The building material, garden equipment, and supplies dealers industry focuses on the sale of new building material, garden equipment, and supplies from fixed physical locations. As a result of the display equipment required to handle these supplies (such as lumber), an expansive area -- either indoors or covered outdoors -- is required for accurate presentation.
Staff working in this industry are expected to have a complete understanding of the specific products being sold for the construction, repair, and maintenance of the home as well as its associated grounds. Businesses looking to onboard these experienced and knowledgeable employees will have to offer a comprehensive benefits package if they want to stand out as a differentiator from their competition. Generally speaking, this includes access to health, vision, and dental insurance, paid time off, retirement savings, and disability coverage.
There are about 75,000 building material and garden equipment facilities nationwide, employing over 1.3 million professionals. On average, each business is small, with 17 staff members each. This industry is almost evenly split between male and female employees, and the average employee age is 38 years old.
35% of these employers offer short-term disability coverage, and 12% offer long-term disability insurance. The national average is 42% and 34%, respectively.
42% offer access to a life insurance plan. Comparatively, the national average is 56%.
The building material, garden equipment, and supplies dealers industry stands well-below the national industry standard when providing comprehensive benefits packages to their employees. There are many opportunities for employers to increase their benefits offerings, including providing more retirement savings options, improving disability coverage, adding in more paid vacation days, and offering more inclusive access to paid family leave.