If I ask for a material quote from several supply houses, is it unethical or "cheap" to only buy the certain items that each respective house had the best price on rather than buying everything from the house that had to lowest total price? Ive always felt bad about doing that. This would be say around a 10k order. Thanks for the input.
There really is no one answer for this. I have a strong sense of ethics, but there are always circumstances that contradict every "rule". For example, when I do an estimate, I often send out gear, fixtures and misc, quote requests. I make it plain in my request that misc items may be awarded by group, so if I have floor boxes and cable tray and receptacles, I will likely decide on each group as a separate price and award each to the respective lowest. I wouldn't, however do this on an order I just sent out. But, our company, for example, has job codes, so I don't buy wire and conduit on the same purchase order, so, I wouldn't be asking for a single price anyway. Other than looking through two quotes and seeing if there is a "outlier" (one item that was way off) I will basically award to the low person.
I try to live by a couple of rules. First, and I tell my suppliers this. "What I will do for you, I will do to you." I also turn that around that what you will do for me you will do to me. By that I mean that if a person is willing to let you change your price to get a bid, for example, they are very likely to go to another person and see if they can get an even better deal with your number.
The other thing is, I try to only do things that I am willing to look people in the face and tell them. For example, I have a personal rule that if I ask for a fixture price, then, if you are complete and low, it is yours, otherwise I wouldn't ask for a price. Recently I have not been pleased with one supply house's service. So I had to look the salesman in the face and tell him, "I will continue to send you quote requests, but, I may not award a project to you just because you are low. I won't shop the number, I will just pay more." He wasn't pleased. I told him that I had no problem not even asking for numbers and I had no problem if he decided not to quote, but my hope is that the house will get its act together so I don't want to cut all ties. It isn't easy, but I would rather look at him and tell him than just go behind his back.