Good morning. My name is Jason, and I will be your conference facilitator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Boise Cascade's First Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero.
After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Chris Forrey, Senior Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations. Mr. Forrey, you may begin your conference.
Thank you, Jason. Good morning, everyone. I'd like to welcome you to Boise Cascade's first quarter 2026 earnings call and business update. Joining me on today's call are Jeff Strom, our CEO, Kelly Hibbs, our CFO, Jo Barney, leader of the Building Materials Distribution operations, and Troy Little, leader of our Wood Products operations.
Turning to slide two. This call will contain forward-looking statements. Please review the warning statements in our press release, on the presentation slides, and in our filings with the SEC regarding the risks associated with these forward-looking statements. Please note that the appendix includes reconciliations from our GAAP net income to EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA and segment income or loss to segment EBITDA. I will now turn the call over to Jeff.
Thanks, Chris. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our earnings call. I'm on slide three. As I step into the role of CEO, I want to express my deep confidence in our company, our talented people, and our established direction. We have a strong foundation and a proven strategy that has positioned us well in the marketplace, and I'm committed to building on that momentum. My thanks to our outstanding team, whose dedication, expertise, and commitment to our customer and supplier partners are what drive our continued success.
I'm excited to lead us forward, focused on delivering sustained value for all of our stakeholders. Now let me turn to our first quarter results. Total U.S. housing starts increased 1% compared to the prior year quarter. However, single-family housing starts were off 5% for the same comparative period.
Our consolidated first quarter sales of $1.5 billion were down 2% from first quarter of 2025. Our net income was $17.8 million or $0.50 per share, compared to net income of $40.3 million or $1.06 per share in the year-ago quarter. Our business has delivered solid results for the quarter, despite continued demand uncertainty resulting from geopolitical events, volatile mortgage rates, and severe weather.
The challenges of consumer sentiment and home affordability remain the most significant headwinds for residential construction activity. In this environment, we're continuing to leverage our integrated model, which consistently demonstrates its value and resilience, particularly in challenging market conditions like these.
As a follow-up to our previously disclosed legal matter that was resolved last week, this was a legacy issue involving certain hardwood plywood purchases made at a single distribution facility in Pompano, Florida, between 2017 and 2021. We bought the wood from a former U.S.-based supplier that improperly imported the products. We were not involved in creating or operating the supplier's scheme, but we did not follow some of our own internal processes that would have prevented us from making these purchases.
We've taken responsibility for that and have strengthened our processes to prevent this from happening again. Kelly will now walk through our segment financial results, capital allocation priorities, and second quarter guidance, after which I'll provide insights on our business outlook and make closing comments before we open the call for questions. Kelly?
Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. BMD sales this quarter were $1.4 billion, down 1% for first quarter of 2025. BMD reported segment EBITDA of $48.2 million in the first quarter, compared to segment EBITDA of $62.8 million in the prior year quarter. Selling and distribution expenses were up $8.2 million from first quarter of 2025. Gross margin dollars decreased $6.5 million compared to the prior year quarter, affecting lower gross margins on all product lines, particularly EWP.
In Wood Products, our sales in the first quarter, including sales to our distribution segment, were $398.2 million, down 4% compared to first quarter 2025. Wood Products segment EBITDA was $32 million, compared to EBITDA of $40.2 million reported in the year-ago quarter.
The decrease in segment EBITDA was due primarily to lower EWP sales prices as well as higher per unit EWP conversion costs. These decreases were offset partially by lower per unit OSB costs as well as higher plywood sales volumes and prices. Moving to slides five and six. BMD's year-over-year first quarter sales decline of 1% was driven by net sales price decreases of 3%, offset partially by net sales volume increases of 2%. By product line, general line product sales increased 4%, commodity sales decreased 5%, and sales of EWP decreased 7%.
Sequentially, BMD sales were up 2% from fourth quarter of 2025. Weather had a significant impact on first quarter sales activity at our Southeast and Northeast distribution centers, as the affected locations were closed for a combined 35 days in January and February.
