I need to stop going to the supply house near my place

[Fulthrotl]

Regarding the JIT system, I guess you could say that's how I run my business.
Some weaknesses of JIT are apparent in residential remodeling and service
though. A commercial customer is generally accustomed to paying a lot more
for repairs than the average homeowner, so even Grainger is an option
(they have JIT down to a tee...) but a homeowner is used to seeing the below-cost
prices at Home Depot so when they have to wait for a part to come in because your
suppliers are also trying to use JIT and only stock one or two of an item, or keep
sold product on the self service shelves and you need to start rescheduling visits to
finish a repair or job, or have to special order anything remotely unusual, relations can get strained.
I placed an order over a month ago for some 24V LED tape lighting from WAC to build a demo
kit that STILL hasn't arrived. I've got one customer and an architect waiting to see a demo
before making decisions and the delay already cost me the architect's job. Ridiculous.

i've been following this thread with some gratitude, to be honest. i have a little family
owned wholesale house i buy from, and i buy everything i can from them. they treat me
well, i never look at the prices, and i never shop their prices elsewhere. i've never filled
out a credit app, and we've never discussed my credit line. they have never said no, and
i've never abused their trust.

some stuff they can't get that i need. they don't do industrial controls, but i have a good
control house for that.... so, i have two people i call, and that is only who i buy from.

some stuff i could get cheaper elsewhere, and what then...? when the time comes, they have
folded and closed doors, and you have walters wholesale, and home dipsnit to choose from.
my inside sales guy for controls, i went over to his house two weeks ago, and helped him
refinish his living room floor, for two reasons.. i had the equipment to make it easy, and
i've known him for 15 years. and he's my friend.

i've never needed it, but if i had a melt down on a sunday, and needed a bunch of control
stuff cause a line was down, he'd drive in and open for me, and get me up and running.

i'll buy from walters if it is unobtainable anywhere else, and i have to have it. they charge
me 35% more than they charge their accounts who are running a balance, and i'm paying
cash up front.

screw that. they don't want my business, and i don't like their way of treating people.

i'm truly fortunate in that i know who my friends are, and can do business with them.

the facilites manager of a commercial account i have and i were talking a couple weeks
ago, and with a food packing plant, the ONLY thing that matters, is if it breaks, can you fix
it in three hours? what parts cost doesn't matter. nothing matters but making it run, any
way you can, when you have product at risk.

both he and i have mcmaster-carr on speed dial on our cellphones, and they have the
west coast distribution center in norwalk... i can have anything at will call and have it
in my hands in an hour.... that is worth everything. you need a 55 gallon stainless steel
barrel with a lid on it? would you like 304 or 316 stainless, sir? how many? we only have
three in stock, but we can have the balance delivered to you in the morning... will that be ok?
a 1.5 million sq foot building, stacked 25' high with everything in the known universe...
and some things in the unknown universe as well, i'm guessing.

all that matters at the end of the day, is did you do what you said you were going to?
nobody cares why not, if you didn't.

i price my work so that if i have unplanned things happen, i don't end up working for free.
if i have to go to mcmaster carr and pay twice as much for something, it still works out ok.

usually..

 

[jaylectricity]

I went back there last week to buy some old-work recessed cans. I wanted six housings, six trims and six bulbs. My main man is telling the new kid what to get. After getting me six housings he goes back for the trims and my man tells him, "Six trims, so grab a whole box." Then my man calls to him to get the bulbs, too.

The kid says, "How many?" SHEESH! Oh well, we chided him a bit and said, "Ya know...maybe like...six? The same as how many of everything else?"

Everybody laughs, he comes out with the case of trims and all the bulbs. I drive to the jobsite to drop them off, but end up getting called away.

A few days later I go back to install the lights. When I get to the trims, I move all of the bulbs which had been stacked on top of the open box of trims. Well whaddya know? There's only five trims. I was a bit miffed. I imagined a scenario where I went back there and told him he shorted me and he told me he had no way of verifying that and had to charge me for another one.

By this time it's 10 minutes past closing. I went in there a few days later and they gave me another trim with no hassle. Luckily the job is a house that was just purchased and we're still waiting on cabinets in the kitchen, so the customer didn't mind that I had to leave that one can without a trim.

 

[jaylectricity]

I almost asked for the ballasts I need for a service call I'm doing tomorrow, but then I thought..."Nah, I'll just get them from Berts" which is right down the street from the customer's shop.

 

[Strathead]

I went back there last week to buy some old-work recessed cans. I wanted six housings, six trims and six bulbs. My main man is telling the new kid what to get. After getting me six housings he goes back for the trims and my man tells him, "Six trims, so grab a whole box." Then my man calls to him to get the bulbs, too.

The kid says, "How many?" SHEESH! Oh well, we chided him a bit and said, "Ya know...maybe like...six? The same as how many of everything else?"

Everybody laughs, he comes out with the case of trims and all the bulbs. I drive to the jobsite to drop them off, but end up getting called away.

A few days later I go back to install the lights. When I get to the trims, I move all of the bulbs which had been stacked on top of the open box of trims. Well whaddya know? There's only five trims. I was a bit miffed. I imagined a scenario where I went back there and told him he shorted me and he told me he had no way of verifying that and had to charge me for another one.

By this time it's 10 minutes past closing. I went in there a few days later and they gave me another trim with no hassle. Luckily the job is a house that was just purchased and we're still waiting on cabinets in the kitchen, so the customer didn't mind that I had to leave that one can without a trim.

I know the world should run smoothly. When I make a stupid mistake it really irritates me and I review it over and over to figure out how I could have done that. The final conclusion is that I messed up. In this case, the supply house probably messed up, but your guys did to if they didn't check the box to see if it had been opened. None of that actually matters.

