Supply houses

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Riograndeelectric

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Lakewood Colorado
how many guys deal with CES AKA Colorado electric supply, City electric supply or States electric supply.

and for those who buy from them what do you think of them and how are there prices?
I have been buying from CES for a couple of years but have found that there pricng is not that good and I have to look over invoices very carefully as they have over charged me several times know .CES does credit me back when I show them the over charges. They do not carry a huge inventory.. would love to hear other opinions on CES
 
Riograndeelectric said:
how many guys deal with CES AKA Colorado electric supply, City electric supply or States electric supply.

and for those who buy from them what do you think of them and how are there prices?
I have been buying from CES for a couple of years but have found that there pricng is not that good and I have to look over invoices very carefully as they have over charged me several times know .CES does credit me back when I show them the over charges. They do not carry a huge inventory.. would love to hear other opinions on CES
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There's a City Electric Supply in SF, and I agree, their prices are high. Sometimes more than double. They mostly deal with larger orders and larger companies.
 
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i buy less than 1% of my material from CES. the only things i get are contactors and c-h breakers. they have the best in-stock supply of contactors, and doing service work, i usually don't have time to wait on an order from my regular supply house. i've always thought their prices were reasonable on those things. they also have a lot of private label material and other brands i'm not familiar with, and don't feel comfortable using.
 
I have know a couple of the larger companies quit dealing with CES becuse they could not deliver enough quanity of inventory that the larger companies were ordering . I am just not that impressed with CES any more.
but as I am a 1 man shop the other suppliers would just assume not deal with me when my monthly purchases are only around $1000.00
 
When you have to watch supply house pricing,it's time to move your buying to another and as long as your salesman understands that and truely believes it, your pricing should(?) remain correct ! I have excellent credit(highest) and accounts at any supplier in my area, but they all know how i operate, and they all want my business. I don't have time to babysit suppliers !!! and i have fired a few--but they talk !!!!
 
great small shop supply house - i like the guys at CES down here , personal preference though - they do however stock some chinaman junk like off brand tools and fs boxes, their staff (here at least) is not the most knowlegdable but agin small shop , one man shop , they will treat you perty fairly, ---- the bigest , and i mean bigest problem they have however is what they call double booking - say you come to new orleans with that fancy account in your city , you gotta get pricing from your CES that you have your account from, so.. you cant get the price on the invoice when you buy the items most times - my boss will not let us use them for this reason - he bases his service call bills on actual material cost (go figure) and if it takes us up to an hour to get those numbers well you can see the problem that creates
 
There's a City Electric in the area. The salesman was pushing off-brand recessed lights. I avoid cheap materials because they usually have a longer installation time or call-back expenses. If I'm working nearby I'll buy from them, but there are two other suppliers closer to me that I prefer.
 
Riograndeelectric said:
how many guys deal with CES AKA Colorado electric supply, City electric supply or States electric supply.

and for those who buy from them what do you think of them and how are there prices?
I have been buying from CES for a couple of years but have found that there pricng is not that good and I have to look over invoices very carefully as they have over charged me several times know .CES does credit me back when I show them the over charges. They do not carry a huge inventory.. would love to hear other opinions on CES
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Why would you but where the prices are high? I have a young lady that shops for most large orders. Day to day stuff I will get most anywhere, I won't drive twenty miles to save $10.
 
CES definately check your invoices i have been overcharged a few times but they do give credits.Dont carry alot of stock though.Alot of times have to go to another supply house or lowes or the depot.
 
There is a City Electric branch in my area, however they go by Concord Electric Supply, apparently in an attempt to sound more native to this area.

I predict they will be closing their branch here within the next 6-8 months.
 
We have a City Elect. that opened about 1 year ago in my area. They were and still are beating the others including slowes on wire price. The other items they are very competitive with. I thought they were just selling at cost to attract new customers to hook them. So far they have held good on pricing. The thing I really like is they are open until 11:0am on Saturdays and the branch manager and store manager have given me their cell phone # and told me they are just a call away 24/7.
 
ceb58 said:
We have a City Elect. that opened about 1 year ago in my area. They were and still are beating the others including slowes on wire price. The other items they are very competitive with. I thought they were just selling at cost to attract new customers to hook them. So far they have held good on pricing. The thing I really like is they are open until 11:0am on Saturdays and the branch manager and store manager have given me their cell phone # and told me they are just a call away 24/7.
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darn, that must be nice. I know you are not talking of the city in raleigh. They suck. I guess if you do mostly residential they wouldn't be bad. but i had them quote a few jobs and they were actually low on a church we got. It was a freaking nightmare, when I sent them the Purchase order and asked for the submittals they told me "all that stuff comes with the lights, in the boxes you know". I said you freaking idiot, we wont be ordering the fixtures you quoted until they are approved by the engineer, unless you quoted spec on every single light - which I already knew was impossible. We went back and forth a few times with the eng about that and then the supply house charges me extra for the damn lamps.
 
How to keep THEM honest..

How to keep THEM honest..

It is best to buy from a couple of supply houses and always get estimates from 3 of them for a list of things you mostly use. I found out that when you buy from ONE supply house they charge you more!!! Their logic is you don't check your bills because you are there almost everyday.
 
$32 box of phillips tips. u gata b kidding!

$32 box of phillips tips. u gata b kidding!

The new manager at my CES ran my credit report so many times it started to affect my credit rating. They never told me but they had me mixed up with someone that had a name that sounded like mine. I never told them why but I fired them and haven't had any trouble since. I'm waiting till the manager moves on then I might go back. I had been doing business with them for over 15 years. I really liked their product line. My good fortune too, the old manager started working at Graybar and for service you can't beat it. They overnight anything from there warehouse in Tampa on their truck.
There are good counter people and those that just don't like you for their own reasons. Ive given up trying to figure it out. My money is green (more or less). They just want a bigger piece of it. I'm polite and move on when that happens. You have to protect yourself while getting mugged. Figuring out who is going to do you in at the counter is part of the game. I'm still here, they are the ones moving from supply house to supply house.
 
if any of you have a rexel in your area, they're worth checking out. that's where i do a majority of my business. i'm small potatoes, but they always treat me like gold. the local staff is excellent as well as the regional management, who i've gotten to know also. the one here can be a little high sometimes, but the service is worth it. my shop is about 30 miles away, and they've never hesitated to bring me an order of only a hundred bucks or so (although i rarely ask for them to deliver such a small amount, but it helps when you're in a jam). i've had several other supply houses complain when i call for certain things, like cut wire. its either too short an order or will take too much of their time. rexel never complains, and if they don't have it, another store will cut it and overnight it. and that goes with any material. if i need it the next morning and its 4PM, if any store within a couple of hours has it, they'll send it on a company truck that night or before daylight the next day. the store manager has even met the shipping company at their own docks at 6AM on a saturday to pick up materials needed on the weekend. they stock 'oddball' parts that only i use on a semi-regular basis just to keep me from having to purchase them and sit on it or wait for it to be ordered. i don't know if they're all this good, but the 3 i've dealt with have been excellent.
 
City Electric just opened two branches here about 6 months ago. One on the NW and one SE side of town. We opened an account with them, but the ballast I bought there was about $2 higher each than my usual supplier. We have a Rexel, but the prices at Irby and CED are better.
 
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