The impacts were evident in BMD's daily sales pace during the quarter, with daily sales of approximately $21 million in both January and February before rebounding nicely in March to $24 million. Our first quarter gross margin was 14.4%, down 30 basis points year-over-year. The decline was driven by EWP competitive pricing pressures as well as lower margins on general line products. BMD's EBITDA margin was 3.5% for the quarter, down from both the 4.5% reported in the year-ago quarter and the 4.1% reported in the fourth quarter.
Lower gross margins, coupled with the effects on our operating expense leverage from branch closures in the first quarter, negatively impacted our EBITDA margin result. Turning to slide seven. On a year-over-year basis, first quarter I-joist and LVL volumes were down 5% and 1% respectively.
Sequential I-joist and LVL volumes were up 16% and 8% respectively, driven by seasonal demand improvements and channel restocking ahead of the spring building season. As it relates to pricing, first quarter EWP sales prices declined about 7% year-over-year but remained flat sequentially. Turning to slide eight. Our first quarter plywood sales volume was 373 million feet compared to 363 million feet in first quarter 2025. The year-over-year increase in plywood volumes was due primarily to the restart of operations at our Oakdale mill in fourth quarter 2025.
Sequentially, our plywood sales volumes were up 5% fourth quarter 2025, as anticipated, due to seasonal demand improvement. The average plywood net sales price was $343 per thousand in the first quarter, representing a 1% increase year-over-year and 4% sequentially.
We attribute the recent improvement in plywood pricing primarily to weather-related supply constraints in the South, combined with reduced imports. Notably, Brazilian imports declined by more than 60% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2026. However, following the late February Supreme Court decision that invalidated the use of IEEPA to impose tariffs, higher import volumes are anticipated, which are expected to influence market dynamics in the coming months.
I'm now on slide nine. We had capital expenditures of $40 million in the first quarter, with $23 million of spending in BMD and $17 million of spending in Wood Products. Our capital spending range for 2026 remains at $150 million-$170 million.
Roughly a third of BMD's 2026 spending relates to growth projects across our system, with the balance of our spending in both segments attributable to business improvement and efficiency projects, replacement projects, and ongoing environmental compliance. Speaking to shareholder returns, we paid $10 million in dividends during the quarter. Our board of directors also recently approved a $0.22 per share quarterly dividend on our common stock that will be paid in mid-June.
Through the first four months of 2026, we repurchased approximately $91 million of our common stock, including approximately $66 million in the first quarter. Since the beginning of 2024, we have repurchased approximately 12% of our outstanding shares. As of today, approximately $148 million of our outstanding common stock is available for repurchase under our existing share repurchase program.
As expected, we utilized cash in the first quarter, primarily driven by seasonal working capital needs, along with our planned capital investments and shareholder returns. However, the ongoing strength of our balance sheet remains in place, which positions us well to continue the pursuit of our strategic objectives. I'm now on slide 10, where we have outlined a range of potential EBITDA outcomes for the second quarter, along with the key assumptions underlying these projections. As we look ahead, end market demand remains uncertain, and certain cost inputs are volatile.
For BMD, we currently estimate second quarter EBITDA to be between $65 million and $80 million. BMD's current daily sales pace is approximately 15% above the first quarter sales pace of $22 million per day. Gross margins are expected to be between 14.25% and 15%.
Importantly, as our guide suggests, if our current sales pace is sustained, we expect BMD to show a healthy sequential improvement in EBITDA margin. For Wood Products, we estimate second quarter EBITDA to be between $32 million-$47 million. Our EWP order files are showing seasonal strength, we expect sales volumes to increase mid-single digits sequentially. EWP pricing is expected to range from flat to low single-digit decline sequentially. In plywood, we expect sequential volume increases in the mid-single digits.
On plywood pricing, quarter-to-date realizations were 8% above our first quarter average, with the balance of the quarter market dependent. We expect our per-unit manufacturing costs will be comparable to first quarter, as higher volumes and early results from focused site improvement plans across our manufacturing system are expected to offset recent energy-related cost increases. I will turn it over to Jeff to share our business outlook and closing remarks.
Thank you, Kelly. I'm on slide 11. Given the current environment, visibility into end market demand for 2026 is limited. For much of the first quarter, mortgage rates declined to the lowest level in over three years. Recent geopolitical turmoil has led to volatility in Treasury and mortgage rates alike, introducing greater uncertainty on the remainder of the spring selling season. Home builders are responding to the cautious demand environment with thoughtful approaches to starts, home sizes, location, and inventory.
