Non-account Material Pricing in Seattle

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danickstr

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I don't know any other WSale market than Los Angeles, where the pricing is definitely more competitive for people without accounts.

I previously did not have accounts due to messing up my credit as a younger guy, but now that my credit is better I actually like not having accounts, due to the lack of a "surprise" at the end of the month.

There seems to be a good old boy pricing network, and you cannot cross the line without a billable account. To me this is bothersome and I don't get the logic.

If I am a licensed EC, then why not give me pricing that beats Home Depot?

What am I missing here?
 
Ask to open a cash account, this way they can put you in the system, and track your activity, if your buying a decent volume, they will apply the discount, if not move on and bring your business elseware, I was with a Central Jersey Supply house for many years, then one day I get a call from a collection agency, they turned a small payment in for collection, when I opened the account, I insisted on paying them with a bank credit line, to avoid any problems, No they wanted to bill monthly, I guess the guy in accounting wanted to build an empire of his own, well now after many, many years of a good relationship, I would rather travel 50 miles out of my way before I think of returning there, so there is nothing wrong with the way you want to operate, pay as you go, be your own bank, and bring your business to anyone that offeres good prices, and service.
 
danickstr said:
If I am a licensed EC, then why not give me pricing that beats Home Depot? What am I missing here?
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While I don't have a lot of experience with billable accounts, the ones with which I had accounts with were all too happy to take my cash or credit card payment at the time of sale :grin:
 
it is not all that hard to get a better deal from supply houses if you use any significant amount of material. but you won't get it from the counter guy. the outside salesmen is in charge of deals.

if you buy enough to make it worth it to him, he can cut you a deal.

but, if you are a small time operation, you probably would be better off going to home depot. you can fax or email them your order and go pick it up the next day. it will be waiting at the contractor desk.
 
Talk to a salesman at the supply house. We only go to supply houses. The only time I go to " Big Orange " is to buy something for the garden, maybe here and there a light fixture.

If you set up a job account, it usually is for over $5000 materials and is tied to that project. Supply houses love this because it allows them to lein the project should the bill not get paid.
 
I set up a cod account at my supply house and it works out I get about 15% off material compaired to the guys who are billed monthly. Its less paper work on the company and they are not carring some one for 28 days. Not to mention it feels good when they say your total is $4000.00 and you break out the check book with other contractors looking on.
 
If the guys who are billed monthly hear you are getting a 15% break, they will want it also. If your supply house won't give it to them, there is one that will. Supply houses work on about a 5% markup on large orders and 15% on small orders for contractors. Do they give you a 2% discount also for paying before the 10th?
 
ceb said:
Not to mention it feels good when they say your total is $4000.00 and you break out the check book with other contractors looking on.
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i will admit that probably feels better than writing them a $50,000 check at the end of the month in private...that usually makes me cry.
 
dduffee260 said:
If the guys who are billed monthly hear you are getting a 15% break, they will want it also. If your supply house won't give it to them, there is one that will. Supply houses work on about a 5% markup on large orders and 15% on small orders for contractors. Do they give you a 2% discount also for paying before the 10th?
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I was just looking at last years report on supply house earnings, if on average they are netting 35% profits, they sure must making more then 15%, years ago when I worked for a supply house, they were marking some items up 150% or more from manufacture pricing, and some items as little as 50% but I don't recall much under 50% remember they have huge overhead to cover.

The box stores do work on tighter margins, but volume brings up their totals.

One thing that haunted me for years, was that a supply house has a nice mark up and nets a decent profit, but the electrical trade, for some unknown reason is afraid to mark up anything. It's not how cheap you can buy it, It's how much can you sell it for.

Offering terms, and extending credit costs money, If he pays cash, he should be the one getting the best terms.
 
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I'm a contractor in Seattle and I get pretty good pricing at my wholesaler. I guess it depends on where your going.

