I’ve been an avid reader of FHB for a number of years, my current project is remodeling a 1929 Chicago Bungalow by my self, I’m not a “contractor” by trade but I’ve worked in several of the trades & can carry my own no problem. My issue is trying to get material and pricing as a contractor for such a big job but nobody will give it to me since I’m not a contractor, an ideas on what to do ?
Edited 12/3/2007 4:19 pm ET by planner72
Replies
My issue is trying to get material and pricing as a contractor for such a big job but nobody will give it to me since I'm not a contractor, an ideas on what to do ?
How have you tried to get contractor pricing? If you go in an ask "will you give me contractor pricing", that's a giveaway.
In my experience, if I identify myself by name and company, I get contractor pricing. They usually don't ask if I am a contractor. Of course, if you ask a lot of questions and seem generally uninformed, they may wonder. So do your homework on the internet, submit an RFQ with correct part numbers and model numbers, and generally present yourself as a pro. This usually avoids the issue.
BTW, certain trades such as HVAC in some areas require specific licenses to buy some products, so you are out of luck in those cases.
FWIW, in my state (and some others) you don't have to register a business if it is your own name. So if you are "John Doe" and call from "John Doe Contracting", a business license and registration is not required IN MY STATE. Might be worth checking your state to see if you can use this method.
If you buy all your materials from the same supplier, that will also help. A supplier will usually get you better pricing if you buy more stuff.
There could be reasons.
One is simply that you are not a contractor.
Sound unfair?
Not to the people who own the lumberyard.
See, a contractor genrally understands a lot of things about the products you will be buying, having bought the same a dozen or hundreds of times before.
A one time customer OTOH is more chosey and needs more hand holding, education on products and generally costs them more to service. You are asking them to give away cash money when they are thinking they will need to spend money to service you.
Another reason may be that they just do not extend discounts.
Of the three yards I do business with, one extends me a 10% contractor's discount, one does 5% - 7% depending on volumn that month, and the third bills me straight up.
but the net price for all three is within a half percent of each other on most items.
so what does the 'discount' really mean?
not much by me.
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This is sort of an illusion I had when I started out as well--that now that I was a licensed, bonded contractor, that I would get discounts on my materials.
Not necessarily so. I get pretty good pricing on some stuff--like paint for instance--but the max is about 10% of what the retail customer would pay.
It's hit or miss. The tool supplier treats me very well and matches prices or outright beats them to secure my regular business. I get no discount at the big yard I usually buy my regular items from--from insulation to fencing lumber. I install patio doors for Pella-they do nearly all the face time with the customer and I can make 10% to buy the item they sold for the customer--and take on the responsiblity of installing it properly. That's good money on a 3,000$ unit. I generally feel that if an outfit has full retail or 'street' pricing and they're open also to the public, they ought give a discount to a licensed, bonded, insured contractor.
My confusion, in reading what guys have to say about markup, is that how do you mark up items sold in your jobs, that a customer can walk in and pay the same for?
Waters,
mark up varies from contractor to contractor as well. Sometimes things are marked up and sometimes they are sold at cost simply to get the job.. it depends on a lot of factors.. like is the contractor paid immediately for the item or does he bill it. What is competition like? Normal practice in the area?
Waters,
I live in a small town, one lumberyard. Everybody pay's the same price, if you have an account, you get 10% knocked off if you pay within ten day's of the bill date. Special order's etc,I get a better deal but I am not sure how much, since I don't know what everyone else would pay. I hate the thought of marking a $70 item to $100 and have them see it on the shelf for $70! Electrical place, I know I get 15% to 20% off up front, so I don't hesitate to mark that up 20% to 30%. I do a lot of small job's, and have a very detailed bill for the customer's. Most contractors in the area use a hand scribbled bill 'Labor$ materials$". Most costumers's have no idea of the cost of material's, and when they see a bill for $300 for materials" just to fix a little leak in the roof" they think "It was just a little leak in the roof, $300 dollars for what?". They are always happy to see where there money went, in detail (and probably check prices, to make sure it did'nt ALL go to me) but I sleep better at night. Maybe I just need to toughen up a little ;)
Dennis
I think you've got it right. I do half T&M, half Bids, about. When I do T&M I usually do not mark up the materials unless I know I'm getting the item(s) at a lesser rate than the client could. Sometimes I will charge them their full retail--sometimes split the difference... Otherwise, I think that's when somebody would notice that 4 of the items on the list they could have picked up that night for 15% less--or whatever.