Maintaining our focus and staying agile remains central to Boise Cascade's strategy for delivering outstanding service across a broad selection of in-stock, industry-leading Building Materials in any operating environment. The alignment of our two business segments is evident every day, and is a driving force in our world-class operations.
Enhanced channel visibility supports the alignment of our production rates and inventory strategies with end market demand. Cross-divisional coordination and our strong financial position provide the security and flexibility for our teams to execute our strategy and deliver long-term value creation. We are committed to continuously seeking new opportunities to leverage our integrated model by driving greater efficiency, responsiveness, and innovation across our organization.
As we consider the future of home building, we remain confident in the structural drivers of U.S. housing demand, which include the persistent undersupply of housing driven by generational tailwinds, near-record levels of homeowner equity, a decade of under-building, and an aging U.S. housing stock with the average home being more than 40 years old. The strong fundamentals for both new residential construction and repair and remodeling reinforce the industry's favorable outlook.
Boise Cascade's investments throughout the business cycle give us confidence that we can outpace industry growth as these market tailwinds materialize. Thank you for joining us today and for your continued support and interest. We welcome any questions at this time. Jason, please open the phone line.
Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. To ask a question you may press star then one on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone please pick-up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question please press star then two. Our first question comes from Mike Roxland from Truist Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you, Jeff, Kelly, Chris, for taking my questions. First question I had, Kelly, just in response to one of your comments regarding our Brazilian imports and the lower tariffs. You mentioned expecting to see them in coming months. Have you started to see any increased plywood or wood flows from Brazil at this juncture?
Yeah. My understanding, Mike, is that the short answer is yes. We're expecting to see more and more of that show up at the ports. Maybe a little bit delayed because there was a phenol disruption at a manufacturing site in Brazil. We know the wood is coming and we're seeing quotes show up in the coming months. Jeff, do you have some more color on that?
Yeah, I would add that there has been some that have showed up, but not significant enough that that would cause any major impact.
Got it. It also seems like, for the second question, EWP prices in 1Q sort of stabilized quarter-over-quarter. Though one of your peers was showing, you know, mid-single-digit decline in pricing. Just can you provide any more color around what's driving, you know, the price stability in your business maybe versus some of your peers? I just, you know, I recall over the last couple of years that obviously pricing was down.
I think you had some uncompetitive competitiveness in the business as particularly some of your peers were aggressive in trying to grow up business. I'm just wondering how you were able to show stable pricing relative to peers who still had a mid-single-digit price decline.
This is Troy. I'll take a crack at that. I mean, we were able to hold prices, you know, relatively flat since Q3 of last year. That's definitely not a function of less pressure in the market. It's come back. There's been more chatter. You know, there's regional pricing pressure from our competitors still. We got the, you know, conversations with home builders and, you know, still a strong concern for home affordability.
Right now, it's just a matter of being very strategic. Look, it's regional conversations, making sure that we are competitive, but, you know, we're not leading with price, leading into our model, our service proposition. Fortunately, so far, we've been able to hold prices. You know, right now, quite honestly, our order file is we've got a strong order file. It allows us to be selective there in how we address our pricing.
Got it. Thank you very much.
The next question comes from Ketan Mamtora from BMO Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. Perhaps to start with, can you talk about, you know, freight transportation, inflation that you are seeing across both, Wood Products and distribution? If you can quantify that headwind and kind of how are y'all mitigating that?
Ketan, this is Troy. I mean, definitely in terms of diesel prices, you know, we're seeing that in various aspects of our business. The biggest one for us is probably in our resin costs. You know, that's the input cost that's affected related to the increase in prices.
You know, we just have a recent increase. We really didn't see it in Q1 yet, late Q1 activity, but we did have a price increase probably ranging the 10% range around our resin. And then we've got some, you know, the direct cost that's just, you know, if you think about just fuel for rolling stock and things like that, which is not a huge spend for us, but that will be an impact.
Moving veneer around the system is we'll see that in our wood costs. Then there's that indirect, I guess, if you want to call it, every piece and part that comes into our system has probably got some type of inflationary pressure around freight. I'd say, you know, we're working on our cost control on the opposite side of that to help mitigate some of that. It's hard to quantify all that, but, you know, I think we're still comfortable that we should be, say, comparative on manufacturing costs, as Kelly mentioned.
