A Note from our president of rival residential
This midpoint of the year is always a valuable moment to pause, reflect, and reset. We have enough of the year behind us to learn from what the first half has revealed but still have meaningful time ahead of us to adjust, improve, and drive strong, impactful growth—both personal and professional—through the remainder of the year.
The residential construction market has remained soft in 2026. We entered the year optimistic that demand would improve over 2025, but that recovery has been slower to materialize than many expected. Across our portfolio, various pressures have shown up in different ways. Davis Homes has felt the direct impact of slower new home sales that began in Q4 of 2025 and continued into 2026. Our businesses in Tennessee and Florida have also seen strong residential markets cool somewhat. Softer demand, combined with a wetter-than-normal April and May, made the first half of the year more difficult than expected.
That said, I have been encouraged by the resilience, discipline, and adaptability shown across our companies. Our teams have continued to manage expenses, serve customers well, pursue new opportunities, and position their businesses for even stronger performance as market conditions improve.
As I write this, the majority of our companies are beginning to find momentum. After a solid June, we are seeing encouraging signs of demand across several of our markets, and our teams are positioned for a stronger July, August, and September. Davis Homes has successfully implemented its spec build strategy and now has strong inventory options available for buyers. We have also hired Kaylee Dow as our VP of Sales and Marketing, bringing renewed focus to the customer experience, sales execution, and overall market performance.
Across the broader Residential portfolio, we are seeing important progress. Pioneer Truss has expanded its wall panel and floor truss capacity and is well positioned to grow those business lines in the months ahead. Pioneer Home Center just tallied record-breaking revenue for June and is enjoying growing walk-in traffic. Trusco Ohio is adding a building to increase its floor truss capabilities, which comes at a time when demand from commercial customers remains strong. Trusco Tennessee has hired two talented sales leaders who will help the business better engage new customers and pursue growth opportunities. Hitek Truss is expanding into a second facility in Florida, with production expected to begin in mid-August. Continental Supply has expanded its external customer relationships, improved profitability, and is positioned to build on that momentum in supporting these customers and our businesses in the back half of the year.
While many of these specifics focus on our residential companies, the same themes apply across our entire family of companies. Whether residential, commercial, or rural, our opportunity is to remain disciplined, customer-focused, and growth-minded. Market cycles will always have a way of creating pressure, but strong companies separate themselves by how they respond—by our capable leaders and committed team members.
As we look ahead, there is reason to be hopeful. Challenges will continue along the way, but we are seeing signs of renewed activity, and our companies are taking practical steps to improve their performance, expand capacity, strengthen customer relationships, and pursue growth. We are not simply waiting for things to improve; we are working to become stronger regardless of what the market does next.
Moving into the latter half of the year, my encouragement to our entire team is to simply focus on doing the next right thing. It is easy to get swept up in the pressure of what our jobs might produce. Our progress is built on relentless execution and clear priorities. We cannot control everything around us, but we can control how we respond, how we serve our customers, how we support our teams, and how we pursue excellence each day.
Thank you for your continued resilience and commitment—I’m excited for what we will accomplish together in the months ahead.
featured story
Watch Andrew’s story at Trusco Ohio.
introducing
We’re pleased to introduce Kova Framing as the newest addition to the Rival portfolio—and the newest venture taking shape inside Rival Lab.
Rival Lab is the innovation arm of Rival Holdings, where we identify unoccupied market positions, test the thesis, and build operating companies around them. Kova is a practical example of that process working as designed: a gap in the Midwest construction supply chain, a clear value proposition, and a facility that is operational and producing today.
Kova manufactures cold-formed steel framing systems—wall panels, floor and roof trusses, interior partition packages, and specialty components—all fabricated to engineered drawings, coordinated with project teams, and delivered sequenced and field-ready. The facility is operating now out of New Haven, Indiana.
The vertical integration logic is straightforward. Hixwood is already a customer—the first production unit shipped in April. Davis Homes is in the pipeline as a residential end-user. Companies in the portfolio that build things now have a preferred fabrication partner with aligned incentives.
LGS framing is gaining significant ground in both residential and commercial construction. Kova’s position is to lead that adoption in the Midwest and beyond—delivering better schedule outcomes than traditional field-built framing can.
Company highlight
Sunshine Quality Solutions, the John Deere dealer representing south Louisiana with 17 dealership locations, opened a new state-of-the-art facility in Baton Rouge, LA. Construction was led by Firmin Construction Corporation, a trusted local construction firm known for high-quality commercial and industrial projects across Louisiana.
Ideal Steel, our leading pre-engineered metal building manufacturer based in Broussard, LA, was contracted by Firmin to produce building. Leveraging in house design, engineering and production, Ideal Steel was able to provide a comprehensive PEMB solution that offered the design flexibility and production speed to meet the needs of the project within the required budget and timeline.
This new complex consists of a 75’ x 110’ x 30’ service shop at the rear of the building with a 5 ton crane traveling throughout the shop area. The front of the building is a 100’ clear span x 80’ long x 30’ eave two story office/showroom area including a full mezzanine furnished by Ideal Steel. The project also includes a 5,000 square foot exterior showroom and a 6,500 square foot storage building.
team member spotlight
kaylee dow
VP Sales & Marketing at Davis Homes
Kaylee Dow began her career in homebuilding immediately after graduating college, driven by a passion for creating meaningful connections and helping others find a place to call home. She brings over 11 years of experience with a nationally recognized, family-owned builder, where she advanced from a sales role into senior leadership; gaining a well-rounded perspective across the business and a deep understanding of the customer journey.
As the new Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Davis Homes, she will lead with a focus on elevating the customer experience through a more consultative, relationship-driven approach. She is actively shaping a sales culture that is both customer-centric and emotionally engaging, while also aligning marketing strategies to reflect the company’s core promise: Building Relationships. Building Community. Building Dreams—one customer at a time.
In the news
Watch a video snapshot of the house being built using AUAR’s MicroFactory.
As of January 1, 2026, we have united our portfolio of companies under the one “Rival” brand: Rival Residential, Rival Commercial, and Rival Rural. Same team, same service—now just better together.