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Author: Aymeric Halvarsson

For decades, Portland cement has been the backbone of concrete. But producing just one ton of cement releases roughly one ton of CO₂. That adds up fast: cement production accounts for nearly 8% of global CO₂ emissions each year.

As pressure to decarbonize grows, the industry is rethinking what goes into the mix.

From fly ash and slag to newer alternatives like calcined clays, supplementary cementitious materials and alternative cements are becoming crucial. 

This shift isn’t just about sustainability. It’s also reshaping how suppliers quote, communicate, and compete. In this blog, we’ll look at what’s driving the change, what materials are emerging, and how building material suppliers like you can stay ahead—and even lead this change—with the right tools in place.

What are supplementary cementitious materials and why are they important?

Supplementary Cementitious Materials include ingredients like fly ash, slag, silica fume, and others that partially (or completely) replace Portland cement in mixes. 

SCMs are important for two reasons: they reduce the overall carbon footprint of concrete, and they often improve performance characteristics like strength, workability, and durability.

By replacing a portion, or potentially all of Portland cement, these materials can dramatically reduce C02 emissions while maintaining and improving durability and performance. As the built environment grapples with the pressure to decarbonize, these materials are no longer optional—they are essential.  

SCMs are also a financial lever. When priced competitively, they can bring down material costs without sacrificing quality.

The shift in SCM and alternative cement material availability in recent years

Fly ash, a common SCM, is facing a reduction. Coal plant retirements have cut off a major supply stream of fly ash, and that’s sent suppliers looking elsewhere—namely, landfills. 

While recovering fly ash from old disposal sites is becoming more common, it’s not a perfect solution. It requires processing and comes with quality and availability concerns. 

At the same time, new SCMs and alternative cements are stepping into the spotlight:

News of Microsoft agreeing to purchase over 600,000 tons of clean cement from Sublime Systems is an encouraging step in the right direction. 

However, a large barrier to the adoption of these materials is awareness and the ability of customers to request them for jobsites. 

Property developers, contractors, engineers, and architects are increasingly motivated to make the right choice, but often lack the most up-to-date knowledge to evaluate materials. 

They need to be educated on the impact of these SCM and lower carbon alternative cements, clarifying performance data and gaining confidence that these will meet building codes, ESG targets, and project requirements—all at the correct budget and timeline. 

Sales teams at building material producers can fill this gap, not only as vendors, but by putting this information at their fingertips. 

But can you really lead this change if you’re still using outdated systems like spreadsheets to keep track of data? Let’s find out how this change is complicating the quoting process even more, and what you can do about it. 

Why is this shift complicating quotes, and how can you stay ahead?

For suppliers, quoting has always been a mix of math, margin, and local knowledge. But as materials change, quoting is becoming even more dynamic—and risky.

Costs change faster than spreadsheets can keep up. Contractors may ask about mix performance and embodied carbon. A project spec might suddenly call for an EPD or specific SCM blend, and you need to explain the difference—not just in carbon, but in cure time and freight impact.

The quoting process now has more moving parts:

That’s a lot to manage with outdated systems. But tools like Slabstack can help. 

How can suppliers prepare (and help others) for this shift?

Building material supplier software like Slabstack gives sales teams the tools to respond quickly to a changing mix landscape:

As the incoming demand for these materials increases, it’s crucial for suppliers to build trust, provide transparency, and increase collaboration. 

Suppliers who prepare for this SCM shift now will lead the market tomorrow.  Learn more about how a specific building material supplier software like Slabstack can help. 

Or, book a quick demo to talk to our experts directly and see Slabstack in action.

Slabstack, a leading CRM and sales intelligence platform for concrete and heavy building material suppliers, today announced that Matthew Jetmore has joined the company as Vice President of Strategy.

Jetmore brings a unique blend of front-line production and enterprise-software expertise to Slabstack. After growing up in his family’s concrete and aggregates business—serving in sales, dispatch, and finance—he sharpened his technical skills at Accenture. Leadership roles followed at Integra Software, Prairie Materials (Votorantim Cimentos), and Lauren Concrete, where he overhauled quoting workflows, introduced price-optimization processes, and managed multi-site operations across the Americas. As an independent consultant, he recently helped producers lift profitability through data-driven sales practices.