I'll jump in on the distribution business. You know, diesel rose significantly during the quarter. You know, we were paying almost double at the end of the quarter what we were paying at the beginning of it. Most of it, we are able to pass on through our daily transactions with our customer base. You know, there are some fuel surcharges.
I'd say our people have done a tremendous job at passing those along, but there's been some short-term impact to our margin on program business where freight was included as part of the original program. At times, there's delays in what we're able to go out and recoup as far as those costs. I'd also add that, you know, the lack of trucks and drivers. There's been a lack of trucks and drivers due to the tight immigration policies. That has impacted rates and the availability of trucks as well.
Ketan, one thing I'm gonna add on the BMD side, if you think about it, one way we can kind of help control that is what we do is every load that goes out of our warehouse, every single day, we have to make sure that we optimize and that we're sending out a full truck to spread that freight if anything possible. We've been working really hard on doing that.
Got it. No, that's helpful perspective. Just when I think about the second quarter EBITDA guidance, totally appreciate that it's a dynamic environment out there. As I think about your top end versus the bottom end of the guidance range, can you at a high level talk about what does that contemplate? Should I think about, let's say, your current daily pace? What is, you know, what you all talked about that gets to the midpoint of the guidance range, let's say, in distribution. Is that the way to think about it?
Ketan, let me take a shot at that. I'll start with BMD first and then give you a little color on Wood Products also. You kind of hit it in your question, which was, we still have two months to go in the quarter. End market demand is pretty uncertain, no doubt. How much of the demand we've seen so far is replenishing the channel versus end market demand, that's a little hard to tell. Certainly the unknowns and the volatility around the cost input. All that being said, that's why we draw a pretty wide range around our EBITDA forecast for both the businesses.
Specific to BMD, if you look at the guide, and if you assume that the sales pace that we spoke to so far this quarter, if it is sustained, and then our margins are kind of the midpoint of the range that we put out, you know, that would get us into kind of the midpoint of the range. It'd get us into the, you know, low 70s, and that would get us back to a really good spot, as I commented, in terms of the healthy improvement or EBITDA margins. That'd get us into the mid-4s in terms of an EBITDA margin. In Wood Products, you know, similar theme in terms of the challenges with forecasting there, especially on the cost input side.
Troy spoke to good order files in EWP, pretty good order files in plywood, but we know how things, particularly in plywood, how quickly things can flip. Again, that's why we purposely put a pretty wide range around our results.
Got it. No, that's very helpful. I'll jump back in the queue. Good luck.
Thanks, Ketan.
The next question comes from Susan Maklari from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the questions.
Good morning, Susan [crosstalk].
My first question is around thinking of the environment that we're in and that increase in macro uncertainty that we've seen at the end of the first quarter. Has that had any impact on the mix you're seeing between sales coming out of the warehouse versus direct? What's the overall sort of read, would you say, of a lot of your customers? How is that influencing the guide and how we should think about the flow through to results?
Hey, Sue, this is Jeff. I'll take a stab at that. What we did see in the first quarter when the commodities started to move and the prices were so, you know, they were down to begin with. We did see people step in and start buying more direct than we've seen in the past few quarters. There was absolutely a shift to that. There's no doubt about that. As we're moving forward, with the uncertainty that's out there, what that creates most of the time is more reliance on distribution, and we're absolutely seeing that. Our warehouse business continues to be very strong, and it continues to be what people want to use.
Okay. That's helpful. You know, within general line, can you talk about what you're seeing from your suppliers just in terms of any competitive dynamics there? How they're thinking about pricing given the world that we're in, and how you're thinking about what that could mean as we think of the next couple of quarters?
Yeah. This is Jo. As far as our suppliers, I guess, and pricing, how they're thinking about that. We saw, somewhere in the neighborhood, late in Q1, somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 price increases. Some of those were surcharge driven, some of those were based on gas, freight. Most of them, I would say were based just product price increasing. I think what we're seeing from suppliers is broader our product offerings, and as well as starting to understand that there has been some strength in the market that they're pushing into, and they're starting to move their prices accordingly.