When I bid jobs, I try to mark up everything.
"how do you mark up items sold in your jobs, that a customer can walk in and pay the same for?"easy - because you are the one walking in and paying for it!
And you are the one installing it.A customer is paying for the finished installed product, not for the 2x4s and plywood.You explain that to stay in business you need to mark up what you handle to cover overhead and risk.If a customer is too cheap to accept that, they need an unskilled teenager to do their work
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Second what Piffin said. The contractors who get really deep discounts are huge. Most small contractors don't get much. They are small and just don't do that much volume. I can see really big contractors buying stuff and storing it in a warehouse.
I was in Home Depot a couple of weeks ago and there was a pallet full of romex going to a contractor. If they got a good price for a pallet, they see the price of copper going up, and they will use it, why not?
Just as an FYI, I don't believe that contractors get a discount at HD and/or Blowes.
might not get a deal, but free delievery is niceif guns kill people, then I can blame my misppelled words on my pencil
Just as an FYI, I don't believe that contractors get a discount at HD and/or Blowes.
HD will give a 10% discount on request to essentially anyone - but the pro desk folks will give that discount more readily, in my experience.
On anything?
On anything?
Yes
I have asked more than once and been told that they do not offer contractor discounts.So what is your secret?
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I believe that the manager of both Lowes and HD can handout 10% discounts for "customer satisfaction".Who the "customer" is and what they are trying to "satisfy" is up to the store manager.And I also suspect that some place that the managers have a budget and/or are graded on how much they discount in total.Several others has said that the get a regular 10% discount. In my area it seems only to be used to try take care of customer complaints. Specially at HD.I bought a pallet of the modular retaining wall blocks at Lowes and had to wait for a forklift.After about 15 minute wait the checkout clerk told me to go to the manager to get a 10% discount because I had waited too long..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I like the way I can return just about anything at home depot. When I have a project and I'm not sure exactly what I'll need I overbuy and then just return what I don't use. It's one less thing I have to worry about.
I understand that if I had a set of plans and a take off this point would be mute.
I have asked more than once and been told that they do not offer contractor discounts.
To the best of my knowledge, they don't offer contractor discounts, except when you sign up for certain credit programs.
However, their corporate "customer satisfaction policy" is to essentially offer a 10% discount to anyone who asks for it. They have some discretion in offering it, but usually if you ask for a 10% discount, they give it. I've never had the pro desk even balk at any of the local 5 or so HDs where I sometimes shop. Customer service sometimes will ask why you want a discount, but usually will give the discount, in my experience.
I'll be remembering that if I find myself in there again and buying something big enough to warrant the trouble of asking.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Maybe yours does, but not around these parts.
HD often mails out 10% coupons for purchases up to $2k, but it is restricted to purchases on an HD consumer credit card only, and I've never received one directly. I asked the Pro desk once why I never received the coupon, and they said the reason was because I had a commercial account. i.e., no coupons for contractors.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
NikeNukeEm
I got several of those 10%, up to $2000 discount cards and whenever a friend moved into a new apartment or something I could count on another one.. there wasn't any requirement to use their credit card..
A client just sent me one (coupon) so I'm looking at it now, on my desk, and it reads, 'Please present this coupon to receive 10% off, up to $200 in savings on your next purchase when you use The Home Depot Consumer Credit Card.'
Maybe there are other coupons without the Consumer cc requirement.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
NickNukeEm
Since I'm at the end of my project I don't seek those discount coupons anymore and I've stopped getting them, however when I was there was no requirement to use their card.
Maybe it's a local thing?
Now that line is strange. my HD act is a commercial one and I have gotten 10% coupons that say it is for ommercial customers.But it is always a one time - your next purchase.
