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Before i beaqcme an electrician I actually worked at the Home Cheapo. I can see both sides of everyones arguments. I do strongly agree that they do have a lot of so called "trained professionals".Well their trained professionals in the electrical department think they are electricians and they are not. The rules there state that they can not give out code references or in fact tell you how to wire your house or anything else for that matter. I have known a few inspectors that go the home Cheapo and bust the chops of the manager for allowing the employees to give out advice. I now have fixed many jobs where a homeowner has installed things as per home Cheapo. For me some things are just plain old less expensive there. But most of the high dollar items I buy from the supply houses. I do what is best to make my company and myself the most money. Lowest price on materials wins!
 
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Here's the bottom line. As long as there are places with better hours AND better prices than distributors, there will be customers to buy from those places.

I'm a homeowner. I'm also an engineer. I do certain electrical work myself. Why should I go out at my lunch hour to buy from a distributor and pay top dollar, when I can go to any number of discount stores on Saturdays or Sundays or evenings and pay less money.

I don't go to those stores for the advice, or even solicit advice there.
 
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If you have a good rapport with your supplier, and you are loyal to your supplier they will assign a discount code to you. Ask for the "government discount" or such. Get a matrix of what your discount is off End Column. End Column is the standard contractor's "discount". End Column is higher than government pricing. Home Center (big box) electrical supply pricing is closer to government pricing on most items. You should be able to get pretty near 50% off of End Column for most items if you have the right supplier and they like and trust you. Getting on a lower pricing schedule can slow you down if you have to always deal with your inside rep and s/he has to discount each item manually for you. Look for a supplier that uses automated methods for calculating your discounted prices. The time you lose waiting for discount calculations can neutralize any discount you are getting. Best bet is to fax your shopping list ahead so your rep can discount it, and have it boxed and ready for you at the Will Call counter (or delivered to you). I am speaking from the perspective of a small shop. Your mileage may vary. Happy trails!

../Wayne

[ This post was spell checked with ieSpell prior to submission. I own the grammar and punctuation mistakes. ]
 
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AWWT:

In my case price is not important, having access to a large variety of material is (we do not bid work). Supply houses claim that Home Depot has put a pinch on their ability to stock a large variety as explained above. In addition (in our area) it seems that the older supply house employees are retiring and the newer ones, have limited knowledge of material (circuit breakers, switchgear, MCC's, ect.) Much like their counter parts at Homey!
 
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Originally posted by brandon:
Before i beaqcme an electrician I actually worked at the Home Cheapo.
Click to expand...
brandon, whate store #?

Well their trained professionals in the electrical department think they are electricians and they are not. [/QUOTE]

This is not necessarilly true. They do have some licensed electricians that work or have worked for the company.

The rules there state that they can not give out code references or in fact tell you how to wire your house or anything else for that matter. I have known a few inspectors that go the home Cheapo and bust the chops of the manager for allowing the employees to give out advice. [/QUOTE]

This is true. They sometimes get around this by stating, "this is how I have done it." People need to take responsibility as to where they shop for advice. And would be wise to get a second or third opinion.


Home Depot is based towards the DIY. period.
They do offer contractors a limited service, such as delivery and will-call service. Sometimes they will have good pricing on certain products.
They do not cater to commercial wiring at all. They don't carry motor starters, 3-phase breakers, etc...
There next big move in the Electrical department (27) is in the home network/automation section. But where is the training for all of the components?

They are what they are. I love the place for certain things. I bought silicone caulk there the other day along with a new soap despencer for my kitchen sink, and new line for my weed trimmer.
 
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I think the smartest contractor is one who shops around and knows what to buy as well as what not to buy we should be the ones that should know as what is a good price and what is good quality and be able to pass these saving down to our customers and this will get you a good word of mouth references and more work. Unless you dont want more work?
 
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I see plenty of room in the market for all players. I use Home Depot quite frequently. They are a great source for items such as Ceder posts, plywood for backer boards, drywall screws etc. They also keep late hours which has bailed me out of many an afterhours jam. And yes, they do have good prices on many electrical items, which has to be considered if one is interested in profit.

On the other hand, price is but one variable. I'm also a very big fan of service. The supply house that receives a lions share of my business does so based on service. I deal directly with the manager, get free delivery on my schedule (they request a 1-2 hour window,) get free delivery of parts on an emegency basis (show me the home depot that can put a pair of 20A NQOD shunt trips in my hands in 45 minutes,) and I get competitvie pricing (especially when I take advantage of the managers "I'll beat anyones best price" routine on large orders.)