Okay. That's encouraging. Thank you all for the color, and good luck with the quarter.
The next question comes from Kurt Yinger from D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks. Good morning, everyone. I just wanted to go back to BMD. You know, looking at the volume performance there, even if we kind of strip out an assumption on Holden, looks like pretty flat, which I would say is good in this market. Can you just talk about whether it's product category or customer initiatives that seem to be bearing fruit there?
Yeah. This is Jo again. I'll jump in. I would say it's both. You know, I think the first thing I want to do from a, you know, what we're seeing and driving out of warehouse versus what we're seeing as far as margin. You know, as a backdrop, we had some margin and return on sale impacts that were either a one-time event or things that we don't expect to be permanent.
To Kelly's points in his prepared remarks, we had 38 days of closures with weather, that, you know, some of that business we recaptured, some of it we lost, but our costs remain fixed, right? There was an impact there. We had the fuel surcharges that we passed through some of them, but there's some timing that goes on there.
There's a margin shift there. But as far as our general line products and our initiatives go, you know, we're focused on the growth of our home center special order business, which we grew by double digits, and we continued to build out our door segments, gaining market share there. We're driving top-line revenue. You know, we tied to our door initiative, we pushed into the manufactured housing sector. We saw double-digit growth in Q1. A lot of upside opportunity there. We're making strides with our digital strategy. Our e-commerce business was up 57%.
Then as far as, you know, commodities, I think that you are going to continue to see us outperform the market on commodities because we've built out commodity technical systems really that give us early indicators, real-time views into trends, inventory levels, market segments, so that we can move quickly across the entirety of our system in buying and selling. Then you're looking at our commodity volume and footage that was flat up in Q1, and we actually saw margin expansion in spite of lower pricing.
We feel pretty confident that we are expanding our market share in commodities, based on the systems that we've built out, based on the risks that we take in putting inventory on the ground. Risk that's not uneducated risk. You know, it's an educated risk built on years of experience and the expertise of our people, but it has helped us in deflationary pricing environments to hold onto our volume and actually expand our margins.
Okay. That's awesome detail. It sort of dovetails, I guess, into my next question on the gross margin line. Jo, you alluded to some of the fuel surcharges and timing and some of the fixed cost elements. It seems like as we move into the back half, maybe those things will slip and not be so burdensome. I also heard, you know, EWP competition may be increasing and that driving margins lower. I guess, as we move into the back half of the year, is the competitive environment so challenging that it would be tough to get back to kind of that 15%+ gross margin level, or is that still kind of an attainable goal?
I think it's an attainable goal. I would say, I think we'd characterize the current demand environment as uneven, right, and rate sensitive. There's still a lot of opportunities out there. They're just uneven depending on the geography and region. They're dependent on product category. They vary based on the size and the type of the builder. It's been sporadic, uneven environment that's likely gonna continue unless single-family housing starts to pick up.
I will also say that when we saw interest rates dip below 6%, we saw some strength return to the market pretty quickly. If we're in an environment where rates pull back, if geopolitical tensions ease, BMD could see some improvement just from seasonality and commodity price improvements.
You know, we have some opportunity there. As far as engineered wood, yes, we're still seeing pricing pressure on engineered wood, although it's abating. We're seeing that starting to trail off. You know, there's been some margin impacts to us on across a wide breadth of general line products. We saw year-over-year commodity price deflation. Again, we've offset that price deflation in commodities with margin expansion.
We still see opportunities out there. If nothing changes in the market as far as interest rates or tensions easing, we would have a more measured outlook, I think. Some seasonal improvements still, not a broad-based acceleration of the business.
Right. Okay. Makes perfect sense. Thank you.
The next question comes from George Staphos from Bank of America. Please go ahead.
Hi, everyone. Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. A lot were already asked and answered. I guess first question I had on costs. Is there a way that you can give us a ballpark figure for the inflation you've seen in your cost of goods on an annualized basis that you have yet to recover in pricing actions already? Question number one.
Question number two, really just on plywood, guys. I recognize that you've not yet seen the wood show up from Brazil and South America in a large degree, yet you said there is some that's already shown up. You've seen it in quotes, and it has not had a big effect. Why do you expect it might have a bigger effect? What would some of the factors be given your experience? Thank you.
