Case study · Building materials · Timber and panels · 13 min read
Source: Pricing Insight engagement records; Big River Industries FY25 and FY26 results, FY26 results presentation EBITDA bridge and 2026 Annual Report. The margin and EBITDA figures are Big River's own reported results; the FY24 figure is derived from the reported FY25 rise. Pricing Insight does not claim them as its result. None is a benchmark for another business.
One program for the whole sales force, and a margin plan the sales force wrote. Big River Group, the ASX-listed timber, panels and building materials business, had seen gross margin squeezed by lower demand, aggressive competitors, cost-plus pricing and a commodity mindset. In July 2024 it enrolled 111 sales, branch and leadership staff from its Construction and Panels divisions in Pricing University's Pricing Fundamentals program, and made completion a condition of the gross margin component of its new sales incentive scheme. Every lesson ended with each learner writing down where their own branch could earn more margin. Pricing Insight summarised those ideas by business unit, then ran a half-day strategy workshop for about 100 sales staff at Big River's national sales conference in Brisbane, where each table chose its five quick wins and five longer-term initiatives. A month later Pricing Insight worked with the two divisional executive general managers to turn the shortlist into a margin working group for each division, covering a single national price list, pricing for special orders and premium products, service surcharges and bundle discounts. Big River has since reported gross margin rising from 26.0 per cent in FY24 to 26.2 per cent in FY25 and 26.5 per cent in FY26, and credits pricing discipline, product mix, procurement and supplier alignment.
| Client | Big River Group (Big River Industries Limited, ASX: BRI): a manufacturer and distributor of timber, panels and building products to trade customers in Australia and New Zealand, organised in two divisions, Construction and Panels. |
| Service | Pricing University Pricing Masterclass (Pricing Fundamentals, Advanced): twelve online lessons with a workbook, margin ideas captured at the end of each lesson, a half-day strategy workshop for the sales team, and follow-up working sessions with the two divisional sponsors. |
| Status | Capability built. The margin figures on this page are Big River's own reported results; Pricing Insight's program was one of several initiatives behind them and was not measured separately. |
| Scope | 111 enrolled staff across Big River's Construction and Panels businesses and its New Zealand panels operations; about 100 sales staff at the strategy workshop. |
| Period | Program launched on 15 July 2024; strategy workshop on 3 September 2024; working sessions with the divisional sponsors on 3 and 4 October 2024. |
The brief
Build pricing capability across the sales force and turn its own ideas into margin initiatives, in a market where customers were using lower demand to push for cheaper prices.
01A building materials group with margin under pressure from a soft housing market
Two divisions, one margin problem. Big River sells timber, plywood, panels and construction products to builders, joiners, cabinet makers, shopfitters and formwork contractors from a branch network across Australia, with panels manufacturing and distribution in New Zealand. In FY26 its Construction division turned over A$295.0m and its Panels division A$131.4m.
Earnings had fallen with the housing cycle. Underlying EBITDA dropped from A$50.9m in FY23 to A$32.6m in FY24 and A$28.7m in FY25, as residential construction slowed and competitors chased volume. The executive general managers for Panels and Construction described the position to their teams in the program launch: margins were being squeezed by "lower demand, aggressive competitors, cost-plus pricing methods, and a commodity mindset."
Big River named three ways to lift branch margin: increase prices or replace low-margin customers with higher-margin ones, obtain cost relief from suppliers, and improve sales mix. The first and third depend on the people quoting every day. The group had changed its sales incentive scheme so that its financial component rewarded gross margin, and it wanted the sales force to understand pricing well enough to earn that reward.
02What the sales force found: value given away in service, freight and price lists
Three patterns, one for each pillar of the Pricing Periodic Table. They come from the margin ideas learners wrote at the end of each lesson, which Pricing Insight summarised by business unit for the Panels, Construction and leadership groups.
Value
Branches gave away services customers paid for elsewhere. Learners described same-day delivery, stock of items competitors had to order in, plan take-offs and bills of quantities for builders, and technical advice on board selection, all priced as if they cost nothing. One Construction branch learner wrote: "You don't need to be the cheapest to supply the materials." Panels learners pointed to product quality, such as hoop pine plywood for wall lining, joinery and shopfitting, as a reason customers would pay more.
People
Prices started from cost and finished at the competitor's number. Learners named cost-plus pricing, the commodity mindset on products such as formwork and construction-grade radiata pine, discounting to win or keep business, unprepared negotiations with procurement and price increases that were announced but not held.