The way I look at it, Home Depot is great at what they do, and a good resource for me. But they do not offer the ability to forge a personal working relationship the way a good supply house does.
 
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Originally posted by hurk27:
I think the smartest contractor is one who shops around and knows what to buy as well as what not to buy we should be the ones that should know as what is a good price and what is good quality and be able to pass these saving down to our customers <snip>
Click to expand...
Call me crazy but when I am on a Time & Materials or Cost-Plus job I treat the job as I would my own funds. I shop hard for my clients. I charge them for my shopping time, but I bring cost-effective net savings to them by keeping an eye out for the best value for them. I do not treat T&M or Cost-Plus as an open checkbook with signed blank checks. If my client is not too picky about price I don't stress out on pricing but I still try to bring my client the best value regardless of whether it's on "my" dime or "their" dime. I feel I have a moral and fiduciary responsibility to be forthcoming with honest good-faith pricing. I believe in ample mark-up but I also believe in being upfront about mark-up and basing it on the best value not just a price that's easy for me.

../Wayne
 
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let me say this---i agree that compitition is required to keep suppliers in line!! last friday i called my salesman about job due to be schedualled the first week in september - and it was almost three oclock - this is a $23,000. job that requires nothing but two or three invoices from the supplier! the answer i got was "i'll get back to you monday or tuesday"!!! a week ago i went by to pick up a few three light electronic ballasts -- they had none! well give me four lighters and i'll eat the cost difference==they did'nt have them neither!!! that same day they had "none" - ya - "zero" number twelve blue wire. a month ago the didn't have 1/2 single gang switch rings!!! and when they sell you 100 fixtures and a ballast goes out after two weeks and you stop by to swap out the ballast -- they look at you like your "holding the place up"? home depot is competitively priced on those items carried - i would rather buy from supply houses but somebody's got to keep them in check!!!!!!!!!!!
 
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Charlie looks like we get the same quality service.

I was running around one day trying to clear some punch list items and needed some basic items, but I wanted to make one supply house stop so I drive out of the way to one of our suppliers main distribution warehouse, at least a 200,000 sq foot warehouse.

No 1" PVC Male adapters, no 1000' foot spools of the MC I needed, when I say to the counter guy that there must be some 1" MAs back there I get looked at like I am nuts.

At a large GE supply no green 8 THHN, although they offered me green 4 awg for the price of 4 awg. Thanks for the help :roll: :roll:

I am constantly wasting time due to the suppliers, Home Depot is a big time saver for me.(they had the green 8 awg and the MAs)

Bob
 
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I was in a Home Depot the other day picking things up for an around the house project. They had a display up entitled "Wiring Your Panel" or some nonsense like that:
One hot leg to the main breaker, the other hot leg to one of the buses, grounded conductor to the other bus, I guess that's why they removed the bonding jumper. :roll: The ground line under a fender washer held on by one of the screws used to mount the panel. The individual feeder conductors themselves came in through 3/4 NM connectors at the top of the panel. One wire per connector. It was almost funny, the only way they could've possibly made it more backwards was if they'd done all the terminations in zip cord.

I'd hate to be the poor guy that went to reinstall his meter after putting in a service via those instructions. :eek:

-John
 
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The only thing I use "Home Depot" and "Lowes" for is to keep the price at the suppliers in comparison. Our suppliers in upstate New York(Friedman or Robson) usually have what we need or can have it the next day. They go out of the way to help me so I will go out of my way to support them. 99.9% of the time when I have called "Home Depot" or "lowes" to ask about stock the other end of the phone is Clueless(not my end)
 
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Your supplier should be alot cheaper than Lowes or Home Depot. Also you might want to check the net, there are many sources where you can get electrical supplies and gear for almost half the price.
 
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true, Barnett is one i use.

I see some suppliers are boycotting what the big orange place is peddaling, fat lotta good thier XX amount of (manufacturer's)sales loss is going to affect HD's XXXXXXXXXXXXX sales eh?

I've also noted licensed help in the HD 'lectrical dept, gee...how many suppliers can honestly say that?

yanno, capitalism is an animal that eats itself, and there are 3 basic axioms to which allows this

Good~Fast~Cheap

These are constantly juggled as to marketability, one doesn't need to be a biz major to grasp the concept here, we as EC's play with this every day

If your a residential EC, and you haven't had to deal with the HD crowd, your probably fairly isolated

an EC's job is to make $$$, so like it or lump it, we've gotta interface with this growing faction

turn it into a $$$ for yourself i say, it helps ease the frustration of it all
 
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