# Supply house prices vs. box store



## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

I picked up a sump crock with the lid and a stick of 4” foam core today. Total came to $124. $42 for the stick! So I just looked it up on Menards website. $26. I know pvc has gone up in price, but F!


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

OpenSights said:


> I picked up a sump crock with the lid and a stick of 4” foam core today. Total came to $124. $42 for the stick! So I just looked it up on Menards website. $26. I know pvc has gone up in price, but F!


Foam core? Ew.

You bought a sump pit? Use a bucket.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Water heaters seem to be cheaper at Home Depot Pro too.... The same rheem heater
is about 30 bucks lower than my supplier


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## DogGod (Jul 7, 2021)

Always argue the prices at a supply house. I have had drops of 45% by just making a phone call. 

They will charge you with what they can get away with.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> Water heaters seem to be cheaper at Home Depot Pro too.... The same rheem heater
> is about 30 bucks lower than my supplier


Other than the French gas valves, SH quality is better IMHO.


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## jakewilcox (Sep 3, 2019)

The supply house will deliver most of the time. The supply house gets a journeyman in and out quickly. 
If you are sending a journeyman in to a box store to save $30 on a water heater, you are loosing your shirt business wise.


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

jakewilcox said:


> The supply house will deliver most of the time. The supply house gets a journeyman in and out quickly.
> If you are sending a journeyman in to a box store to save $30 on a water heater, you are loosing your shirt business wise.


Exactly. Your guy can start draining and removing the old one.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

jakewilcox said:


> The supply house will deliver most of the time. The supply house gets a journeyman in and out quickly.
> If you are sending a journeyman in to a box store to save $30 on a water heater, you are loosing your shirt business wise.



I know exactly what you mean here..... but supply houses can kill a morning
for you if their is a crowd..... 

Most employees will just sit at the supply house and take their sweet time 
making themselves a few cups of coffe and talking while the company waits on them
They might see their heater sitting there in will call with your name on it but they are
not gonna jump up , grab a cart and load that thing themselves..... no way...

So we stock close to 2 dozen heaters in our building because if you 
dont have to go get one and fool around at the supply house or store 
you dont lose $$ and half the morning... and the employees really dont care one bit


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## jakewilcox (Sep 3, 2019)

@Master Mark 
YES exactly. I do my best to keep everyone out of the supply house. If someone needs something we try to use a runner (short straw apprentice of the day) or even just a currier service. We also make sure to call orders in for will call. This way of someone does have to make an inevitable trip, it gets picked up fast and we don’t have to wait for them to pull the order. 

The fastest HD trip I’ve ever seen is like 50 minutes by the time a guy drives there, finds what he is looking for (in their schiit organization scheme-half the time they don’t have it anyway) and then wait in line, then drive back to the site. Usually these trips are more like two hours. 

At this point we’ve lost WAY more than $30 on our job. So, I don’t really care if something from the SH is cheaper or not. Then there is the fact that HD only had what you need about 60% of the time; which just costs more money.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

jakewilcox said:


> The supply house will deliver most of the time. The supply house gets a journeyman in and out quickly.
> If you are sending a journeyman in to a box store to save $30 on a water heater, you are loosing your shirt business wise.


Good point about an employee. But in my case, it’s just me and there’s no way I’d ever have an order large enough for them to deliver. We have 4 supply houses in my area. The closest to me is quick, but expensive. Another is cheap, but… example: I had a good size order that I called in at noon with a pickup time of 9am the following day. I gave them an extra hour and they still didn’t have it ready. They even have a night crew to fill orders! Ferguson if you get there at the wrong time you can be waiting awhile. The one we’ve been using has usually been reasonable in pricing, but they only have two people working there. So if you want a price or place an order it can take a few calls before someone answers.

When it comes to heaters, faucets and a few other things, I’ll only buy from a supply house. But pvc is pvc, copper is copper. I can’t justify paying 40% more.


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## jakewilcox (Sep 3, 2019)

I see where you are coming from. Is it really 40%?!? I think I’d be having a talk with my supply house about pricing.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

jakewilcox said:


> @Master Mark
> YES exactly. I do my best to keep everyone out of the supply house. If someone needs something we try to use a runner (short straw apprentice of the day) or even just a currier service. We also make sure to call orders in for will call. This way of someone does have to make an inevitable trip, it gets picked up fast and we don’t have to wait for them to pull the order.
> 
> The fastest HD trip I’ve ever seen is like 50 minutes by the time a guy drives there, finds what he is looking for (in their schiit organization scheme-half the time they don’t have it anyway) and then wait in line, then drive back to the site. Usually these trips are more like two hours.
> ...