The coupon writing makes it clear tht it is for one single item the way it is written, but the cashier at the register always applies it to the total on every thing purchased.
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Check out at Lowes on Memorial Day ( or the weekend of) they were taking off 15% of your total sale if you were a vet.
And a few weeks ago, I dropped about 12oo.oo on stuff and got a 10% off coupon type deal on my next ( or whatever) purchase.
Thats all I ever seem to get from them.
Pretty good sized yard up "in the city" has been flexible with the pricing tho..not a set %, but they will haggle a bit.
Local yard, will waive delivery fee, and sometimes just round down a price if I bring it up to them. Like instead of 2x4 being 2.32, they'll call it 2.00 or a nail gun at 362.00, will be 350.00.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"People that never get carried away should be"
Maybe yours does, but not around these parts.
FWIW, it's a national corporate policy. Have you asked your local store for a 10% discount when you made a purchase? If not, how do you know they won't do it?
To clarify, it's not a blanket 10% discount forever - you have to ask each time you make a purchase.
National corporate policy doesn't mean a whole lot, at least at the HDs here. And yes, I have asked before, several times. And no, they would not give it to me.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
In the past, I have asked corporate and local and been told flat out no, but maybe I need to demand....I really don't worry 'bout it one way or the other. I just don't relish the pain of doing business at HD that much when there are so many other local places that are a pleasure to do business with, where they know my name and service and prices are better most of the time.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
...when there are so many other local places that are a pleasure to do business with, where they know my name and service and prices are better most of the time.
Agreed, for the most part. But over the last several years there has been a noticable decline in service at several of the yards I go to. Not to mention an increase in ordering mistakes. I ordered a 6-panel exterior door with a single 1-0 sidelite, and was sent a unit with double sidelites. After getting the order straightened out, a week later they showed up with the exact door they had tried to deliver the week before.
I've had to narrow down the yards to one, the one where you walk in and they call out your name, the yard where you have a salesguy who informally is your sales contact. But that yard isn't as well stocked, and ordering miscues occur even there.
Just a general decline in service, and I figure it all started with the first Home Depot.
But that's just my opinion : )"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
What Piffin said. Most of my suppliers give a discount on how fast I pay them.
So, if you open an account with them, you become a contractor in their eyes.
http://grantlogan.net/
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man. - J. Handey
Neither am I, so I've tried other things.
1 - Check out demolition sales. I got a 2 story house full of red oak flooring for 300USD. Course, I had to remove it & haul it myself on one of the hottest days possible in the summer but I got a couple of relatives & a friend to help & we made pretty sort work of it. I used to get postcards from SOBA, I believe was the name of the guy's company. Elgin seems to have lots of demolitions which Garfield...ARGH can't remember the name of the group but I get postcards from them occasionally. It's a local restoration group. Garfield Park maybe?
2 - RESTORE has a place in Elgin (profits go to Habitat for Humanity) that occasionally gets relatively new things for a modest amount of money. I got a great deal on 2 ticky tacky lamps that with a little modification and logistical help from BT was able to turn into to really gorgeous lamps.
3 - If you are going to order alot of stuff, say for plumbing, try online. Faucet Direct was recommended by MadMom, perhaps they will give you a price break if you order alot all at once?
4 - I've just found another name of a more or less local salvage group. Island Girls Salvage in Elk Grove. I took a look at their website & may just email them with some requests for baseboard trim. Hopefully they have some simpler trim styles...
Santa baby, some acreage would be nice for me too. Can do?
Best pricing is typically based on volume. While your "current project" may be large by your standards, it likely pales in comparison to that of the average remodeling contractor.
And when you're done with it, how much more will you be purchasing?
Best bet is to get to know the owners of the various supply houses you plan on dealing with. Explain to them what you are hoping to do. Try setting up an account with them. Perhaps guarentee them full payment by certain dates each month. Miss the payment, lose the discount. Offer to pay cash when possible.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
It is always important to remind yourself how big a fish you are in the pond of your vendor. What may seem like a "big" project for you may be "small" for most vendors you are approaching mainly because it is a one shot deal.
