Residential lighting ordering/purchasing

J

JoeNorm

Senior Member
Location
WA
So far for my residential jobs the customer has ordered and payed for specific lights(pendants, sconces, etc.)

For my current job I have been given the task of ordering and paying upfront but it's already a PITA. Half the lights are backordered and from 5 or more online suppliers. Am I expected to create an account and submit my resellers permit to all these companies just to order a light or two. It's a major time suck.

What's the recommended play here? I would be happy to have the customer do all this but maybe in this case they're not up for it. There is also an architect involved. Can lights and LED strips are no problem. It's all the specific stuff that is looking like a headache.
 
You can just pay the tax and not worry about the resellers permit. Far easier to do it that way.

If you are spending time doing it for a customer, make sure you get paid for it. 👍
 
We have connections with local lighting suppliers. We suggest to our customer that they go to one of these suppliers, they help our customer through the shopping process then our customer gets us a list of fixtures and we order it. We add our markup and everyone is happy.

I much prefer local shops to online retailers. Returns and warranty issues are much easier.
 
marmathsen said:
We have connections with local lighting suppliers. We suggest to our customer that they go to one of these suppliers, they help our customer through the shopping process then our customer gets us a list of fixtures and we order it. We add our markup and everyone is happy.

I much prefer local shops to online retailers. Returns and warranty issues are much easier.
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What is your typical markup in this situation? I imagine it is different than more "standard" stuff like wire, boxes, switches, etc.
When a customer knows that a fixture cost $2,500 for example, what is a fair markup?
 
JoeNorm said:
What is your typical markup in this situation? I imagine it is different than more "standard" stuff like wire, boxes, switches, etc.
When a customer knows that a fixture cost $2,500 for example, what is a fair markup?
Click to expand...
I'm sure some people will critique but we don't have some complicated markup structure, we charge 20% across the board.

In the light fixture situation stated, we typically get a large enough contractor discount such that after we add our markup it's still cheaper for the homeowner than if they walked in off the street.

Sometimes if the fixture is several thousand dollars we will reduce our markup if it's getting drop shipped to the house and we're essentially just a middle man at that point. It just depends on if we feel like the markup is fair to us on our clients. Sometimes we'll add markup too if it's a complicated design and procurement process on our part.

Rob G - Seattle
 
marmathsen said:
I'm sure some people will critique but we don't have some complicated markup structure, we charge 20% across the board.

In the light fixture situation stated, we typically get a large enough contractor discount such that after we add our markup it's still cheaper for the homeowner than if they walked in off the street.

Sometimes if the fixture is several thousand dollars we will reduce our markup if it's getting drop shipped to the house and we're essentially just a middle man at that point. It just depends on if we feel like the markup is fair to us on our clients. Sometimes we'll add markup too if it's a complicated design and procurement process on our part.

Rob G - Seattle
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THIS^^^^^
 
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