Unless you were living under a rock, you saw last week that The Home Depot announced plans to buy building materials distributor SRS Distribution for a whopping $18.25 billion dollars in a deal expected to close by the end of 2024. …It’s the biggest acquisition involving a wholesale distributor in at least a decade — maybe ever. I did an analysis dive into the transaction details and some of the questions it raises in a Premium piece, but a deal of this magnitude deserves further inspection. So we recruited a fellow industry analyst who specializes in building materials markets. My guest for this episode was Craig Webb, who has covered lumber, building materials and construction supply dealers for nearly 20 years. “I nearly choked on my Raisin Bran when I saw the news after I woke up and realized, ‘Oh my God, we’ve got a story,’” he told me.