Builders Merchants

do as you say - shop around.....

Jim K

Just starting my first major renovation and about to shop around the different builder's merchants. What is your advice, should I go with Travis Perkins - assume that as they are the biggest they should be the best?

I visit nearly *all* the major ones, (TP. Jewson, Burdens, Buildbase, Selco, and more) repairing and servicing their delivery vehicle cranes, and I see all manner of stuff for sale that looks identical to many of the other places. Get your list of what's required, go to whichever one suits first, get a quote. Repeat for others. Select the best prices of all the parts from them all then order and have delivered free. Sit indoors and await the deliveries

Not really no. They are extremely expensive on some items which are exactly the same as those sold much cheaper elsewhere, the same applies to all the big names, Jewson etc. B&Q are cheap for quite a few things but a local independant BM might be your best bet for most things, and timber merchants are normally better on both price and quality than anyone else, likewise roofing merchants for roofing materials

IMHO they are very poor, but that could just be my local branches.

If you're doing a major renovation, tell them your plans, and they may give you an account with them, which then often brings down the prices, not jus t for your current job, but for future purchases too. You could get prices from several, but see who you think is the best to work with, and then ask them to price match.

You don't say where you are. There are probably local/regional builders mer chants better than the national ones. In the south-west, I like Bradfords t he most. Lots of experienced, friendly staff, and good pricing.

dan.

I have bought things there, but unless you barter, they can be very expensive, particularly for tools.

I was doing quite a bit helping a friend in the summer, with lots of plumbing...

I always top up my stock of fittings online from BES. Dryton TRV4 - Screwfix had an offer on and was cheapest I could find. Radiators and copper pipe - Selco was the cheapest within 10m radius. MDPE (underground pipe) - pipestock.com Electrical - TLC (particularly cable), CPC (particularly for things on offer)

I find the local independents cheaper & more interested.

In article , Nthkentman scribeth thus

We ordered up some bricks and blocks last year..

We found someone online who were quite a bit cheaper then all the local builders merchants..

The goods turned up on a Travis Perkins lorry, seems they sub contract to some of these online outfits who sometimes seem to be no more then one man and his PC in a council flat somewhere;!...

And as to the bricks we did haggle with one supplier against the other and did get a very good price in the end..

As to those they turned up here in Cambridge from a supplier in Widnes and were delivered in a Luton van whit an ever so dodgy tail lift but were fine otherwise...

ISTR the original price quoted was around £1300 then reduced to £870

That has happened to me several times. I think "that lorry's not for me" as it drives down the road, then a ring at the door. It's interesting how much cheaper it can be than their own prices.

My ISP (ukfsn) is a one-man reseller for entanet. All support is done by entanet, but he seems to have some kind of control panel. I wonder how much he makes from it.

Simon.

Really? ;-) I've found them more expensive for pretty well everything. Just convenient sometimes.

Cement not bad if you buy 5 bags.

That's about it !

Simon.

Although TP has the best stock of stuff for miles around I avoid the place like the plague - I only visit it when I literally can't obtain something *anywhere* else.

I know I'm particularly poor at haggling and I'm sure my middle-class accent costs me 20% a visit there; however even tradesmen I know who don't use it all the time (thereby generating the massive standard "80%-discount-off-list-price" for everything they buy) complain bitterly about their prices. I had some plastering done last year by a guy who lives out of my area, and he visited our TP for just an odd bag of plaster or something as he'd run out; and they wouldn't budge on the full list price for it, ie well over double what he usually pays.

My usual combo is Toolstation for fittings etc, and Wickes for the big stuff that Toolstation doesn't stock. Or a local timber merchant for timber, of whom there is one who sells good stuff to me at decent prices.

The laugh is Wicks are owned by TP.

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

Sadly, although the staff are still the happy, helpful and friendly bunch they always were, the wood in my local independent wood yard seems to have plumbed new depths.

Maybe it's because they have diversified into some other building materials, or maybe it's because they have expanded with 2 other branches.

as is Toolstation and a plumbing store, whose name I've forgotton - if I ever knew it.

