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UK diy (uk.d-i-y) For the discussion of all topics related to diy (do-it-yourself) in the UK. All levels of experience and proficency are welcome to join in to ask questions or offer solutions. |
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#1
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I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at
the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for 5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. |
#2
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Martin Wiseman wrote:
I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for 5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. Travis Perkins? These shower of ****e have different 'discounts' for different areas, the result is a bag of sand in the St Helens branch is 2.50 while in Warrington it is close to 4....and in B & Q it's 1.20 Most tradesmen use B&Q for a lot of things unless they have accounts at BM's, in which case it's about the same price as B&Q but usually less hassle parking etc. |
#3
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![]() Martin Wiseman wrote in message ... I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for 5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. I assume the 11 was the sticker (list) price, actual price is always negotiable at the counter, Trade account or not. Hint a Screwfix catalogue is a handy price reference haggle guide. - |
#4
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In article ,
"Phil L" writes: Travis Perkins? I went to buy a saw in Travis Perkins (it was near, I needed it quickly). When I went to pay, I must have reeled backwards at the price, not with a view of bargining but just with genuine surprise. Anyway, seeing my reaction, the price instantly got halved. OTOH, Jewsons wanted 3 for a bag of sand which cost 99p at Wickes. Again, I was there and needed it. There was no bartering to be had. I did buy it, but I've never bought anything from them since. -- Andrew Gabriel |
#5
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![]() "Phil L" wrote in message k... Martin Wiseman wrote: I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for 5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. Travis Perkins? These shower of ****e have different 'discounts' for different areas, the result is a bag of sand in the St Helens branch is 2.50 while in Warrington it is close to 4....and in B & Q it's 1.20 Most tradesmen use B&Q for a lot of things unless they have accounts at BM's, in which case it's about the same price as B&Q but usually less hassle parking etc. All the tradesman that I know go to those yards for the credit they get, and sometimes the choice, but not the price. I do get tradesman discount from all the local yards, and even with those they are never competitive compared to what you can find with minimal effort. Any I also compared the prices that I was given with those given to tradesman friends who buy in much larger volume. ...and guess what, just as uncompetitive... One reason the yards get away with it is because you never know the price you pay until you are already in the queue with a few people behind you waiting. Not the best time for haggling... That's my experience anyway. |
#6
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Martin Wiseman wrote:
I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for 5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. It varies between products. The discount is anywhere up to 50% but normally around 30%. They make extra profit from retail which claws back some of the discount they give to the trade. Even the sheds (B&Q, Wickes etc) are in on the racket. An item my company sells to B&Q for 0.58 ends up at 4.50 on their shelves. Ask the price at the Builders Merchants before buying and tell them to get stuffed if it is too high. Dont worry about offending them. They are used to it and have hides like a Rhinoceros. |
#7
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In article .com,
Bookworm writes Martin Wiseman wrote: I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for 5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. It varies between products. The discount is anywhere up to 50% but normally around 30%. They make extra profit from retail which claws back some of the discount they give to the trade. Even the sheds (B&Q, