Expanding from regional to national distribution is a major milestone for any building materials company. It’s not just about shipping farther—it’s about scaling smarter, standardizing operations, and maintaining service excellence across multiple geographies.
In this case study, we explore how TitanBuild Supply, a mid-sized building materials distributor, successfully expanded from a five-state regional operation to a nationwide footprint—while increasing customer satisfaction, improving logistics efficiency, and growing revenue by 42% in just 18 months.
🏗 Company Profile: TitanBuild Supply
Headquarters: Indianapolis, IN
Industry: Building materials distribution (structural lumber, insulation, roofing products)
Initial Footprint: Midwest and Southeast (5 states)
Employees: 350
Annual Revenue (Pre-Expansion): $120M
🎯 The Goal: National Growth Without Compromising Performance
With demand rising in the Mountain West, Texas, and Northeast, TitanBuild’s leadership saw an opportunity to serve a broader contractor base. But they had a few key conditions:
Maintain 2-day or better delivery times
Keep customer service standards consistent across all regions
Avoid bloated overhead or fragmented operations
🧠 Strategy 1: Build a Data-Driven Expansion Plan
Challenge: Where to go first—and how to avoid overextending?
What They Did:
Analyzed 3 years of order and quote data to identify “hotspot” states with high quote volume but low fulfillment
Cross-referenced regions with population growth, housing permits, and contractor density
Prioritized Texas, Colorado, and Pennsylvania for Phase 1 rollout
🔍 Smart data use allowed them to expand where demand was already waiting.
📦 Strategy 2: Open Regional Fulfillment Hubs—Not Just Warehouses
Challenge: How to deliver quickly nationwide without building a DC in every state?
What They Did:
Opened 3 strategically located fulfillment hubs with multi-state reach
Partnered with 3PL providers for long-haul trucking and final-mile support
Used their existing WMS to ensure inventory visibility across all hubs
Result:
🚛 96% of national orders now ship within 2 days, and freight cost per order dropped by 14%.
🧑💻 Strategy 3: Standardize Systems and SOPs Across All Locations
Challenge: Maintain brand consistency and service quality from coast to coast.
What They Did:
Unified all locations on one ERP and CRM platform
Created standard operating procedures for receiving, picking, shipping, and customer support
Implemented a national training program for warehouse and sales staff
⚙️ Consistency in systems = consistency in customer experience.
📞 Strategy 4: Centralize Customer Support, Localize Sales
Challenge: How to keep customer service responsive while scaling?
What They Did:
Set up a centralized call center with product and order specialists
Hired local account managers in each new territory with deep market knowledge
Launched a national contractor onboarding program to standardize new customer experience
Result:
📈 Contractor satisfaction increased by 17% in new markets (based on post-purchase surveys).
📊 Strategy 5: Measure and Adapt in Real-Time
Challenge: Stay agile during a fast rollout.
What They Did:
Created an expansion KPI dashboard tracking:
New customer acquisition
Average order size by region
Fulfillment rate by warehouse
Gross margin by location
Conducted weekly leadership reviews during the first 6 months
📉 They caught early issues like stockouts in Denver and rerouted inventory from Dallas within 24 hours.
🚀 Results After 18 Months
MetricBefore ExpansionAfter Expansion
States Served526
National Revenue–$74M (new markets)
Overall Revenue$120M$171M (↑ 42%)
On-Time Delivery91%95%
Freight Cost per Order$142$122 (↓ 14%)
Customer Retention (New Markets)–82%
🧠 Key Takeaways
Data leads growth. Don’t guess where to expand—follow your demand signals.
Flexibility beats footprint. Regional hubs and strong logistics partners scale faster than company-owned trucks everywhere.
Consistency wins. Standardized tools and training keep service quality high.
National mindset, local execution. Combining centralized systems with local expertise delivers the best of both worlds.
Track fast, pivot faster. Use live KPIs to fine-tune expansion in real time.
✅ Conclusion: Smart Expansion Is Scalable, Profitable, and Repeatable
TitanBuild Supply didn’t just grow bigger—they grew better, using a structured, data-first approach to expand nationally without compromising performance. Their case proves that with the right logistics model, systems, and leadership focus, a regional distributor can become a national powerhouse—and do it without losing the customer-first culture that made them successful to begin with.