If you are doing framing on this one house you might spend $30k or $40k for the entire project on lumber. There are "contractors" out there spending that much each month and some that spend that much each week. I hope you do not think you should get the same level of pricing or service as these folks.
I am not trying to be a jerk about this but I felt a little perspective is important.
Bruce
OK guys. Should we quit fooling around with him and show him the secret handshake so he can get his materials for free like we do? http://grantlogan.net/
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man. - J. Handey
You do and we'll _________Shoot, I can't bring myself to let that secret out.Just a gentle reminder before we bring out the eunoch in you
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Piffin,
I told him my secret handshake deal (which none of you guys seem interested in) so cheap can be done!
How can you be giving out the secret handshake when you don't know it yourself. Ya gotta finish at least one house before you can even be considered.. ;-)
Matt,
You see I know a secret handshake even the pro's don't know about..
Can you buy 50,000 bd.ft of hardwood to build a house from for about $25,000? we're speaking about black walnut, white oak, cherry , hard maple, and some of it extremely fancy wood like fiddleback maple tiger stripe black walnut , etc..
I have 917 bd.ft. of burl.. burl like the dashboard of a Rolls Royce or Jaguar. Plus 9 burled timbers! Oh some of that burl is 22 inches wide 10 feet long..
Can you buy copper sheets of 14 gauge copper 4x8feet for $20.00 a sheet? a whole pallet load?
I buy my SIP's for less than anybody accepts here, somehow I know a secret handshake the pros don't..
Can you buy copper sheets of 14 gauge copper 4x8feet for $20.00 a sheet? a whole pallet load?
No. And you can't either unless it's stolen.http://grantlogan.net/
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man. - J. Handey
seeyou,
Sorry, but I did! And I have the recipt from the company I bought them from! Since they've been in business all of my life I think that everything was on the up and up.
(but I'm not telling you the whole story because you don't know the real secret hand shake ;-)
You didn't by it recently at that price and what is 14 ga copper anyway? That'd be at least 32 oz. What were you doing with it?http://grantlogan.net/
It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man. - J. Handey
seeyou,
OK not recently and not from a copper supplier,
I used it for flashing on my roof and behind my timbers when they came in contact with concrete/mortor..
PS. when I sold the scrap from those jobs recently I got most of my money back!
The price of copper...
So yesterday I'm in the Lighting/plumbing supply store. They have some really nice stuff on the showroom floor. They have this new antique looking bathtub right by the front door that looks like all hand hammed copper. So I'm small talking with the receptionist and I say how much is that bath tub? $2500 or $3000?? (naming some figure that I thought was ridiculously high). She says, no, it's --------drum roll ------ $10,500 !!!! And that not including the drain or the faucet.
OK - maybe it was a combination of the copper and the intrinsic value of the thing... (what ever that means :-)) Anyway I was floored. BTW - are you sure you are making the right stuff?
Matt
The trick is when you bought the copper and from where..
I didn't buy the bath tub ;-)
I saw one of those also. It looks great until I touched it. Very thin material, which I suspect would let the nice toasty bath get all cold in about 5 minutes. oh well...
Santa baby, some acreage would be nice for me too. Can do?
" somehow I know a secret handshake the pros don't.. "
Someone should tell him that a reach-around is not a hand shake ;) Remodeling Contractor just on the other side of the Glass City
jhole,
Have you been hanging around marines a lot lately and had them show you what a reach around was?
Sure, but don't divulge the club song!http://tinyurl.com/2v3udq
(Scroll down a bit)
The free material part I understand, I just don't understand how you guys get it all done sitting on the Beach drinking Umbrella drinks?
In another life I was working at trying to reduce the cost of an after market auto ignition system.The prototypes had been build used commonly available parts. Now I was looking for cost affective parts.Started with a $1.25 switch, then found one for 0.79, then 0.45, then 0.30 then a system that put the contacts on the circuit board and add a 15 cent rocker arm.And I was talking with a number of different vendors and sales reps and they kept coming up with different ideas.At one time I told one that I found the item for free. Now I am looking for a vendor that can also ship it for nothing..
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
seeyou!
Ha! Ha! I found out the secret handshake thing myself and I just E-mailed him the trick..
now he's going to spread it all over the internet!
