THE SKY'S THE LIMIT

FOR 84 LUMBER, THE NATION'S LARGEST PRIVATELY HELD BUILDING MATERIALS SUPPLIER, THERE 'S NOTHING BUT SUCCESS AHEAD.

It‘s the name of the town.

Eighty-Four, Pa., is an unincorporated village about 20 miles south of Pittsburgh, and that’s where 84 Lumber got its name. Now here’s what really matters: 84 Lumber is the nation’s largest privately-owned supplier of building materials, manufactured components, and industry-leading services for single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings—and one of the best large companies to work for in America.

Just ask Frank Cicero. He was an applied math and computer science major when he signed on with the company 37 years ago. Today he’s 84’s excited about the company as he was on Day One. We recently spoke to Cicero and his CIO, Paul Yater, about 84’s enviable position as a market leader.

84 Lumber is the first and foremost a family company, founded in 1956 by Joe Hardy. An engineer by trade, Joe became attracted to the lumber business, and together with his two younger brothers and a friend, built cash and carry lumberyard geared to the needs of builders in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Joe’s daughter Maggie Hardy Knox took the reins in 1992 at just 26 years of age, transforming the traditional legacy lumber company into a vertically integrated enterprise at a time when game-changing reorganizations were rare to see in the industry, particularly in family-owned companies.