“Matthew has lived every pain point our customers face—from chasing margins with spreadsheets to coaching field reps who ‘don’t do computers,’” said Aymeric Halvarsson, founder and CEO of Slabstack. “His rare combination of producer P&L ownership and deep software-implementation skills will accelerate our mission to put easy, profit-focused tools in the hands of every building materials sales team.”

Slabstack addresses a critical gap in the building materials sector: many sales teams rely on spreadsheets or outdated CRM and quoting tools that are slow, prone to human error, and overlook key opportunities for price optimization. Slabstack integrates with dispatch systems to provide real-time cost updates for faster, more accurate quotes and seamless, error-free conversion of quotes to dispatch projects. Built-in dynamic pricing and margin controls can boost the overall profitability of building materials by more than 50%.

“I’ve run plants, reorganized sales teams, and wished for a tool exactly like this for years,” Jetmore said. “Slabstack listens, iterates fast, and delivers measurable dollars per yard—not just dashboards. Joining this team lets me help all producers find the extra two or three bucks of margin that too often slip away.

Producers can always try to cut costs, but if they don’t have a solid handle on their pricing and margins, they’re navigating in the dark and constantly at risk of losing money. Slabstack is the solution to that problem.”

As Vice President of Strategy, Jetmore will champion implementation excellence by shortening time-to-value and driving full-team adoption. He will also help shape the product roadmap with the firsthand operational insight needed to sharpen quoting, backlog forecasting, and price-management features, and scale Slabstack’s industry impact by steering the platform’s expansion beyond ready mix into aggregates, asphalt, and other verticals hampered by fragmented sales tools.

Author: Aymeric Halvarsson

Running a heavy building materials supplier business is already complex. You’re juggling live costs, delivery schedules, approvals, and sales, often across multiple plants. Add in price volatility, seasonal demand swings, and customers who expect accurate quotes fast, and you're running a complex operation with a lot of moving parts.

But the right software connects all of it. 

When your quoting, pricing, dispatch, delivery, and invoicing run on tools built for this industry, the whole operation gets easier. 

That’s why we created this guide to help evaluate what a supplier-specific CRM should really offer, how to choose one that fits your operation, and what kind of ROI you should expect, based on real-world results.

Key takeaways 
The right building material supplier software connects quoting, pricing, dispatch, and delivery in one integrated system.

Live cost data and margin controls keep pricing accurate and consistent across your team.

The right platform pays for itself fast through better margin capture, faster quoting, and fewer billing disputes.

Slabstack gives producers a purpose-built system that connects sales to dispatch and helps protect margin from quote to cash.

What is building material supplier software?

Building material supplier software is a specialized, often cloud-based, management tool designed to streamline the procurement, inventory, sales, and delivery of construction materials. It centralizes data to reduce manual errors, manages complex inventory (like lumber or bulk materials), and tracks logistics, ultimately increasing efficiency and reducing costs for suppliers.

How does a building material supplier software help producers?

Building material supplier software like Slabstack supports producers by centralizing sales, pricing, dispatch, and delivery into one connected system.

Instead of juggling spreadsheets, a generic CRM, and a dispatch system that don’t speak to each other, producers run on one platform built specifically for concrete, aggregate, and asphalt operations.

But not all supplier software provides this.

That’s why it's important to look at certain crucial features before making your decision. Here are a few things to consider. 

What should a building material supplier software actually offer? [5 features to look for] 

A building material supplier software should offer live cost feeds, margin floors, forecast & demand visibility, dispatch & delivery tracking, and a mobile app so producers can access all this information on-the-go. 

1. Live cost feeds & dynamic pricing

Material prices don't stay still. Cement, diesel, and aggregate shift regularly, and your quotes need to reflect that. 

If your sales team is quoting from a spreadsheet that someone last updated two weeks ago, you're either giving up profit without realizing it or locking in a job at the wrong price.

Purpose-built software pulls live cost data directly from your plant’s cost database or dispatch system, like Command Alkon and Sysdyne, to pull up-to-the-minute material prices of cement slurry, asphalt binder, aggregate grades, along with fuel rates and additives.