PS if you doubt me just look at the pictures of all the wood I've got for my place!
planner,
Here's the thing: you are an unknown quantity...time waste...great account?
It helps to look the part. A little age helps, especially if you are new to an area. But the fact of the matter is, you speak the language or you don't.
Here:
Contractor: "I can't believe the freaking engineer specced A35s on every single bird block. I need 200 of 'em. Plus H-3s every scissor! So, hell, 200 of them too, no 220."
Not-a-contractor: "Do you carry Simpson Strong-Tie products and can I get the contractor discount?"
Guy on commission with me: "You want that on the order we have going out to your site tomorrow, skipj?"
Guy on commission with Not-a-contractor: "Can you hold please." Click. "Hey skipj, what do you need?"
It's a money thing is all.
skipj
First let me preface this by saying that I have personally ordered very roughly a 1/2 $mil in building materials in the last 3 or 4 months. Further more, the company I work for sometimes orders 1000 sheets of drywall (for example) or 3 tractor trailer loads of framing material at a time for our apartment jobs. When I walk into the building supply they know my companies name and my name. Really though, most of my shopping is done by phone, FAX and E-mail and I have salesmen assigned to me.
Personally I don't think contractor discounts are that significant. If you shop around you can get similar prices, let's say if you buy the studs on sale at HD, the joists at Lowes because they are $.49 each cheaper, etc, etc. This would mean that I have to run all over town to get the stuff. As a contractor though, I don't have time for all that messing around. On my larger material orders, I bid them out, and sometimes I beat them down, and in the end I get the stuff for a little cheaper than if I would have done the shop around for each component and fetch it myself. To get it to site I just pick up the phone and say "Please send the framing package over for lot 77 on Tuesday". Free delivery from the building supply dealers. Not from the big box though, which is one reason I don't mess with the big box other than to use it as a hardware store and to grab a few boards.
You could just take the contractors exam, pay the annual fee and buy a bond.
Before you do all this, do the math and see if the savings you will generate with the discount justify the annual expense of a contractors license.
The part that I found frustrating prior to getting licensed was that fact that some supply houses will only sell to you if you are licensed (at any price). In my case it was the plumbing and sheetmetal shop that carried 25' lengths of gutter. They wouldn't sell me the gutters even with a note written on my bosses biz card (he had an account there that I wasn't on) saying I was an employee. To further irritate me, I knew exactly what I wanted and wasn't wasting anyone's time with a hundred questions. It was 15 years ago and it still bothers me that I had to put a seam with a two foot extension onto some twenty foot gutters rather than buy the twenty five footers and do it seamless.
(I know I could have hired a pro or found someone to roll out the exact footage I needed but at the time I was a poor apprentice repairing a little cottage to live in and had more time than money.)
I think making possession of a contractors license the criteria for who to give a discount to/who to sell to is a less than perfect system. It in no way guarantees you won't waste the business's time or that you will do a minimum volume, it just reduces the possibility of that.
Before I got licensed all I had to do was save three months of reciepts from the lumberyard, show they added up to something like a minimum of $2k/month and they would issue a "discount number" I would tell the cashier when paying.
Now I just tell them I am a licensed contractor at the register and half the time they ask my contractor licence #. No one has ever asked to actually look at the license. I get the impression that you could just say you are licensed and make up a number if asked (except at my plumbing/sheet metal vendor). If you were determined to pull off such a scam print up some cheap business cards with the number of your choosing and offer that if asked for your licence.
Ultimately I agree with all the other posters, there is a good reason only contractors get the discount. If you really need to pinch your pennies hard enough to get the lowest price then collect home depot/lowes 10% off coupons and buy stuff there.
I find the savings are generally not worth the time wasted waiting for service there. (like the time it took a bad forklift driver to get a new unit of plywood off the overhead rack since no one had restocked the bin by noon, I think it took 45 minutes to get three sheets of plywood and I couldn't leave without it because I had already paid for it trying to expedite things on my end.)
Just pay whatever the material costs, it is cheap compared to the labor. I would happily pay 10% more for material if I could get it completed 10% quicker.
