On Mar 19, 7:47 pm, BDBConstruction wrote:

SNIP

To wrap up my "brief" reply (haha) as has be stated location has
everything to do with your suppliers. Our lumberyard sounds markedly
better than yours

I have no doubt.

It may sound strange Mark, but I agree with your point of view on
almost everything you posted. And I have the things you post about HD
to be true as well.

Reading your post, I think I see where we differ on our points of
view. The really big fight started here when Builder's Square opened
up in the early 80s or so here. As my hometown was the site of their
corporate office, they were everywhere. I mean all over the place.
And while there were other big boxes other cities, this was the first
one here.

They absolutely scared the hell out of every retailer/vendor/supplier
in the construction business as they supplied goods to all of South
Texas.

To simplify and make a long story short, our local lumber guys
panicked and raced to find products that would be price competitive.
I didn't go to BS at the time as I couldn't wrap my brain around
buying wood off a rack in a warehouse store that was stored next to
wallpaper. All of us "pros" got a good laugh at some of the things we
heard. Our local yards were pretty good, and we weren't changing as
we all "had a guy" at the local yards we liked, and that was that.
Besides, my favorite yard had a giant coffee urn that was always full
on cold mornings.

But as our local yard owners were finding it harder and harder to
maintain their hunting leases, their duck hunting leases, their
basketball season tickets (or box!), new custom trucks every other
years, their second home at the coast and their getaway home in the
hill country, and to keep on employing their family members, they had
decisions to make.

When they had the whole market, it was actually better. Materials
cost a lot more, but they stood behind their product. Their service
came at a premium, but I figured that in the end it would save me
money on the job to have materials delivered on time and in good
condition. But they got worried about that bottom line and decided to
make some changes to bring their profit margins back in to line with
the old days of non competition.

So they cut back staff which hurt their service. They cut back
quality of items that cost more than at BS to maintain their market
share. So now we have less service and lower quality goods.

In my talks with the owner of the stores, I remember telling him,
"look, I can get crappy service and poor products anywhere. Why would
I spend money with
your when I have to pay more to get it?"

I was ready, willing, and able to pay more to get what I wanted, but
no willing to pay more to get less. As the battle raged on between BS
and our local lumberyards, Home Depot moved in, and it got better.
One would think that with all that competition things would get
better, but as cuts continued, things got worse. And to compound it
all, there were just not enough people with any product knowledge to
even man a department in those big boxes, much less wait on
customers. So they offered some of the old hands in the local yards
good pay, flexible hours, and even health insurance.

Now everything in Robert's world is starting to collapse.
Everywhere I went I got bad service, crappy products, and not a soul
anywhere with product knowledge. I remember having a conversation
with a young man at the lumber desk and receiving his careful
explanation that an 8' 2X4 is 8 bf, and a 14' 2X4 is 14 bf, and on and
on at my local yard (previously my favorite)..

As things went on, things got worse. BS was ****ed off they couldn't
even be #1 in their own home town, much less anywhere else. HD
relished that, and we literally got deals on things like compressor/
nailer packages that were nowhere else except in this market from
them. They were killing each other for the market. Then, along came
Lowe's..

The upshot is that ALL of them taught me the same lessons about 20
years ago.

- Don't trust any of them at all
- Don't rely on them to take care of your business interests
- Don't rely on them to keep their word. Pound them hard to make them
keep it
- Always check pricing by brand, quality line, and quantity
- Always ask, "are there any more charges on this?"
- If you forget any of the above, you will regret it

I applaud all of those that can sing the praises of fine relationships
with multiple vendors. I remember those days in the distant past. I
remember picking up the phone and ordering a few squares of shingles,
a half a lift of 2X4s, 20 gallons of paint, etc., and it would be
delivered as promised. In those days, while I was aware of market
pricing, I NEVER shopped. What I really wanted was the service.

I guess where all that has taken me is to a very cynical place. I
don't trust any of these guys on any level. It makes it much harder
to do business, but actually don't have any options.

Ahhhh..... for the good old days. I still remember when we thought
Builder's Square etc., would go out of business. Not be the last man
standing.

Robert