Pro Market Power Shift: How Pros, Titans, And AI Will Rewire The Building Products Industry | Todd Tomalak, Zonda Paradigm Industry Insiders podcast

Pro Market Power Shift: How Pros, Titans, and AI Will Rewire The Building Products Industry | Todd Tomalak, Zonda

16d ago 41:25

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Guest host Stefanie Couch, Founder of Grit Blueprint, and Todd Tomalak, Principal, Building Products at Zonda, dig into the pro channel power shift and the new battleground at the top of the funnel.

Pros will increasingly start online and, more often, in AI tools that assemble punch lists, alternates, and pricing in one thread. That means digital presence, structured product data, and AI-ready content aren’t “nice to have”, they’re how you avoid being bypassed.

Stefanie shares her BLEND framework for independents: brand, leverage, experience, niche, digital, and why training is the hidden constraint for high-margin, high-complexity categories.

Topics covered:
• Orders down ~20% Q3 vs Q1, signs of thaw
• HELOC taps up 38% with super-prime borrowers
• Windows and doors replacement pool 2–3x by 2027
• Pros control margin; capacity becomes the choke point
• HELOC-funded projects trigger 4–7x adjacent work
• Playbook for independents: brand, leverage, experience, niche, digital
• Training gap on complex lines; AI as copilot
• Home Depot–SRS autonomy vs centralization risk
• Lowe’s marketplace and footprint advantage
• QXO upside if earnings-doubling proof lands
• Measure pro digital draw rate and leakage
• AI reshapes search, discovery, and conversion
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Chapters

1. Setting the Stakes: Pros, AI, Digital (00:00:00)

2. Market Softness And “Turn On A Dime” (00:01:29)

3. HELOC Surge And Deferred Demand (00:03:36)

4. Windows & Doors Super-Cycle Math (00:05:06)

5. Pros Rule The Channel (00:07:20)

6. HELOC As Project Multiplier (00:10:45)

7. How Independents Can Still Win (00:12:25)

8. Omnichannel Pros And Training Gaps (00:16:45)

9. Vertical Integration And Supply Risk (00:20:15)

10. Clash Of The Titans: HD, Lowe’s, QXO (00:22:52)

11. Will Autonomy Survive At SRS? (00:26:20)

12. Centralize Or Decentralize? (00:29:30)

13. Lowe’s Marketplace And Footprint Edge (00:32:00)

14. The New Pro Funnel: Search To AI (00:35:10)

15. Who Wins The Clash? Upside Vs. Proof (00:38:00)

16. Closing Thoughts And Subscribe CTA (00:41:10)

5 episodes