Structures
Price lists did not separate one kind of order from another. Learners asked for price levels by volume, so a loose sheet of MDF costs a cabinet maker more than a pack lot, for consistent pricing between branches, for freight charged at its real value instead of free-freight deals, and for set pricing on special orders and premium products.
Six priorities followed.
Charge for the service.
Price delivery speed, stock availability, take-offs and technical support, rather than giving them away.
Recover freight.
Charge freight at its real value and limit freight-free deals to customers who earn them.
Set price levels by volume.
A higher price for loose sheets and small quantities than for pack lots.
One price list across branches.
Consistent prices for the same product and customer type, wherever it is sold.
Price special orders and premium ranges on purpose.
A set method for items outside the standard range and for exclusive products.
Hold the price in the negotiation.
Prepare for procurement and keep announced increases on the invoice.
03What Pricing Insight did: twelve lessons, a strategy workshop and a working group in each division
Five steps, each feeding the next. Pricing Insight delivered the program through Pricing University and ran the workshop and working sessions itself; Big River set the incentive and ran the branch rhythm around it.
Twelve lessons for 111 staff.
Pricing Fundamentals covered value pricing, the eight sources of margin erosion, price structures, discounting and negotiation, with a workbook and a final assessment.
"Completion of it is linked to you being eligible for the Gross Margin component of your new Sales Incentive Scheme."
Margin ideas from every lesson.
Each learner applied the lesson to their own branch and customers. Pricing Insight summarised the ideas by business unit for the two executive general managers.
Conference pre-work.
Each delegate reviewed the ideas file for their unit and marked five quick wins, under 12 weeks to implement, and five longer-term initiatives.
A half-day strategy workshop.
About 100 sales staff worked at tables in Brisbane, agreed their top five quick wins and five strategic initiatives, and presented them to their peers.
Working sessions with the sponsors.
Pricing Insight helped the two divisional executive general managers cut the shortlist to the top three to five initiatives and assign each one an owner.
Big River ran its own rhythm alongside the lessons. Branches were encouraged to set aside time each Friday to complete the week's lesson together, a monthly Margin Star award recognised learners who were up to date, and Big River asked Pricing Insight for feedback on the design of its margin incentive before launch.
04What changed: a margin working group in each division, and gross margin up 50 basis points
Two working groups, eight themes. The Panels group, sponsored by its executive general manager, took on a single national price list with four price levels, a set price architecture for special orders, a price architecture for premium products, and a deep and narrow position on exclusive ranges. The Construction group took on price architecture, service surcharges, bundle discounts and the same focus on exclusive ranges. Each group had named branch and divisional members.
Margin became a monthly conversation. Big River's Margin Accelerator Program now reports each branch's gross margin dollars against budget every month, pays a quarterly bonus to branches that beat their gross margin budget, and shares profit annually with branches that meet both their gross margin dollar and gross margin percentage targets. Divisional leaders cascade the reports to their teams.
Big River's reported margin has risen since. Gross profit margin was 26.2 per cent in FY25, up 20 basis points, and 26.5 per cent in FY26, up a further 30 basis points, with 26.6 per cent in the first half of FY26. Big River reported that the margin gains came despite heightened competition and soft volumes, and credits pricing discipline, improved product mix, procurement initiatives and closer supplier alignment.
Margin expansion was worth A$2.6m of EBITDA in FY26. Big River's EBITDA bridge shows FY25 underlying EBITDA of A$28.7m falling A$1.0m on lower revenue, rising A$2.6m on gross margin expansion and falling A$2.3m on higher costs, for a like-for-like A$28.0m. Acquisitions added A$3.1m, for FY26 underlying EBITDA of A$31.1m.
The arithmetic of a small margin move is large in this business. On FY26 revenue of A$426.4m, each 10 basis points of gross margin is about A$0.43m of gross profit a year, so the 50 basis points between FY24 and FY26 is about A$2.1m a year at that revenue. Illustrative arithmetic; not a measured or attributed result.
Status: capability built. The program outcomes are the enrolment, the workshop and the two working groups, from Pricing Insight's records. The margin and EBITDA figures are Big River's reported results for the group, which include acquisitions and several margin initiatives; Pricing Insight did not measure its program's share of them and does not claim them. Not disclosed: which working group initiatives Big River has implemented, and branch-level results.
