Lowes closed its $8.8 billion acquisition of Foundation Building Materials in October 2025, five weeks after Home Depot closed on GMS. What the deal figures show, and what is actually known about the effect on contractors.

Robotic layout is no longer a future concept. With tools like HP SitePrint becoming easier to deploy and easier to justify financially, precision automation is quickly becoming part of the modern construction toolkit. The chalk line will always have its place, but the jobsite is clearly entering a more digital, more efficient era.

ADUs made up 43 percent of newly permitted housing units in Los Angeles in 2024. What the law requires, what permitting actually takes, what units cost and return, and why most prefab manufacturers have failed.