At my wholesaler I signed a non-binding commitment to Square D and Juno, so I get alot of the product for below cost and the WS gets a rebate on the volume they sell. I check my pricing once a month verses HD and I get pretty good pricing on everything else as well.
As far as wire goes, most WS places cant compete with HD due to the fact that HD sells for what they paid, and WS charges market price. So if copper is going up, buy from HD; if its going down, buy from your WS.
 
I would get an inside Rep. This should put you better pricing column. When I was doing a lot of work, I too committed to say SDQ at XXX supply and then did the same for ITE at another, it used to be a minimun of at least $100.00 (per year, back then) to stay in the program. But, you got better prices, the only downfall was you had to go to same supplier that you made the deal with for the program you signed up for, if your guys got a breaker or two from the wrong supply house, it was a big difference, you either pass it along to the customer or eat it.

You can also print out a bill of materials for large jobs (breaking out other items such as pipe, wire, trim and misc. and have your supply houses quote it and lock it in. Every $ counts for me.

I also would sign a personal guarantee for a shop account (not to exceed) say $1500.00 (small jobs) and set up job accounts (larger jobs). File NTO's, and give a partial release for all payments. This helps insure you get your piece of the draw each month. Most suppliers can handle getting paid when you get paid on job accounts. On large jobs, a good supplier can be your best friend.

Any time prices would change say for pipe, fittings and wire, have your inside sales rep fax them to you. And yes, make sure you take the 1-1/2% (or 2%) if you have the $, whatever they offer, at the end of the month.

R
 
RRelec said:
I would get an inside Rep. This should put you better pricing column. When I was doing a lot of work, I too committed to say SDQ at XXX supply and then did the same for ITE at another, it used to be a minimun of at least $100.00 (per year, back then) to stay in the program. But, you got better prices, the only downfall was you had to go to same supplier that you made the deal with for the program you signed up for, if your guys got a breaker or two from the wrong supply house, it was a big difference, you either pass it along to the customer or eat it.


R
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Good Post!
The Inside sales rep, can be the best way to get set up, and he can explain the programs and their benifits, he can also help set up your cash account.
 
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I hesitated to post this thread since it seemed a bit negative, but I am glad I did because of the variety and quality of ideas. Thanks again.
 
emahler said:
i will admit that probably feels better than writing them a $50,000 check at the end of the month in private...that usually makes me cry.
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I look at it a different way. I wish I had a $200,000 material bill to pay every month. Let's see, if I could net 10%, that would be..... $20,000 x 12 = $240,000/year plus what I could make off of labor.


:grin: :grin: :grin:
 
Non-account material pricing

Non-account material pricing

I am a small company and been in bussiness for 30 years. I have had accounts before and been late because of contractors not paying on time. I started paying cash years ago and don't regret it. As for good pricing I have had accounts opened up as cash sale only and that works for the discounts. But I have had better luck making friends with counter help that has been with a company for a long time and has pull. I get better prices than big companys. If my counter person is not there for the day everyone knows me and gives me the same prices. Also I get to know the manager and approves what the counter man does to keep it legal. It comes down to treating everyone the way you want to be treated. Thanks again for this group which I learn alot and laugh some to. I am now a working old dog that can learn new tricks as I still learn something everyday. Thanks for this site and Mike I think you are the best thing since apple pie. Semper Fi. Buddy
 
hardworkingstiff said:
I look at it a different way. I wish I had a $200,000 material bill to pay every month. Let's see, if I could net 10%, that would be..... $20,000 x 12 = $240,000/year plus what I could make off of labor.


:grin: :grin: :grin:
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you can have the headaches of a $2.4mil/yr supply bill with only $240,000 made on it. Not enough money for me to take those headaches :D
 
emahler said:
you can have the headaches of a $2.4mil/yr supply bill with only $240,000 made on it. Not enough money for me to take those headaches :D
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That is actually a very good point. It really depends on the $ amount of the material sold. I often sell a job that has wire cost from $30,000 to $100,000 and we can usually install it in less than a week. Not much headache there. I can see if you purchased EMT and had to put it in that it would be a headache.
 
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