ReUse Action
ReUse Action is a Buffalo, NY-based building materials company that acquires and sells reclaimed and surplus construction materials at steep discounts to retail, supplemented by green demolition, restoration contracting, and a 50-tenant creative workspace called The Guild @980.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersBuffalo, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What ReUse Action does
ReUse Action, Inc. is a privately held building materials company founded in 2011 by the original co-founders of Buffalo ReUse, operating from 980 Northampton Street in Buffalo, New York. The company acquires and sells reclaimed and surplus building materials — including lumber, insulation, doors, windows, kitchen cabinets, barn wood, radiators, and architectural house parts — at prices typically set at half or less of prevailing local retail. Beyond retail sales, the company runs three service lines: specialty green demolition and deconstruction, restoration contracting focused on old homes and barns, and The Guild @980, an affordable creative-workspace rental housing 50 artists, artisans, and small businesses. A woodshop subsidiary called Rusted Grain adds custom milling and fabrication of reclaimed lumber into finished products.
Underlying the retail operation is a service-based supply chain: the company accepts material donations, performs green deconstruction on residential and commercial buildings (techniques developed with David Bennink of ReUse Consulting), and salvages, catalogs, and stores components for either resale or restoration. Its customer base spans homeowners and DIY buyers, landlords and property managers, contractors and developers, artists and artisans, and nonprofit and community organizations; on the enterprise side, it has executed projects for LeMoyne College (salvaging 23,000+ sq ft of maple gymnasium floor and diverting 70 tons from landfill), SUNY ESF (the largest prevailing-wage deconstruction in New York State at the time), the historic Hotel Lafayette, and the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. Revenue streams include one-time retail transactions, project-based deconstruction and restoration services, recurring creative-space rentals at The Guild @980, and material donation intake that feeds tax-credit-eligible activity.
The company positions itself as Western New York's largest supplier of reclaimed and surplus building materials, with a dismantled-structure roster of over 200. It is founder-owned, has no external institutional investors per the source data, and operates primarily within Western New York with project-based reach into adjacent regions such as Syracuse and the Finger Lakes.
ReUse Action firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- ReUse Action
- Legal name
- ReUse Action, Inc.
- Website
- https://reuseaction.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- ReUse Action is a Buffalo, NY-based building materials company that acquires and sells reclaimed and surplus construction materials at steep discounts to retail, supplemented by green demolition, restoration contracting, and a 50-tenant creative workspace called The Guild @980.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
ReUse Action industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Reclaimed Building Materials
- NAICS
- Building Material and Supplies Dealers (4441), Used Merchandise Retailers (459510), Residential Remodelers (236118)
- SIC
- Retail-Lumber & Other Building Materials Dealers (5211), Services-Miscellaneous Repair Services (7600)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Deconstruction & Salvage (Building Material Reuse) (EUAIAHAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Architectural Salvage & Reclaimed Building Elements Retail (Doors, Windows, Mantels) (CRAIANAH), Reuse & Resale / Recommerce Operations (EUAIANAC), Repair, Refurbishment & Remanufacturing Services (EUAIANAB)
Keywords
Where ReUse Action is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Buffalo
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
ReUse Action business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Reclaimed Material Sales: Retail sales of reclaimed and surplus building materials including lumber, insulation, doors, windows, cabinets, and architectural items. Products sold at half or less of prevailing retail prices.
- Demolition and Deconstruction Services: Green demolition and specialty demolition services for residential and commercial buildings. Includes material salvage and reclamation during demolition.
- Restoration Contracting: Building restoration and reconstruction services, specializing in old homes and barns with incorporation of reclaimed materials.
- Space Rental (The Guild @980): Affordable workspace rental for artists, craftspeople, and small businesses. Fifty tenants occupy the building at 980 Northampton Street.
- Material Donation Processing: Accepts donations of materials; processes material donations for Buffalo ReUse. Offers tax credits for material donations.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Rigid Foam Insulation - Various Thicknesses |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Dimensional Lumber |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Doors and Tiles |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
ReUse Action product offering
Product offeringCore offering
ReUse Action acquires reclaimed and surplus building materials through green deconstruction projects, salvage operations, and donations, then resells them at retail prices roughly 50% or less than prevailing local retail rates from its warehouse-style storefront in Buffalo, NY. Beyond retail material sales, the company provides specialty demolition and deconstruction services, building restoration contracting for old homes and barns, affordable creative workspace rental at The Guild @980, and custom wood fabrication through its Rusted Grain woodshop division.
Product overview
ReUse Action is Western New York's largest supplier of reclaimed and surplus building materials, operating a retail store alongside multiple service divisions. The core offering is reclaimed building materials sales (lumber, barn wood, insulation, doors, windows, cabinets, radiators, and architectural house parts), supplemented by three service pillars: Specialty Demolition (green deconstruction), Restoration Contracting, and The Guild @980 (affordable creative workspace rental). A woodshop subsidiary called Rusted Grain provides custom milling and fabrication services from reclaimed materials. The company also offers material donation acceptance and occasionally sells building frame kits salvaged from historic structures. Products are sold at retail hours (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday) at their 980 Northampton Street location in Buffalo.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Rusted Grain: Woodshop division that processes, planes, and repackages wood products salvaged from deconstruction projects. Offers custom milling and fabrication services.
Products and services
- Reclaimed Building Materials Sales Retail sales of reclaimed and surplus building materials including barn wood, lumber, insulation, doors, windows, flooring, cabinets, and architectural house parts to homeowners, contractors, and artists at a physical storefront.
- Specialty Demolition Green demolition and deconstruction services that carefully dismantle residential and commercial buildings to salvage reusable materials rather than sending them to landfill.
