Each month, we survey our network of building products manufacturers, retailers, distributors and contractors to gauge the major trends affecting their product categories. We question these contacts about sales trends, volume, pricing power, profitability, changes in raw material and transportation costs, homecenter activity, the business outlook and pertinent macro issues. Our robust participant sample captures well over $150 billion of annual revenue, allowing for highly-quantitative results that serve as reliable industry benchmarks in a sector that otherwise lacks publicly-available data points.