My first hack bid.

[emahler]

It is not uncommon for the same part to sell for ten different prices at the supply house. If you are a big enough fish in a supply house's pond you can get some serious price breaks.

maybe 10 percent +/-, not 90 percent....

 

[john_axelson]

It is not uncommon for the same part to sell for ten different prices at the supply house. If you are a big enough fish in a supply house's pond you can get some serious price breaks.

Gotta disagree here Bob. I don't think you are going to buy a $22,000 lighting package for a "serious" price break, even if you are the Biggest Fish in the Country. You might get a 5 to 10% advantage, but that is more related to a personal relationship with the manufacturer's rep quoting the job, not the size of the contractor. That would of gained them a whopping $2,200, not the $20,000 the OP is talking about.

 

[Sparky555]

I'm pretty fond of hacks this year. I bid an addition about $20k last year & didn't get it. The GC had a hack do it & the GC abandoned the project. The HO picked me up & I have contracts for over $20k to troubleshoot, redesign & rewire the project.

Dave

 

[jrannis]

It is not uncommon for the same part to sell for ten different prices at the supply house. If you are a big enough fish in a supply house's pond you can get some serious price breaks.

Its true. I worked for the biggest at one time. Forget anything about prices you have ever seen. Large Switchgear so cheap I swear they bought it by the pound as scrap. Conduit and fittings, Same thing.

 

[HighWirey]

Not to mention the cost of the dies...

I always use EMT connectors on pipe that size, wallah, no dies.

Best Wishes Everyone

 

[emahler]

Its true. I worked for the biggest at one time. Forget anything about prices you have ever seen. Large Switchgear so cheap I swear they bought it by the pound as scrap. Conduit and fittings, Same thing.

for example? i'd reckon that at the $50,000 job level this isn't the case...

 

[petersonra]

Its true. I worked for the biggest at one time. Forget anything about prices you have ever seen. Large Switchgear so cheap I swear they bought it by the pound as scrap. Conduit and fittings, Same thing.

The place I used to work at was able to buy a certain brand of MCCs at about 50% the price of the competitors.

I also know for a fact that multipliers under .2 are not unheard of for certain items. Never seen one under .1 though.

I know some large buyers can get conduit, fittings, and the like for not much more than scrap prices for the steel.

I bought an outdoor light fixture once for a club i belong to. The supply house cut the price 25% off the already discounted price, just because I asked for it.

Some things just have a lot more margin than you think.

 

[DanZ]

Did someone miss that price difference ? I never under stood that statement that the cost of A Item degrades or hinders a complete service!!! wow, now where not going to do something correct due to the price, WOW ... I can't go there ...

A lot of people, noticeably in residential work, only care about the price in front of them. They tend to go with the lowest bidder, rather than finding out why he's the lowest bidder.

Going back quite a few years to my first job as a drafter, we were designing a custom home for a family, and recommended a builder "we" were experienced with, that specialized in $$ custom residences. The HO also got a bid from a "cookie cutter" builder, that was $30,000 lower. We looked at the bids, and from what we saw, the cheaper guy was planning on bottom of the line everything, while the expensive guy was more middle of the road, with wiggle room for some of the built in shelving.

In the end, they went with the cheaper guy, who sold them on upgrades for everything, and cost them about $45,000 more than who we recommended.

Maybe we should start giving two bids (when you have prints at least) one as spec'd in the drawings, one using the cheapest materials you can find.

Or maybe just asking why the other guy bid so low, or to see if he gave an itemized bid to look for discrepancies.

 

[john_axelson]

Some things just have a lot more margin than you think.

Like contracting? Man you sound like the GC's. "There has to be a bunch of money in that, how do I get some of it?"

What you are missing, is that it is the relationship that got you the discount, not the fact that you think you work for this Big Shot company. The supply house probably tried to help you out since you appeared to be donating some of your expertise to the club you belong to.