Staying competitive in the building supply game means a focus on customer service for M&S Building Supply.

In an era filled with big box stores that have low prices but often abysmal customer service, M&S is a throwback to a time where customers came first.

Started in 1962 by Don McCann and Richard Stillwell – hence M&S – the business has become a mainstay on the Monterey Peninsula for residents and contractors looking to get a job done right, and with quality materials, whether it’s lumber or hardware.

Some aspects of the business have changed over years depending on what’s selling – M&S doesn’t do cabinets anymore, for instance – but its core focus has stayed very much the same.

“The bottom line is service: relationships with businesses and customers,” says M&S General Manager Dave Duvall, who’s worked in lumber his whole career and who came to M&S in 1989. “That’s kind of the way America was founded.”

That’s not to say Duvall has anything against big box stores – “I think there’s a place for everybody, it’s one big pie,” Duvall says – but that’s not how M&S does business.

“We’re just a small guy, and we try to run it as the family did in the beginning,” Duvall continues. “We try to deal with customers continuously, rather than one sale and it’s done.”

What that looks like in practice, in part, is helping customers from the start to finish of a project.

“Our customers, whether they’re contractors or homeowners, are always inquiring, ‘What’s your suggestion?’” Duvall says. “It doesn’t make a difference whether it’s a large contractor or a homeowner. They’re asking every day for [our employees’] expertise, that’s the relationship.”

Duvall, who now runs the day-to-day operations at the business after starting in outside sales, says employee retention is high, something that can help to earn and maintain trust with customers of any size.

“We’ve all been working together a long time,” he says.

People stay, he adds, because “they make a fair wage and they enjoy being here.”

The McCann family took over sole ownership of the business years ago (Don’s son Todd, who lives out of state, is now president), and Duvall says the way they’ve treated him over the years is partly why he’s stuck around so long.

“The family has been very good to me, and put a lot of faith in my abilities over the years,” Duvall says, “particularly in the early years.”

Given M&S’s longevity, it appears that faith is well-founded.