When input prices change, quotes update automatically. Your reps always quote from current numbers, which means:

Want to go deeper on this? Read: Dynamic pricing in the construction supplier industry

2. Margin floors & approval workflows

Live pricing alone doesn't protect your margins. You also need controls that stop reps from winning business at the wrong price.

Margin floor tools let you set minimum acceptable thresholds by material, by plant, or by customer segment. Any quote that falls below your floor automatically routes to a manager for review before it goes out. 

This allows the sales reps to send the right quote quickly, because only the quotes that fall below the margin need to be approved. Your entire team gets more productive as there is less back and forth on routine quotes. 

For more information on how faster quoting helps producers close more deals, read our detailed guide on configuring manufacturing quotes. 

3. Forecasting & demand visibility

Good software tracks what's been quoted while letting you see what’s coming. 

Forecasting tools in purpose-built software typically give you:

For producers running multiple plants, this visibility is what lets you balance load across facilities and plan accordingly. 

4. Dispatch and delivery tracking

Up to this point, we've focused on quoting and margin control. But for producers, the real test comes after the quote is won: when the job moves from the sales team to operations.

This is where Slabstack connects directly with Sysdyne to bridge that gap. 

When a quote is approved, the order flows straight into dispatch automatically. 

There’s no double entry, or a spreadsheet export, or manual relay between departments. Sales commits the job, and operations sees it instantly.

From there, Sysdyne’s purpose-built dispatch tools take over the coordination:

When dispatch and delivery run on connected software, you eliminate the most common source of errors: information passed between systems by hand. 

5. Mobile app 

Your sales reps spend a lot of time in the field visiting job sites, meeting contractors, and following up on active projects. 

If they can only access pricing and quoting tools when they're back at a desk, they're either quoting from memory or delaying the conversation until later.

Slabstack's mobile app puts the full quoting workflow in the field so reps can:

The dispatch integration matters here, too. When a rep commits to a delivery window on site, they can see in real time whether that window is actually available, before making a promise they can't keep.

See how Slabstack's mobile app works: Slabstack expands platform with mobile app.

Bonus feature: If you work with international customers or operate in markets that use metric measurements, your software should handle that natively.
Slabstack supports metric pricing and quoting, so reps don't have to manually convert units or maintain separate quote templates for different markets.

Learn more: Slabstack supports built-in metric pricing and quoting.

Why spreadsheets & horizontal CRMs fall short for building material suppliers?

Spreadsheets and horizontal CRMs fall short for building material suppliers because they lead to manual errors, increase the time reps spend managing costs, lead to internal undercutting, and increase the risk of sending a quote that’s not profitable. 

That’s why it's always a better idea to invest in a building material supplier software. Read on to know how much they typically cost. 

How much does building material supplier software cost?

Pricing for supplier software varies quite a bit depending on the scope of what you're buying. Here's what drives the cost and what to expect.

When you consider these factors, a generic CRM may look cheaper on the surface. 

But the total cost of ownership is rarely what the initial price suggests. You’ll typically end up paying:

All this may add up to $100,000+ annually just to keep it running. 

On the other hand, a purpose-built software typically has a higher entry price but a significantly lower total cost of ownership, because you're not paying to make it fit.

Get in touch with our team to get your custom Slabstack quote. 

Evaluating ROI: Why building material supply software outperforms spreadsheets and generic tools

A purpose-built CRM might seem like a big investment at first, especially if you’ve been using spreadsheets or patching together a generic CRM. But when you measure the return, the right system, like Slabstack, pays for itself in just 90 days. Here’s how: 

A CRM made for building material suppliers comes ready with the workflows you need and typically delivers ROI within 90 days. 

Real ROI example: What a good building material supplier software can deliver

Let’s look at how this plays out in the real world. Carew Concrete & Supply Co., a family-owned supplier operating 17 plants and 9 quarries, was relying on spreadsheets and a patchwork CRM that didn’t fit the way their team worked. This resulted in quoting errors, stalled deals, and declining margins.

After switching to an industry-specific CRM like Slabstack:

As John Malcolm, VP of Carew Concrete, put it:

“We’re bidding every project available to us now, and it’s easy to verify that in real time. Our consistency in the marketplace has improved tremendously.”

