[Bill]

Went into a supply house to pick some stuff up. While I was there a HO came in and got a new submersible pump. When the clerk gave her the total I was dumbfounded! I asked the man who was helping me what my price was on the same pump, he gave me the same price as the walk in HO! I said what about my plumbers discount? They told me they stopped doing that! Whats wrong with these people? Then when Lowes or HD comes to town they want to cry? I cant mark up any thing now from there because the HO can find out what I paid for it!

Any one else seeing this with the small town supplier?

 

[service guy]

Yeah, it sucks. All the ferguson's are going 'express' now around here which is basically a way to make it more retail friendly to homeowner's and compete with Blowe's and Home Dumpo. Sometimes I think this whole country is going backwards with all the DIY crap taking over. What's next? DIY surgery? I can see it now, scalpels and needles on sale in Aisle 14.:icon_eek:

 

[Plumberman]

I remodeled a jail south of town and take care of their maintance, there is only one hardware store in town and the closest other than this one is about a 30 min. drive. I had to pull a broken closet flange (cast) I didnt have a PVC repair flange on my truck so I ran down there to get one. When I took it up to the counter I said !!! It was forty bucks without tax. I asked the guy at the counter how they slept at night, he asked why? I told him I could get them in my hometown for half that price, he smiled and said "I guess you should have brought one from home then" All though he was right its crazy they charge that much for that. But they are the only hardware store for miles so I guess they name their prices..

 

[rex]

yea there a supply house close to me that charges crazy prices but they have every thing you need.....most of the stuff they have is from china......they are just right down the rd from home depot and they do great business cause they are able to talk to the home owners.......i dont have a account there but when i need some thing right away i go there other wise i just go to home depot.....

i buy most of my materials thru supply houses i just call one of my sales men and they deliver it to my house......

 

[Bill]

Whats worse now is that most places I had an "In House Account" with are doing away with them, they want you to get one of their credit cards.

 

[Ron]

It don't matter what it cost at any supply house, or from the local DIY stores, it's common practice to get a min 20% markup, on high dollar items, most who pay the bill don't question us, they just pay it, and if asked sure we tell them there is a markup, it's part of business, always will be, they do understand.

 

[WestCoastPlumber]

You have to markup material. covers your material loss, covers the time to stock the van, the cost of having it on the van, covers warranty issues. there is very little actual profit in markup.

Convenience is another factor the customer has to pay for.

 

[Bill]

I am not doubting the need to mark up, the thing is here is that the supply houses used to give us as plumbers a 10% to 20% discount or so this way we could mark it up and if the HO did call they would get about the same price as we give.

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

Fergusons does sell to the general public through their showrooms, but not at the rates I get.

I just got a Grohe tub filler for $200 less than the customers price, I was able to mark it up and still offer it to the customer for less.

I have another local supplier that I use religiously, without having to double check my invoices I know flat out that they beat ANY wholesale distributors price, bar none.

These guys value professional business at any level, I value them enough to go out of my way to use them before using suppliers that are closer to the job I might be doing at the time.

 

[Bill]

Fergusons does sell to the general public through their showrooms, but not at the rates I get.

I just got a Grohe tub filler for $200 less than the customers price, I was able to mark it up and still offer it to the customer for less.

I have another local supplier that I use religiously, without having to double check my invoices I know flat out that they beat ANY wholesale distributors price, bar none.

These guys value professional business at any level, I value them enough to go out of my way to use them before using suppliers that are closer to the job I might be doing at the time.

Glad to see there are some who still look out for us:thumbup:

 

[user4]

The Ferguson's in the Chicago area are actually one of the better supply houses, except they are always a little late with jobsite deliveries. There is a small supply house downtown that we use a lot when we come up short something on a job, because they are close and they stock large DWV copper fittings more than most suburban houses do.

 

[22rifle]

We can ***** and moan all we want about the supply houses. And they deserve it.

At the same time, I would hate to be a supply house these days.

 

[Herk]

Be wary. Many will say that they give you a better break, but if you actually got to see the walk-ins' invoices you might find out that they were treated pretty well.

Out here we have Standard Plumbing Supply and they may give you about a 10% break. But I've actually seen them giving better breaks to the walk-ins than the plumbers.