for Building Materials and Lumber Wholesale Distributors
Building materials distributors and lumber dealers operate in one of the most relationship-intensive channels in wholesale distribution. Your customers — builders, contractors, remodelers, and dealers — expect to do business with companies that know their product lines, stand behind their suppliers, and present themselves professionally.
District Publishing helps building materials distributors produce custom brochures, product catalogs, and marketing programs through a vendor-supported model. Your vendors and suppliers fund the production. Our in-house team handles everything from vendor outreach through print and digital delivery.
The Story a Building Materials Distributor Needs to Tell
Building materials distribution is local and regional at its core. Your customers have options — and they choose based on relationships, product availability, and the sense that your organization is a long-term partner they can count on.
A professionally produced company brochure communicates all of that. It shows contractors and dealers what you carry, who backs you up, how long you’ve been doing this, and why your vendor relationships give them access to better products and service than they’d find elsewhere.
Most building materials distributors don’t have that piece. They have a website, maybe a flyer, and a price list. District Publishing builds what’s missing.
How the Vendor-Supported Model Works for Building Materials
Your supplier network—the manufacturers, millwork companies, roofing brands, insulation producers, and other vendors your organization buys from—benefit from visibility within your marketing materials. They want to be seen by your customer base and associated with your organization’s name and reputation.
District Publishing’s Account Executives contact your suppliers directly and present the advertising opportunity. We manage all outreach, follow-up, and creative submission. You make yourself available when vendors reach out to confirm participation, and our team handles the rest.
The advertising fees collected from participating vendors fund the full production of your brochure — all writing, design, proofing, printing, and digital delivery — at no cost to your organization.
Products District Publishing Produces for Building Materials Distributors
SUPPLIER-SUPPORTED BROCHURES — A custom multi-page, full-color company brochure (typically 16 to 80+ pages) showcasing your organization’s history, product lines, branch network, vendor relationships, and capabilities. Designed for multi-year use as a sales tool, trade show handout, and credibility piece.
CUSTOM PRODUCTS CATALOGS — For distributors with large or complex product offerings, District Publishing produces large-format product catalogs ranging from 16 pages to several hundred pages. Every catalog is fully customized in writing, layout, and design — not built from a manufacturer’s template.
INTERACTIVE DIGITAL FLIPBOOK — Every printed program includes a professionally hosted interactive digital version suitable for email, web embedding, social media distribution, and trade show use.
How Building Materials Distributors Use the Finished Piece
Builder and contractor development — Use the brochure in meetings with builders and general contractors to communicate your product depth and vendor backing.
LBM trade show presence — Bring the brochure to LBM Dealer events, regional trade shows, and buying group meetings as your primary marketing handout.
New account prospecting — Hand the brochure to new contractor relationships as part of your first visit — communicating your organization’s credibility in a format they can keep and reference.
Vendor relationship investment — Suppliers who participate in your brochure program receive professional display exposure within a piece distributed across your entire customer network.
Digital outreach — The hosted flipbook can be emailed to prospects, shared on LinkedIn and Facebook, embedded on your website, and linked from email signatures.
District Publishing's Experience in Building Materials Distribution
District Publishing has worked with building materials distributors and lumber dealers as part of a broader practice spanning 27 wholesale distribution industries and more than 21 years of operation. We understand how to present a multi-line building materials operation in a way that speaks to the contractor and dealer audience — with content that reflects the depth of your product offering and the strength of your supplier relationships.
Ridout Lumber is among the building materials distributors that have used a District Publishing program to produce a professionally branded brochure and digital flipbook for their organization.
Our programs are built from scratch for each client — no templates, no shared layouts. Across thousands of completed programs, District Publishing maintains a 98% success rate, meaning virtually every distributor who starts a program finishes with a completed, distributed brochure.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to sell advertising to my own vendors?
No. District Publishing’s Account Executives handle all vendor outreach on your behalf. You provide a list of your key suppliers and our team contacts them directly, presents the opportunity, and manages follow-up through close. Your role is to be available when a vendor calls to confirm participation.
How many pages will my brochure be?
Page count is determined by vendor participation — each vendor ad page funds one content page for your company. Programs typically run 16 to 80+ pages. Larger building materials operations with extensive vendor networks tend to produce larger finished pieces.
What if not enough vendors participate?
If District Publishing is unable to generate sufficient vendor funding to produce a brochure, our contract releases both parties from any further obligation. District Publishing is solely responsible for any costs incurred. You carry zero financial risk.
How long does the process take?
Most programs are completed within 3 to 6 months from kickoff, depending on vendor participation timeline, proof turnaround, and print scheduling.
What does the digital flipbook include?
The hosted digital flipbook includes a clickable table of contents, live links to vendor websites, QR codes, and optional video embeds. It is hosted for a minimum of 3 years and can be shared by email, embedded on your website, and linked from social media.
Schedule a Conversation
If you are a building materials distributor or lumber dealer who wants to see what a vendor-supported brochure program looks like in practice, we’d welcome the opportunity to walk you through the process and show you samples from completed programs.