I generally won’t go to HD or Lowe’s. Menards is better. Unless it’s Black Friday your wait in line is 5 minutes tops. Plus they always have good deals in the food section.


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## OpenSights (Mar 23, 2015)

jakewilcox said:


> I see where you are coming from. Is it really 40%?!? I think I’d be having a talk with my supply house about pricing.


$122 order at the supply house, $74 at menards. Both with tax included.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

jakewilcox said:


> @Master Mark
> YES exactly. I do my best to keep everyone out of the supply house. If someone needs something we try to use a runner (short straw apprentice of the day) or even just a currier service. We also make sure to call orders in for will call. This way of someone does have to make an inevitable trip, it gets picked up fast and we don’t have to wait for them to pull the order.
> 
> The fastest HD trip I’ve ever seen is like 50 minutes by the time a guy drives there, finds what he is looking for (in their schiit organization scheme-half the time they don’t have it anyway) and then wait in line, then drive back to the site. Usually these trips are more like two hours.
> ...


\
Something else here that can totally wreck a day that I had to put a stop to......

Pay day used to be on Friday mornings which was my mistake..... We ended up
having to make pay day at 5pm on Fridays because the num-nuts would take off for
their first morning call and spend 30 -45 minutes standing in line at a bank trying to cash
their checks..... I had a customer call me screaming one morning because they waited
on a couple of morons who got hung up at the bank for over an hour..... 

Direct deposit does not work well neither, because if they know the money is gonna
be posted in their accounts on Friday, then their is no reason to show up on Friday
For a very long time they got paid at 5pm and they could go cash their checks on their time........


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## skoronesa (Oct 27, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> ..............Direct deposit does not work well neither, because if they know the money is gonna
> be posted in their accounts on Friday, then their is no reason to show up on Friday
> ...............


We used to get our paychecks friday morning and it wasn't an issue. Some of us would deposit our checks in the drive-thru on the way to our first call. Our rule was if you want to stop anywhere for any reason than you better show up early.

As for direct deposit, we've had it for years now and it isn't an issue. I guess if your guys are living paycheck to paycheck and they hate their job......well that's a separate issue. If we had a guy not showing up for work repeatedly he wouldn't have to show up anymore at all.


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## MACPLUMB777 (Jun 18, 2008)

Yeah that was a problem my mentor had, I asked him one time why I always got my check on Friday night but the other
guys would not get paid till Saturday night, He said because he knew that I would be in on Saturdays, but if they got 
paid on Friday he would see them till Monday Morning, But I had a wife and three kids at home so I had to come in on Saturdays


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

skoronesa said:


> We used to get our paychecks friday morning and it wasn't an issue. Some of us would deposit our checks in the drive-thru on the way to our first call. Our rule was if you want to stop anywhere for any reason than you better show up early.
> 
> As for direct deposit, we've had it for years now and it isn't an issue. I guess if your guys are living paycheck to paycheck and they hate their job......well that's a separate issue. If we had a guy not showing up for work repeatedly he wouldn't have to show up anymore at all.


They never seemed to just deposit the checks,, they had to go inside the talk to the pretty
girls behind the counter., it seemed to make their day.......
and I am sure the girls were all turned on by these morons..

Well, I would guess that wherever they all are today that they probably still hate their jobs...
unless , maybe they have grown up over the years who knows....

I dont have that problem any more , 
I can only stick it to myself if I dont show up on Friday....


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Being the owner/operator you figure out price versus time to maximize the profits. Home Depot has a lot more buying power than supply houses so their prices are lower on some things than others. HD has some products where they’ll getcha on overpriced stuff. As far as pvc goes I like HD brand more than Ferguson and cheaper. I use a lot of 3/4” pvc for condensation drains. Go through self checkout at HD and it‘s way quicker than slow ass Ferguson also. Fergs wants double for 3/4”.


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## DDDave (Aug 6, 2014)

skoronesa said:


> Exactly. Your guy can start draining and removing the old one.


Couldn't resist. 20ish min tops from setup to out unless the job's against you. But that's your point.


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