Yeah. I guess I'll start on the first one, which was trying to put a bit of finer point on some cost input increases, and I'll speak to that, I guess, more specifically as it relates to Wood Products. In BMD, we're seeing some freight increases [crosstalk].
Thanks, Kelly.
We're gonna be able to pass those through over time. In Wood Products, the things that Troy hit on, you know, resins, it is a big one. If you think about kind of the three big items that I would call out in Wood Products cost inputs that are subject to some inflationary increases we are experiencing now that we really didn't see much of all in the first quarter, between glue, natural gas, and purchased electricity. That is roughly, generally speaking, gonna be about 10% of Wood Products cost of sales.
To the extent we see, and we have seen, call it 10% increases in some of those key inputs, that'll help you kind of give a sense of what the, what the cost impact, could be, assuming volumes, remain the same. I guess on the second question around plywood, Jeff, you want to take that on imports?
Yeah. I'll take on. BMD is a huge impact because there hasn't been a whole lot that has come in so far. That, that would answer that. Why do we expect there will be an impact? It's supply and demand. It depends on where it comes, what port, is a big plywood market or not, and how much comes in.
Obviously, there's a lot that comes in. If there's a big price advantage, you know, it'll grab some share. We've seen that before. It, you know, with what's happening down there's been a delay. With what's happening with ocean transportation and freight coming over, you know, it'll be wait and see when it gets here.
If I can ask a quick follow on, what are the spreads between current market pricing and what the quotes are coming in on imports? Can you give us a little bit of what the arbitrage is at this juncture?
When it first got here, I asked that question, and I If I remember right, it was about a 10% difference between the two, is what the pricing spread was when it first arrived or what they're quoting.
Okay. Thank you very much. I'll turn it over.
The next question comes from Jeff Stevenson from Loop Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, thanks for taking my questions today. How much did restocking ahead of the spring selling season contribute to the improved sequential EWP volumes during the quarter? Could you provide an update on current EWP channel inventories at this point of the year compared with, you know, both last year when, you know, they were elevated and historical levels?
Yeah. Jeff, it's Troy. Yeah, I mean, I undoubtedly the better part of Q1 was probably a restocking story. Maybe late in the quarter, there was some follow-through. It's probably some combination of, you know, both those two things. Throughout the quarter, our order file grew, to, you know, kind of a two solid week order file. We've carried that through April and into May. You know, in terms of our side, you know, the order file is strong.
I'd say there's still a reliance, I'm sure, on the two-step distribution, EWP specifically. You know, just talking to our channel partners, they've increased inventory, but they're not back up to, you know, say, their high end of their target. They're probably on average, below the high end of their target for this time, so still relying on the two-step side.
That's very helpful. Thanks, Troy. I was wondering if you could provide an update on the new Thorsby line and how we should think about the ramp and production at the facility as we move through the first half of the year.
Sure. Yeah, actually, not a lot different than what we talked about last quarter. As planned, right now we're in a phase where we're just testing out and getting our products certified in the various depths and series. That's expected to go through the second quarter. In terms of sellable product, we wouldn't have sellable product until probably beginning of the third quarter.
To a degree, that is capacity that we've got, but, you know, it obviously a demand issue. To the degree that demand is there, you know, we'll start producing out of out of Thorsby. To the degree that's not, we'll be, you know, using that as the as the throttle. Right now, going into Q3, not sure what, you know, volumes look like, but I would not necessarily anticipate that being a huge volume issue right now.
Very helpful. Thanks again.
Thank you.
Again, if you have a question, please press star then one. Our next question comes from Reuben Garner from Benchmark. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone.
Morning, Reuben.
Maybe just a follow-up on EWP price cost dynamics. I think you referenced an expectation of low single-digit sequential pricing declines. Wondering kind of what's driving that. You mentioned a strong order file. You've got some inflationary pressures.
You know, is it still just so competitive or supply, you know just walk me through the thought there. Is this something that, you know, from I know that there can be a lag in those things, so is it from maybe competitiveness, several months ago that's just flowing through now? Why, why would we see sequential declines when we've got a strong order file and inflationary pressures? Thanks.
