businesses – 84 Lumber is in the midst of further expansion.
“We had $8.75 billion in revenue in 2022,” Smiley said. “We have more than 7,000 associates and we’re still hiring in a lot of markets.”
84 Lumber, she added, has a presence in 35 states. “And we’re not just opening stores, but also expanding and enhancing existing stores and adding manufacturing facilities. We moved our Morgantown (W.Va.) location into a larger facility around Memorial Day.”
The company’s ascent is frequently attributed to Joe Hardy, who was often described as “larger than life.” Hardy, who died Jan. 1 on his 100th birthday, was instrumental in establishing the foundation for this company and adding to it. But his daughter, Maggie Hardy, also should be credited for effectively steering this ship for about half of its existence – and into these lofty times.
Joe named her president of 84 Lumber in 1992, when she was 26, then later that decade appointed Maggie as head of Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, an endeavor he started in 1987. She is now owner and CEO of both entities.
“A lot of the success of 84 Lumber and Nemacolin are due to Maggie,” Smiley said. The lumber company, in fact, has hit two significant milestones since the daughter took over: $1 billion in annual sales for the first time, in 1993, and $4 billion in annual sales in 2020.
Maggie Hardy leads this company in a straightforward, diligent manner. “We’ve always operated with the belief that we can only control what we can control,” she said in a prepared statement. “There are outside forces we can’t control, such as lumber and panel indexes, housing starts, etc. We can control how we operate our stores, take care of our associates and our customers.
“We believe that in 2023, the hard work that we have put into developing new customers to gain more market share through opening new stores and component plants, also gives our associates the tools to take care of our customers. What we do in 2023 will pay off in future years.”
Travelers nationwide frequently encounter the familiar 84 Lumber logo – the number in white, encircled by a red ball. The building materials supplier has more than 310 facilities across the United States, not all of them stores. The company also has component manufacturing plants, custom door shops and engineered wood product centers, and provides services for single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings.
“This is definitely a more diversified business than when it started in 1956,” Smiley said. “Where we’re really expanding is the Western Division of the United States. We’ve been opening locations in Colorado, California and Boise (Idaho). When the company started, it was very East Coast.”
84 Lumber has a Western Division satellite office in Phoenix, which will be relocating to Dallas.
The company’s heartbeat, however, remains in Eighty Four, at a complex off Route 519 where an estimated 400 individuals are employed. That is about 5% of the 84 Lumber’s national workforce. “We call it Team Headquarters here,” Smiley said.
Her employer, to be sure, is well known for its building projects. Yet there is another project the company embraces – reaching out to communities through its philanthropic endeavors.
“My department oversees all philanthropic efforts at 84 Lumber,” Smiley said. “We give well over $1 million a year to causes nationwide. We do a lot for veterans, the military, battling breast cancer. We try to be involved across the country.”
By doing so, 84 Lumber is building goodwill.