Karl
You cant save money in material, just embrace the suck and get on with the project, time is money
Have you checked into surplus material auctions? Like any auction you need to have a price(s) in mind before you get there.
trying to get material and pricing as a contractor
Small contractors don't get much of a break. Simply the way it is, even on a house package delivered all at once. Often it's less expensive to buy it retail at the lowest priced supplier that week.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
He (planner) must have gotten a good price, he hasn't been back.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
Hopefully the huge discounts he was anticipating weren't going to be his only profit on the job! *chuckle*
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Many people think we get the huge disco's.
At least here in NW OH. the only real disco worth a snot comes from my electrical and plumbing supply houses. However, if a homo goes in and is supplying their whole house with fixtures, they usually see almost the same break I get. Lumber, a percent or so if paid by the 10th of the month. Convenience and leeways are the only $ benefit I see from them.
Large builders that run several hundred thousand through an account seem to garner a healthy savings.A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
You got a lot of homos running around in discos out there in Ohio?;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Yup, homo wners
And Disco's.
NW OH is full of em.
A Great Place for Information, Comraderie, and a Sucker Punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
http://www.quittintime.com/
>> Large builders that run several hundred thousand through an account seem to garner a healthy savings. <<
That would be several hundred thousand a month - right? Or is that a week? :-)
ment to add...
if i ask from my lumber yard for "full bunk pricing" which i think is 294 2x4x8' i always get about a 25cent per 2x4 break... and if i pay now vs letting them bill me i usually get 1 or 2%... if i offer to pay cash... the real green stuff vs use a credit card i can also sometimes get another 2% ...(it's about what they pay merchant services for the credit card transaction)... sometimes just asking... "wow is that the best price"? gets you a discount... i only use that when i really am surprised at the price...
i don't beat people up over prices... if a discount is offered i'd like it... but if not and i can afford it i buy it... if it's way more than i expected... and can't use it for that price... then... well i try to find something i can afford...
for the drywall in my lofts project... i got best pricing plus 20% off... by pay'n in advance... ie... i gave them money and i draw off of it at an agreed upon unit price....
p
Hire a contractor. Contractors generally get discounts cause their in there everyday. The lumber yard knows that if he takes care of the contractor he'll be back.
The lumberyards here will give you an account if you ask, and you get the same great billing as us contractors; 1% off in-stock merchandise if paid within 10 days of billing. Special order items (cabinets, counters, windows and doors, etc.) are not included.
The main selling point of the account is not the 1%, it's the convenience. I go in, get what I need, and sign the receipt and walk out. Much quicker than a big box, so I guess you can save some money there by not burning time waiting in some line.
"I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul." Invictus, by Henley.
there are no big discounts in materials.... lumber drywall ect... everyone knows what everyone else is pay'n/charge'n... and there just isn't much room price wise... and like others have said... if you run all over town for your whole project you might..maybe... could... save a couple hundred dollars total... and i'm say'n that on 50k spent..
where you can save money (in my experience... and i think i'm in the upper 5% at it)
is knowing exactly what you'll need long before you need it... and spot'n a deal when it happens... i buy some stuff 2-3 yrs in advance often for 10cents on the dollar...
HVAC stuff... buy your ac stuff in the winter get last years model.. or a dented unit... you could save 50%
plumbing & light fixtures usually have large mark-ups... the more$$ it is retail the larger the mark-up... look on ebay... i have one $1500 shower faucet i got new in the box for $120.. but i have many $200 faucets i paid $30-$40 for... i might bid on 20 to get one... but i'm buy'n a year in advance or more... knowing what i will need...
doors & windows... every good door/window supplier has returns or mis ordered stuff... ASK
p
That reminds me of the saying, " a cheap man ends up paying the most".
I have very little sympathy for cheap people who want nice stuff. Or want to get things done and done well, but don't want to spend money.
If keeping money in your pocket is such a big priority, then just learn to be content with what you have.
Nothing personal to anyone here. Just ranting a bit.
popawheelie,
Well Said!
big difference in being cheap... and stay'n within budget or make'n a budget go further...
part of my post was not about buy'n cheap ####... it was about find'n deals on good stuff...