The point I want to make is, all of the above it the reason we (contractors) put profit and overhead on a job. It is why you are not supposed to work for wages. Stuff happens. You may go along smoothly, for a year and then have one of your guys break a sprinkler head and flood all the new mill work. We have to stop cutting our numbers to cost and praying for the best.

 

[euboss]

Well, after 30 years I have seen all and done all in the electrical trade. I have been in business since 1989. But the goods thing is that I have learned a lot and still have a lot to learn. Since around 2006 our area in SW Florida has been in a full blown depression. I have seen most of our local supply houses as well as some of our national supply houses just up and leave the area. The one that have survived has gotten rid of all of their knowledgable staff due to the fact that they were paid well for their knowledge and of course the first to go. When I order for a job I have to allow much more time to obtain the material tha I used to because they stock very little material locally and rely on their central distribution for their inventory. I think this is the trend and will not change any time soon. So I suggest you keep in stock your bread and butter items. You may tie up a little extra money in inventory but It will help you in the long run.

 

[readydave8]

Had a typical experience at local supply house yesterday:

Needed 11 pin, 120v coil, ice cube relay to replace the one I used out of my stock. Asked at the 2 suppliers that I knew might possibly have, neither had nor offered to bring in from another store (CES & Winlectric). Ordered 2 last nite from automation direct, probably have by Tuesday, less than $27 total incl tax & shipping.

 

[ptonsparky]

Had a typical experience at local supply house yesterday:

Needed 11 pin, 120v coil, ice cube relay to replace the one I used out of my stock. Asked at the 2 suppliers that I knew might possibly have, neither had nor offered to bring in from another store (CES & Winlectric). Ordered 2 last nite from automation direct, probably have by Tuesday, less than $27 total incl tax & shipping.

AD is an excellent supplier with quick delivery and wide array of products. I usually try my locals first but if delivery and or price is out of line, AD is where I go most of the time.

 

[hillbilly1]

Had a typical experience at local supply house yesterday:

Needed 11 pin, 120v coil, ice cube relay to replace the one I used out of my stock. Asked at the 2 suppliers that I knew might possibly have, neither had nor offered to bring in from another store (CES & Winlectric). Ordered 2 last nite from automation direct, probably have by Tuesday, less than $27 total incl tax & shipping.

You can't even get an 8 pin, let alone that at a supply house in Atlanta, sure they can order you one, but Grainger has them on the shelf.

 

[readydave8]

You can't even get an 8 pin, let alone that at a supply house in Atlanta, sure they can order you one, but Grainger has them on the shelf.

So this has always seemed strange to me, supplier won't stock because of low demand. Yet I stock even though I probably will sell one every 5 years. But I'm not the only electrician in suppliers area, they must have more demand than me. So they could stock a few thousand dollars of slow-moving items, higher markup on these items, become a go-to for ec's.
Also notice in my example these are both large chains who keep inventory all over the country, I think the reason neither counterman offered to bring in from another store was that it was 4:00 on a Friday?

 

[ptonsparky]

One of our local managers stated that each employee of a contractor should be generating x amount of dollars in purchases of products from him. I did some quick math and told him that was close. The double blink of his eyes indicated he did some quick math of his own and realized he was not getting all the sales he could from us. If you don't stock it you don't sell it. I keep telling him if I wanted it in two weeks, I would ask for it in two weeks.

 

[Lighting Retro]

I try to never leave my dependability to a customer in a supply house's hands. Recipe for disaster in my experience. I prefer to have at least a day or two buffer to fix their mistakes. People say the errors are not predictable, but actually they are. They WILL happen, so you might as well prepare as if you need time to correct the mistakes.

 

[kwired]

I try to never leave my dependability to a customer in a supply house's hands. Recipe for disaster in my experience. I prefer to have at least a day or two buffer to fix their mistakes. People say the errors are not predictable, but actually they are. They WILL happen, so you might as well prepare as if you need time to correct the mistakes.

How do you predict when you will need that expensive part that you may only sell once every 10 years? You can not be totally prepared for everything.

 

[wyreman]

Where?

Where?

That stinks. I get things online in 3 days.

I have to buy a bunch of Gfis and screw less plates dimmers etc
I go from amazon to eBay to home depot
I buy a couple hundred $ at a time

Where is a discount online supply house?
Thanks

 

[gadfly56]

You can't even get an 8 pin, let alone that at a supply house in Atlanta, sure they can order you one, but Grainger has them on the shelf.

If you're running a cost plus deal with the cutomer, OK. I priced duct access doors, and they were about 4x the cost at any distributor. Yeouch! Not on my fixed price job, thank you.

 

[nrp3]

Amazon, Home Depot, Lowes, Iaq source, HD Supply, Grainger. Lots of alternatives.

 

[nhfire77]

If you're running a cost plus deal with the cutomer, OK. I priced duct access doors, and they were about 4x the cost at any distributor. Yeouch! Not on my fixed price job, thank you.

I have found them to be the most expensive for anything. Convienenent yes.

They must offer different pricing levels for different purchase levels

 

[hillbilly1]

I have found them to be the most expensive for anything. Convienenent yes.

They must offer different pricing levels for different purchase levels

Yeah, we get a pretty good discount, but the only things that we get a better price on than the supply houses is controls, such as push button operators and the like. The big three national suppliers bend you over when you order controls from them, they just don't sell that much of them.

 

[Sparky555]

I have to buy a bunch of Gfis and screw less plates dimmers etc
I go from amazon to eBay to home depot
I buy a couple hundred $ at a time

Where is a discount online supply house?
Thanks

If you'll look at my post #33 you'll see I get almost all my supplies from a local supplier. I get some odds & ends online which take about 3 days. It was in reply to someone that has a local supplier that takes 3 days. If I call my supplier by 4pm they deliver it to me by the following 7am.