Getting Material

[Davebones]

I saw the thread about buying blue vs black boxes at Lowes or the local supply house .Just wondering how you small contractors do for material .I work maintenance in a manufacturing plant ( 500 people ) and it seems when I order thru the local electrical suppliers I don't get what I need the next day.I order thru MSC or Grainger and 99% of the time I can get whats in their catalog the next day. I try to support the local branches but when we have machinery down I have to get electrical parts asap.I can't imagine being a small contractor and having delay problems .I'm not talking about specialized parts for machines just regular electrical material's !!!

 

[ptonsparky]

After a while you figure out who stocks what. In this area we don't expect much from local suppliers. Just won't happen. I gave up on getting class CC fuseholders locally and now buy them online.

 

[PetrosA]

I can say that around here supply houses don't carry anywhere near the selection they did 20 years ago and there is way less customer traffic in them than there was before. I don't know whether the reasons are the same everywhere, but from what I've gathered in this area, it has to do with 1) box stores taking the resi guys' business away; 2) many of the specialized companies who did more industrial and commercial folding up because of less production facilities in the area and more large contractors coming in from outside the area for new builds and 3) online retailers selling things like test equipment and tools for way less than any brick-n-mortar can.

I use Grainger for some things because they stock them or can get them fast, but the premium they charge can be outrageous. A recent example from the other day: I needed a 250W HPS ballast kit. Supply house charged me $83 while Grainger wanted $206. I drove the extra 30 minutes round trip to the supply house

 

[electricmanscott]

I can say that around here supply houses don't carry anywhere near the selection they did 20 years ago and there is way less customer traffic in them than there was before.

I would agree with this but I'd change the 20 to 2. Things at my suppliers have really changed over the last couple of years.

 

[shepelec]

The look on the customer face is priceless when you tell them how long it will take to get the new transformer to replace the one that just blew up.

It seems everything is special order. I 'm waiting for them to run out of wirenuts.

Graingers as a last resort.

 

[petersonra]

I get some things from McMaster because they are cheaper even paying for shipping. Sometimes by a lot.

Some strut fittings are half the price at McMaster than from my local supply houses.

SS strut is about half at McMaster than local.

However, regular galvanized strut from my local supply house is about half what McMaster wants for it.

There is no logic to pricing structures any more.

I can get stuff with multipliers (of list price) ranging from 0.12 to 0.98 from the same supply house of the same manufacturer's stuff.

I have seen stuff at a big box store that is the same thing we paid 25% more for from a supply house with a supposed huge discount.