I think everyone here will go along with in most cases buy cheap anything costs more in the long run...
buy'n quality does not always go hand in hand with spending the most money...
when you are spending someone elses money... yes it's often wise to buy it and get it because time costs far more than the material...
but when you have the time and no set in stone design... my advice works for me... might not work for but i have the required skill set/sets to make it work... for me...
I have very little sympathy for cheap people who want nice stuff. Or want to get things done and done well, but don't want to spend money.
If keeping money in your pocket is such a big priority, then just learn to be content with what you have.
I know alot of people with alot of money that spend alot of money on the things they have... and they still have "cheap stuff" I know people who don't have a ton of money buy have nice things... it's all about buy'n well and knowing what and when to buy... if you don't have an unlimited budget...
spending alot of money doesn't insure quality in workmanship or materials...
many people seem to think "contractors or builders" pay 40cents for the same 2x4 thats $2.50 at home depot... we all know that just ain't so... but I know with a little effort i can get quality materials often for the same price as cheap builder grade... all it takes is planning and a bit of effort...
any money you don't spend... is money you don't have to make... save $100 and thats $130 you didn't have to earn...
p
I agree, I don't think we are contradicting each other. Throwing money at things is just that. It won't make up for good design, good installation, or a number of other things I can't think of right now. But I didn't say throwing money at something is the solution.
I agree that the old adage, "time is money" is relative. If you are working by yourself it is a different game.
I did put a caveat in my post though,
"Nothing personal to anyone here. Just ranting a bit".
If the shoe doesn't fit then don't wear it. My post was a bit of a rant to everyone.
I did work ( for nothing) with a homeowner a couple of weeks ago and he was CHEAP! Right now, between him and his wife he has three houses. I visited him at a shed he was building on his rental property. It was a terrible plan, terrible materials, and he didn't know what he was doing. I was polite and just held the dumb end of the tape for him.
There were piles of junk all over the place of stuff he couldn't throw away. Useless junk that was an eye sore. I just don't work that way and I don't work with people who do. Period!
I think my destain for junk comes from my upbringing. My mom was a collector if junk.
i didn't take it personal... and i do agree with you... junk will for the most part always be junk... and i don't deal with or surround myself with cheap people (broke is different than cheap)...
i'm a reforming junkhound (nothing personal junkhound) i'm doing real well use'n up stuff i have and not adding to the pile too much...
i did pick up 6 in the boxes brand new newell posts this morning... i could have used 8 of like design but i'll work with the 6 i got... and build 2 to match
6 new in the box newell posts with 2 caps each for choice of style of cap... they are paint grade poplar but pretty nice box says made in china......
6 boxes of 1000ea small head 2" trim screws... a few new door sweeps... 50 -16" long 3/8" all thread with nuts... and 1pr of tile snips...
$50.00 for all
i can use just about all of this stuff... so... can't call it collect'n
it's inventory and the snips a tool
p
best way for you to save money as a individual....EBAY!!!!!
first get on there and buy some lowes/hd 10 and 20 off coupons, just a litlle hint lowes will take theirs and hd,hd is very stuborn about taking thier own but will usally take lowes????if you have trouble sometime,with your cart sitting there with 1500. worth of stuff ask for manager ask him if he wants to honor it or you can go to the other big box.... that usally gets them to know they lose the sale plus the competion gets it. oh be sure to tell them you got the coupon in the mail,from a friend etc. not valid if purchased off the inet.
then start shopping for faucets,hardware,wire,heating and air units [i've bought several from up in your area so you might save shipping.
larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
Open an account with wholesalers. They'll generally give you some type of price break (5% or so). If you start doing enough volume then you can probably start asking for better breaks.
You may or may not get better prices than the borgs. But generally you'll get better service, products and with lumber and building supplies delivery is usually included in their price.
when i had 10 people working for me i never looked at price but service instead, waiting for material ate up a fortune in wages fast, Most lumber yards were pretty much the same in price, Even if your a one man band getting the special orders fast will make a difference, One day lost on your progect is not worth any 10 percent savings