OK….somebody pinch me!
This is a first! Normally I refuse to shop at HD….certainly never for a job. Mom always said..”never say never”. This past Tuesday I was cruising out for lunch and was passing the local HD….thought it might be worth my while to stop in and see if they carried an inexpensive “subway” tile I need for a kitchen backsplash I`m doing…and besides, they`ve got a hotdog truck outside in the lot….kill two birds and all.
Well, I was unlucky in my quest for the subway tile…buuuuuut…while scanning the isles I came across a 4 x 4 Travertine tile at a great price. I`m about to tile my own shower and DW and I had finally settled on a wall tile….luckily we procrastinate such decisions and hadn`t ordered yet. We had been looking at various tumbled marbles and the like….but after kicking it back and forth couldn`t justify the $12/sq. ft. cost. Not having too many connections in the tile industry the best price I was able to get was somewhere in the ten dollar per range. We`d given up on it and settled on a ceramic we where happy with…..thank goodness we never ordered.
The 4 x 4 Travertine at HD was $5.97 a sq./ft……only $.50 more than the ceramic we had chosen…..ran home….scooped up the wife…brought her to see the tile before we scarfed down a couple of dogs. (Romantic fool that I am!)
I`ll have natural stone in my master bath after all……thanks Home Depot.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
“DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE”
Replies
buy the tile - but for GOd's sake you don't have to tell anyone that ever shopped home depot. No one needs to bare their soul that much.
yea but the hot dogs are pretty good, I like the coney dog with the works.
I'm not sure why so many people knock Home Depot. It may not have all the materials that pros may use in readily available quantities but I'm sure they can order it for you.
Recently, based on the comments on this site, I checked 3 local lumber yards to see what materials they had. While they sold a larger variety of a particular product (more than Home Depot); for example vinyl fences, all 3 lumber yards said it would take a good 3 weeks for me to get the stuff if I ordered from them. With Home Depot, most of the stuff that I, a DIYer homeowner, needs is right there in stock.
Also, Home Depot's prices are far better than what I would get from a lumber yard or paint store for the same quality stuff. I do realize that lumber yards and paint stores do sell higher quality versions of the same product but if we're comparing apples to apples, Home Depot has better prices. Again, in this case, pros may get better prices because you would buy in larger quantities and have repeat business. I would never get the prices pros would get because I simply don't buy in that quantity range. An example is that the local paint store sells Benjamin Moore paint to commercial credit accounts at almost a 50% discount from what I would buy it for.
What Home Depot is lacking is the expertise that they once had. I remember when they first appeared in my area, they were almost 100% staffed by professional contractors (I guess they worked Home Depot part time). I could get almost any answer I needed. Today, I know more about the products than the help does. The only help I get is in locating the products because they keep moving the location of the stock around.
So it's not the perfect meet-all-needs center for professionals, but it is a great place for knowledgeable homeowners (especially for those on a budget.)
Sometimes Home Depot is..., and sometimes it ain't. Ya know...it's like life.
You said it best - and it only took one simple sentence. Concur with you 110%.
Eric S.
Thang,
I don't think highly of H.D. but you're right. from the standpoint of a DIY'r or a guy doing small projects they probably give better service and have a much larger selection.
But, if you have a relationship with a local yard, things change. Contractors and professionals often are treated much differently by the yards. One yard in my area has shortened their hours. When I asked why they said " We don't make any money off the guys who stops in after work and buys one window or two 2X4's. So why stay open and even tempt him to stop in" . Same place gives me great prices and super service. H.D. is what it is.
Seems like the places that bitch about H.d. are the ones who provide then with a staedy flow of customers.
thing I hate about HD and lowes is how the lumber rats will destroy the lumber with the forklift and then expect you to buy the damage goods
The H.D by me won't even put a new draft on the floor until every last crooked stick is sold. Oh well.
I always tell them I need straight stock and this won't do. Even if they are trying to hide that usually forces them into action.
It's a war I tell ya. Get in and get the stuff without spending hours and getting inferior products. Service, I don't expect it but if I get it that's great.sobriety is the root cause of dementia
"I'm not sure why so many people knock Home Depot. "
Thang,
Well, doing away with cashiers (our local one only has one, as they are trying to "train" customers to use the self serve lanes), not having angled parking (EVERY store out here has it), and simply having a friendly store-full of idiots sums it up.
Jon
Lots for a DIYer to praise and lots to knock:
Praises:
- wide variety of material in stock and on display indoors (big bonus in Canadian winter, and better selection by a mile than the pre-HD lumber yards in Canada)
- no stupid stock-picker pulling your material for you- you can select for your own preference of defects
- decent prices without the need to buy in volume
- a generous returns policy - no restocking charges for most stuff, so you don't have to bare-bones your orders for fear of having to make another trip
Knocks:
- if you order lumber from them for delivery, guess what you get? The stuff that's left over after everybody in the store is finished selecting what they want!
- the only store where a cashier can't suspend a transaction and serve other customers in line when somebody tries to buy something without a barcode tag on it! Grrr! Grrr! The time I've wasted in line at the cash in that store!
- so much cheap, defective Chinese crap on their shelves that sometimes I'm stupid enough to buy
- bullying the manufacturers into supplying special part numbers of common products (particularly power tools) to stymy comparison shoppers looking to take their 10% discount
>> you can select for your own preference of defects
LOL! Well, maybe chuckle out loud. That reminds me of, "The great thing about being self employed is you get to decide which 18 hours a day you're going to work."
My biggest knock on HD is the general level of incompetence...the right hand knows not what the left is doing.
Been burned there twice.....once was a kitchen job where the kitchen designer short ordered the galley rail.....I was forced to wait four weeks for an eight foot length, finish the job and get a final payment.....the second was a roofing job.....I was two bundles shy of completion....when I went back to pick up what I needed, not only were they out of stock, but they would no longer be carrying that line....a line that was manufactured specifically for HDs....nowhere else to get it.
I learned my lesson though and no longer do jobs where the HO insists on HD supplied materials.....I sleep much better at night.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
my story is the same as yours-stop at home depot and they have 16x16 travetine tile for 2.25 a foot. i got to tell ya i don't know nuttin about travetine but i'm going to learn! it is a great looking stone. are you going to set in reg. thinset or use the type made for marble? the guy at hd said to use the marble ,but any advice i get from the help i always take with a grain of salt. let me know how it goes, it will probably be about 2 months before we lay ours. larry
Thius is a belated april fools joke right???? :>)
Darkworksite4:
El americano pasado hacia fuera ase la bandera
That's what I thought...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
i thought travertines in a shower filled up with soap scum and the like.
carpenter in transition
Oh sure....rain on my parade! : )
So long as the tile is properly sealed, regular cleaning should not be a problem.J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
"DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE"
someone has to soil a good HD story......
carpenter in transition