05The Pricing Periodic Table elements this work built
Eight elements built or strengthened, five identified for the next stage. The Pricing Periodic Table maps 61 elements of pricing capability in nine domains across three pillars: Value, People and Structures. Most of this work sits in the People pillar, where Pricing University does its work; the working groups pointed to the Price Architecture domain as the next stage.
| Capability | 28 Cc Commercial capability and training, 29 Vs Value selling, 32 Nu Commercial numeracy: twelve lessons on value pricing, margin erosion, price structures and negotiation for 111 staff. |
| Alignment | 20 Ed Executive direction, 21 Ca Cross-functional alignment, 24 Mc Margin culture: two executive general managers sponsoring the program, branches learning together, and the sales force choosing its own margin initiatives at the workshop. |
| Incentive and program | 33 In Sales incentives, 12 Mi Margin improvement program: Big River's gross margin incentive, with program completion as a condition, and its Margin Accelerator Program reporting. Both designed by Big River. |
| Next stage | 49 Lp List price alignment, 52 Rl Price relativities and volume breaks, 51 Dt Discount structure and tiers, 50 Md Price-setting method, 53 Sx Charges for services and extras: a single national list with four levels, bundle discounts, pricing for special orders and premium ranges, and service surcharges. |
06Three lessons for a CEO
Tie the training to the margin bonus
Big River made completion of Pricing Fundamentals a condition of the gross margin component of its new sales incentive. Branches set aside time each week to learn together, and a monthly award recognised the learners who kept up.
Let the sales force write the margin plan
Every lesson ended with learners naming margin opportunities in their own branches. The workshop turned those ideas into a shortlist the sales force had chosen, so the people asked to hold the prices had picked the initiatives.
Give every initiative a sponsor and an owner
The shortlist became a working group in each division, each with an executive general manager as sponsor and named members, while monthly branch reporting kept gross margin dollars and percentage in front of every team.
07Questions this case study answers
How do you train a building materials sales team on pricing?
Train the whole sales force at once and make the training about their own customers. Big River enrolled 111 sales, branch and leadership staff in twelve online Pricing University lessons, and each lesson ended with learners writing margin ideas for their own branch. A half-day strategy workshop for about 100 sales staff then chose the quick wins and longer-term initiatives to pursue.
How do you get a sales force to own margin improvement?
Link the training to pay, and let the sales force choose the initiatives. Big River made program completion a condition of the gross margin component of its sales incentive, and its Margin Accelerator Program reports each branch's gross margin against budget every month. The initiatives came from the learners' own ideas and were shortlisted by the sales team at the workshop.
Does pricing training improve gross margin in a distribution business?
Training builds the capability; margin moves when prices, structures and incentives change with it. Big River's gross margin rose from 26.0 per cent in FY24 to 26.5 per cent in FY26, and it credits pricing discipline, product mix, procurement and supplier alignment. Pricing Insight did not measure the training's separate share, and the next margin gains depend on the price architecture work its working groups identified.
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Does your sales team know what your service is worth before it quotes?
A first conversation covers who sets and defends price in your business, how your incentive treats margin, and whether a Pricing University cohort fits. Ron Wood, +61 410 534 099.
Ron Wood is the Founder and Managing Director of Pricing Insight, an Australian pricing strategy consultancy he established in 2007. He has worked in pricing for around 30 years, first as a pricing and commercial manager in consumer goods, building materials and capital equipment, and since then across 160+ pricing engagements. He also founded Pricing University, which has trained more than 5,000 executives.
To discuss pricing training for your sales team, contact Ron Wood at info@pricinginsight.com.au or on +61 410 534 099, or visit Pricing Insight.
Engagement details are from Pricing Insight's records and Big River's program communications to its staff: enrolment, lesson content, the conference workshop of 3 September 2024 and the working sessions of 3 and 4 October 2024. Learner ideas are summarised from Pricing University end-of-lesson exercises; quoted learners are not named. Company and financial facts are from Big River Industries' FY25 results announcement (26 August 2025), FY26 results presentation (25 August 2026) and 2026 Annual Report, reviewed 11 November 2026. The FY24 gross margin of 26.0 per cent is derived from the reported FY25 margin of 26.2 per cent and its reported 20 basis point rise. All margin and EBITDA figures are as reported by Big River for the whole group, including acquisitions; they are not Pricing Insight results and are not independently audited. The gross profit arithmetic in section 04 is illustrative. Figure 1 is a diagram of the program. No figure on this page is typical or guaranteed.
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