- Restoration Contracting Building restoration and reconstruction services specializing in old homes and barns, incorporating reclaimed materials into the rebuild work.
- The Guild @980 Workspace Rental Affordable monthly workspace rental for artists, craftspeople, and small businesses within the building at 980 Northampton Street, Buffalo.
- Rusted Grain Woodshop Woodworking and fabrication service that processes, planes, and fabricates products from salvaged wood, offering custom milling services.
- Building Frame Kits Complete building frame kits salvaged from historic structures, catalogued and sold for reassembly at new locations.
Quantifiable outcome
- Diverted over 70 tons of material from landfill in single project
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use ReUse Action
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments6 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
ReUse Action technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
ReUse Action partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- GreenWorks Buffalo NiagaraminorCollaborative partnership for community events. GreenWorks Buffalo Niagara hosted December Green Drinks event and tour of The Guild @980, bringing together local leaders in the green and sustainable economy.
- WBFO (Buffalo NPR Affiliate)minorSponsorship of public radio helps spread awareness about material reuse and recycling options. Created audio promotional spots aired during programming.
- David Bennink of ReUse ConsultingcoreTraining and guidance in advanced deconstruction strategies pioneered by David Bennink, enabling efficient building removal with higher landfill diversion rates and more safely than conventional demolition.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
ReUse Action competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- The Loading Dock: Baltimore-area nonprofit that salvages new and gently-used building materials for resale at discounted prices to the community. Operates a comparable mission-driven warehouse-retail model focused on building material reuse.
- Habitat for Humanity ReStores: National chain of nonprofit retail stores selling donated and salvaged new and used home furnishings, building materials and appliances. Closest national analog to ReUse Action's retail/warehouse-of-reclaimed-materials model, although ReUse Action layers on green-demolition services that ReStores typically do not perform in-house.
- Second Use: Seattle-based retailer of architectural salvage, reclaimed building materials and used home goods. Operates a large storefront warehouse model similar in scope and mix to ReUse Action's 980 Northampton Street location, serving contractors, homeowners and designers in the Pacific Northwest.
- Urban Ore: Berkeley, California salvage and reuse enterprise operating a three-acre retail yard plus deconstruction services. Combines reused building materials retail with salvage pickup/demolition services — a structurally similar hybrid model to ReUse Action.
- EcoBuilding Bargains: Springfield, Massachusetts-based reuse retailer (operated by the Center for Ecological Technology) selling salvaged and surplus building materials to homeowners, contractors and nonprofits. Closest single-state New England peer to ReUse Action's discount-warehouse retail format.
- Habitat for Humanity ReStore (Greater Buffalo region): Local Habitat ReStore operating in the Buffalo/Western New York market. Direct local competitor offering reused building materials, appliances and furnishings to the same homeowner and contractor base that ReUse Action serves.
- Big Reuse: Brooklyn-based reuse nonprofit operating a retail warehouse of salvaged and surplus building materials, plus deconstruction and pick-up services. Closest geographic/demographic peer in NYC metro and the most relevant direct competitor in the Northeast.
- The ReBuilding Center: Minneapolis-based nonprofit salvaging reusable building materials through a retail store and deconstruction services, with a job-training mission. Competes in the same circular-economy/affordable-materials niche as ReUse Action in the Upper Midwest.
- Restoration Resources: Madison, Wisconsin nonprofit that salvages building materials from deconstruction projects and resells them through a retail warehouse, while also running a paid apprenticeship program — a tight analog to ReUse Action's combined retail, deconstruction, and apprenticeship offerings.
Emerging players
- Center for Reuse (Cleveland): Cleveland-based nonprofit recycler/reuse center recovering reusable building materials for redistribution. Northeast Ohio peer in the C&D reuse space with overlapping mission-driven retail and salvage activities, though smaller scale and less developed service offering than ReUse Action.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
ReUse Action social profiles
Digital presenceReUse Action financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
ReUse Action leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
ReUse Action funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
ReUse Action M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about ReUse Action
What does ReUse Action do?
ReUse Action acquires reclaimed and surplus building materials through green deconstruction projects, salvage operations, and donations, then resells them at retail prices roughly 50% or less than prevailing local retail rates from its warehouse-style storefront in Buffalo, NY. Beyond retail material sales, the company provides specialty demolition and deconstruction services, building restoration contracting for old homes and barns, affordable creative workspace rental at The Guild @980, and custom wood fabrication through its Rusted Grain woodshop division.
Is ReUse Action a public or private company?
ReUse Action is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was ReUse Action founded?
ReUse Action was founded in 2011. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is ReUse Action based?
ReUse Action is headquartered in Buffalo, United States, in the North America region.
How does ReUse Action make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Reclaimed Material Sales are the primary driver. The others are demolition and Deconstruction Services, restoration Contracting, space Rental (The Guild @980) and material Donation Processing.
Who are ReUse Action's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are The Loading Dock, Habitat for Humanity ReStores, Second Use, Urban Ore, EcoBuilding Bargains, Habitat for Humanity ReStore (Greater Buffalo region), Big Reuse, The ReBuilding Center and Restoration Resources. Center for Reuse (Cleveland) is listed as an emerging player.
Does ReUse Action have an API?
No public API is recorded for ReUse Action.
What industry is ReUse Action in?
ReUse Action's product category is Reclaimed Building Materials. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EUAIAHAJ, Deconstruction & Salvage (Building Material Reuse), with a secondary code of CRAIANAH, Architectural Salvage & Reclaimed Building Elements Retail (Doors, Windows, Mantels). Its NAICS code is 4441 and its SIC code is 5211.