Now that you know the real ROI of a CRM for building material suppliers, how do you choose between the options you might have shortlisted? Here are a few things to keep in mind while choosing.

How to shortlist building material supplier software for your business: Top 3 tips

Once you have a clear picture of what you need, here's how to evaluate your options without getting lost in the process.

Tip 1: Build a simple scorecard

Create a one-page grid with your top candidates. For each one, consider:

Update the scorecard live during each demo. It keeps the evaluation objective and makes the final decision much easier.

Tip 2: Test with real scenarios

Don't let a vendor demo their best-case scenario. Give them yours.

Bring a real quote: a 200 yd³ concrete pour, a 150-ton aggregate delivery, and an asphalt overlay with a tight window. Ask them to walk through it from quote to dispatch. Watch how long it takes, how many steps it requires, and whether the live cost data is actually live.

If it takes more than a few minutes, or if the rep can't show you where the margin floor sits, that's a signal worth paying attention to.

Tip 3: Talk to other producers

Sales demos show the best version of a platform. Other operators show you the real version.

Ask for two or three references at similar-sized operations. When you talk to them, ask:

For example, here’s what another one of our customers has to say about our service:

“Their customer service has been excellent as far as handling issues or adding features that we need.”

Read the full Concrete Supply Co. case study here. 

Here’s a simple checklist you can share with your team while evaluating software. 

Building material supplier software evaluation checklist 
▢Pulls live material costs directly into quotes
▢Has margin floor controls and approval routing
▢Integrates natively with your dispatch system (Command Alkon or Sysdyne)
▢Includes a mobile app for field quoting
▢Provides demand forecasting and pipeline visibility
▢Supports multi-plant visibility from a single dashboard
▢Offers implementation support included in the contract
▢Has references from producers of a similar scale
▢Provides measurable ROI within the first 90 days

Why Slabstack is the best material supplier software for producers 

Slabstack is the best material supplier software purpose-built for concrete, aggregate, and asphalt producers. Here's what we offer:

Slabstack is now part of the Sysdyne family, which means the platform now covers the full operational stack for producers. No other software in this space offers that level of end-to-end integration built specifically for this industry.

The best part is that most producers see full ROI within 90 days of going live.

Want to see it in action? Book a demo, and we'll walk through your operation so you can see exactly where Slabstack fits and what it would change for your team.

Frequently asked questions 

1. What is building material supplier software used for?
Building material supplier software is used to manage quoting, pricing, dispatch, delivery tracking, and invoicing in one system. It helps producers control margins, reduce manual errors, and connect sales to operations.

2. How is building material supplier software different from a generic CRM?
Generic CRMs track contacts and pipelines. Building material supplier software includes live material pricing, margin floors, dispatch integration, and delivery workflows built specifically for concrete, aggregate, and asphalt producers.

3. What features should I look for in building material supplier software?
Some features to look for in a building material supplier software are live cost feeds, dynamic pricing, dispatch integration, delivery tracking, mobile quoting, forecasting tools, and automated invoicing.

4. How much does building material supplier software cost?
The cost of a building material supplier software varies based on users, plants, and modules included. While pricing differs by vendor, purpose-built systems often reduce the total cost of ownership compared to heavily customized generic CRMs.

5. How quickly can producers see ROI from supplier software?
When you choose a building material supplier software like Slabstack, you see ROI within 90 days through improved quote accuracy, faster turnaround times, stronger margin capture, and fewer billing disputes.

“I don’t think Preferred Materials would be as successful as we are today if we didn’t have Slabstack. I haven’t come across another CRM that has even come close to it.”
— Juan Quintana, Vice President of Sales, Preferred Materials

A Fast-Growing Producer with a Big Challenge

Preferred Materials LLC is a relatively new player in the Texas concrete market — but its growth has been nothing short of remarkable. In just five years, the company has become one of the fastest-growing producers serving the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

With rapid growth came new challenges. The sales team was relying on basic spreadsheets to track opportunities, manage customer relationships, and prepare quotes. This approach created:

Preferred Materials needed a CRM for concrete producers that could keep up with the pace of business, integrate seamlessly with dispatch, and provide better visibility for leadership.

