"TURTLE" writes:
Well to be more exact here. There is another discount system set up for discount
/ wholesale buyers that is rated in a scale of A to Z type buyers. I'm a G buyer
and Home Depot is said to be a W buyer or could be a Z buyer. The W buyer will
be a 11% more discount than me at a G buyer level. So Home Depot can buy close
to 11% cheaper than I can.

The reason you see the higher prices from HD is they have a higher over head
than I and have to account for them. This is why Home Depot, Sears, and Low's
stores is getting their ass eat up by independent contractor and the customers
don't check prices out at Independent contractor before buying. These store are
tring to cut the over head down and now are hiring the cheapest independent
contractor to install their equipment for them and they are having too many
return calls to pay for by not installing the equipment right the first time.
They do hire the cheapest or the Rookie of the year contractor to try to keep
the overhead down to compete with the regular hvac contractor.

Now i love to bid against Sears because I alway bid about $1,000.00 cheaper than
Sears on complete hvac systems. All sears does is get a Independent contractor
to do the job and then stick a $1K on top for them as profit and handling the
paperwork and selling the unit at the stores. I don't install for Sears because
they wanted me to sign a agreement to not bid against them in my area. I would
not sign because i think the public should have a choice of prices and dealers
to choose from.

Now like I said before I walked off into a bunch of Non-Wholesale buy to try to
explain the discount system.

2 cents more.


Ahhh... I didn't realize you were referring to Home Depot price of
*installed* equipment. In that case, I agree with you entirely both on
pricing and quality. Service and installation is a huge profit center
for them and they higher the cheapest possible labor without too much
regard for quality.

I was talking more about the price of components (for DIY jobs) where
pricing is more transparent and competitive. In that case, I would
find it hard to believe that you could provide parts and labor for the
same price I could buy the part at Home Depot (assuming that you are
using "equivalent" parts -- the quality of Home Depot parts is for
another thread...)