Yeah. Reuben, it's Troy. Yeah, I mean, it flat to down. I mean, if there's enough chatter out there that we could see continued erosion just from a standpoint of the competitive environment, trying to retain business and/or looking for new business, but primarily on the retaining business side.
We do have from the standpoint of, you know, the freight cost, the delivered cost of EWP, there is anything that doesn't flow through or get passed down through the channel. There's a little bit of a impact to net sales price on the freight side. That combination may lead to a little bit of erosion, but we're not anticipating at this point a lot, that's why we have the flat to low single digit.
Great. Thanks. On the BMD side, Susan might have asked this in her second question, so forgive me. It kind of broke up on me. I think, Kelly, you mentioned margin pressure in general line products. That's not the first time we've heard something like that this earning season. Is there something unique going on there in any specific categories driving that?
Just talk about what the inventory, how you guys are thinking about inventory in specifically in that general line category. There's been some fits and starts the last couple, few years, leading to adjustments in the channel. Where does inventory stand today, and how are you thinking about it for this year? Thanks, you guys.
I would tell you that, you know, from a margin compression standpoint, you know, the biggest pressure we have seen has been across engineered wood. Again, that's abating. You know, the rest of it on general line, we're just seeing small margin impacts across a wide breadth of general line products. Mostly market based really at the distribution level. Nothing out of normal there.
As, you know, as far as the channel inventories, I would actually tell you that the fits and starts that we've seen are starting to normalize a little bit. You know, the channel is lean but relatively stable. You know, the customer purchases have been more consistent than that start stop that we saw last year.
You know, we've started seeing price increases. That from multiple suppliers. While there has been margin pressure, we're also seeing price increases being taken on the general line side by many of our suppliers.
Reuben, I'd just add to this a little bit. If you think about it, single family is such a driver for us, and single family demand right now is very much muted. When it gets like that, everybody's fighting for what's out there. It is hypercompetitive right now on pretty much everything across the board.
Got it. Thank you, guys, and good luck.
Thank you.
As a reminder, if you have a question, please press star then one. The next question is a follow-up from Kurt Yinger from D.A. Davidson. Please go ahead.
Great. Thanks. Troy, have you seen any or heard any kind of derivative impact in terms of kind of the EWP price conversations you've had, maybe specifically on floor systems, just given what we've seen in dimensional lumber inflation?
Nothing that I'm aware of.
Typically, we, as we've talked about before, 2x10 pricing can certainly fluctuate a fair bit, but once you get builders to convert to EWP floor systems, you really don't see them convert back. I think that continues to be the case. If you're talking about open web trusses, you know, obviously we're not a producer there, but that is a competitive product to I-joist. The cost base for those, the cost inputs for those products certainly have to be quite volatile in recent quarters. Again, I think I-joist is certainly maintaining its share today in a good spot, and we're happy to see the good sequential volume increase we saw in I-joist.
Okay. Got it. Thank you. Then, just looking at the outlook, you know, it sounds like the order book is pretty strong. I know that it sounds like Q1 benefited from some restocking, but it doesn't seem like that much of kind of a sequential seasonal lift in EWP volumes, Q2 versus Q1. Is that just related to the restock dynamic or maybe more of an explicit assumption around, you know, some softening in single family as we kind of progress into summer?
Yeah. Yeah, good question, Kurt. It's a little hard for us to exactly sort out what we saw in the first quarter in terms of was it end market or was it general restocking? The answer is it was some of both for sure. I think as we move into second quarter, I think it's, you know, if you read a lot of the transcripts from the home builders, the national home builders in particular, they're talking and they're focused, as they should be, very much on still on the sell side and moving spec inventory and moderating their pace, their starts pace to their sales pace.
Some of them are talking about maybe increasing starts, but I would say more of them seem to be talking about decreasing starts and transitioning a bit more to the build to order because they can, because cycle times have improved. I think that all plays into the narrative. We're really doing our best to try to pick up the demand signal from the home builder channel, which would suggest that not gonna see a big seasonal increase here into the second quarter.
Okay. All right. Appreciate the color. Thank you.
This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Jeff Strom for any closing remarks.
Thank you for your continued interest in Boise Cascade. Please be safe, be well, and we look forward to talking to you next quarter. Thank you all.
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.