Finding the Right Fit

The team initially considered Salesforce because it integrated with their accounting systems. But the dealbreaker? No easy way to connect it with their dispatch software — a must-have in the ready-mix industry.

After researching industry-specific solutions, they discovered Slabstack. Purpose-built for heavy building materials producers, Slabstack combined CRM, sales intelligence, and dispatch integration in one platform.

“They’ve never looked back,” says Juan Quintana.

How Slabstack Changed the Game

Slabstack’s implementation marked a major shift from manual, disconnected workflows to a unified, data-driven sales process. Here’s what changed:

1. Streamlined Sales Processes

Material prices and weights change daily, and keeping that data accurate across quotes was a time-consuming challenge. With Slabstack’s two-way dispatch integration, real-time pricing flows into the CRM so sales reps can generate accurate quotes instantly. Once approved, orders push back into dispatch — no duplicate entry required.

2. Data-Driven Decision Making

With four plants across Texas, each with different margins, routing orders profitably was critical. Slabstack’s analytics give the sales team a clear view of profitability by location, enabling them to send deliveries from the most cost-effective plant — boosting margins on every job.

3. Sales Performance Visibility

Slabstack’s dashboards, maps, and charts show how each salesperson is performing daily. Leadership can monitor active bids, win/loss ratios, and pipeline targets from a laptop or mobile device — no matter where they are.

The Results

The impact of adopting Slabstack was immediate and measurable:

As Juan Quintana sums it up:

“I don’t think Preferred Materials would be as successful as we are today if we didn’t have Slabstack.”

Positioning for the Future

Preferred Materials’ adoption of Slabstack didn’t just solve today’s challenges — it set the foundation for long-term success. By modernizing sales processes, integrating systems, and delivering real-time insights, the company is better equipped to compete in a fast-moving market.

For other ready-mix producers, the message is clear: if you’re still running sales from spreadsheets, it’s time to explore a CRM for concrete producers that’s built for your business.

Slabstack, a leading CRM and sales intelligence platform for construction material producers, today announced the appointment of Christian Battaglia as its new Chief Technology Officer (CTO).

Battaglia, a seasoned tech leader, brings a wealth of experience in building and scaling tech ventures. He co-founded Glovo — which was subsequently acquired for $2.6 billion — and most recently founded Triple Axle, a heavy-haul trucking operations SaaS platform. An alumnus of Georgia Tech, he remains actively involved with the Institute’s computer science alumni community, where he mentors emerging talent and contributes to shaping the next generation of technology leaders.

As CTO of Slabstack, Battaglia will lead the company’s engineering strategy and guide product development as Slabstack expands into new markets.

“Christian brings deep technical expertise and a genuine passion for building products that solve real-world challenges. With him at the helm of our engineering team, Slabstack is poised to help construction material producers strengthen their customer relationships, streamline quoting, and optimize pricing. His proven track record of scaling technology platforms that transform industries will be invaluable as we continue on our growth trajectory.”

Aymeric Halvarsson
Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Slabstack

Slabstack addresses a critical gap in the construction materials sector: many sales teams rely on manual or outdated CRM and quoting tools that are slow, prone to human error, and overlook key opportunities for price optimization. Slabstack integrates with dispatch systems to provide real-time cost updates for faster, more accurate quotes and seamless, error-free conversion of quotes to dispatch projects. Built-in dynamic pricing and margin controls can boost the overall profitability of construction materials by more than 50%.

Since its inception, Slabstack has rapidly gained traction within the ready-mix concrete market, streamlining sales processes and dramatically improving profitability. With Battaglia at the helm of engineering, the company aims to broaden its footprint across other verticals that similarly struggle with outdated, fragmented systems.

“I’m thrilled to join Slabstack at this pivotal stage. We’re tackling one of the biggest challenges facing heavy building materials sales teams: bridging the gap between quoting, dispatch, and margin optimization. Slabstack isn't just building software, we're revolutionizing a trillion-dollar industry. The ambition, speed, and impact of this team are unparalleled, and I'm excited to drive this transformation alongside Aymeric and the team.”

Christian Battaglia
Chief Technology Officer at Slabstack