City Plumbing Supplies.

Plaster and plasterboards cheaper than our BM's, kitchens cheaper than their main rival around here, Howdens, plasterboard screws, scrim, some underground drainage and quite a few other things...too dear on bulk bags of sand / stone etc but paving is often cheaper but a PITA with delivery times between 7 and 7

As has already been said, it depends very much on your local branch.

Where possible, open an account. Normally all this takes is a credit reference from your bank (you give them your bank details and they make enquiries) and a suggestion you might be spending around £1,000 a month. With an account come all sorts of perks, including discounts on list price and free delivery.

Once this is set up as long as you order ahead you don't need to use the nearest BM as they all deliver with about the same lead time.

We have just about finished our major renovation work. The arrangement we had was that we sourced the materials (keeps the builders etc. away from VAT registration) and paid for labour separately.

BMs lined up as follows:

We already had a cash card at TP - this gives you a discount but you pay cash. We changed this to a credit account because you then don't have to pay a deposit on hire tools or produce ID.

We already had a credit account with Jewson from the time a couple of years back when we built the Mother Of All Sheds.

We opened a credit account with Grahams Plumbers to get the amazingly cheap bath/shower unit. Turns out they are part of the same group as Jewson and so we shouldn't have had to do this. They were totally f*ck*ng useless from start to finish and we didn't buy anything else from them.

Opened a credit account with Ridgeons because one of our builders lived near a branch and could pick stuff up on his way here in the morning.

Opened a credit account at a small local plumbers merchants so we could just nip down the road for that little bit we had all forgotten.

Oh, and one at a BM which was quite new but had most of the people from one which was taken over a few years back and used to be really good for timber. Turned out that their prices weren't any better than the others and we ended up not using them.

Oh, I have a TradePoint card but don't use it much; apart from anything else you have to check that the item isn't cheaper through the B&Q checkout.

For the plumber and electrician we also paid directly for items ordered via them - goes towards their track record with the supplier to keep their discounts good, but doesn't go through their books.

Builders supplied the kitchen from Howdens at cost via their account, and also the worktops from Build Base via their account.

So accounts everywhere :-)

Main spending for materials was with TP because they were local, I could pick stuff up at short notice in the trailer, and their prices were usually as good as or slightly better than the competition.

For timber it also pays to go and get it yourself - you can sort through the stack in the yard and pick straight ones with minimum knots. The yard staff helped sort through as well, which was good :-)

My local branch is very good. They go the extra mile, even fixing us up with a local woodworker who could machine some mouldings for us at an amazingly cheap price. Still very impressed with them. However a few years back nobody would use them because they are the only BM in town and they used to take advantage by charging higher prices and never offering quick delivery. So everyone went to Jewson because they could get stuff from further away cheaper and quicker. The local branch obviously learned their lesson and now they give a much better service.

Hire mostly from Jewson because we already had a good relationship with their hire department and they had a much larger stock, especially of diggers, dumpers and the like.

Where stuff (electrical cable etc.) was cheap we bought from Screwfix.

Bought lights and stuff from CPC online.

Other specialist items were also sourced online where cheap. Just ordered some plastic sheeting from fascia.com. Also got the new deep flow guttering from them.

Aaargh! I'd forgotten how complicated it all was.

Anyway if possible get a credit account with an understanding about the level of discount you will be offered.

If possible get at least two accounts set up with different merchants so you can compare and compete on price.

At some time you will probably run out of time for extensive research and go with the one which is cheapest for most items.

Cheers

Dave R

In article , TheSpectator writes

I understand they give large trade "discounts". My local branch wanted £42 odd retail for a can of bitumen dampproofer. The identical product was £17 odd in a small town high street ironmongers. I also asked Travis Perkins for a quote on some insulating wall board; their quote was about 50% more than an internet price which included nationwide delivery.

Get quotes for the first batch of actual material you require from them all making it clear that there will be more to come if they get it right.

Mike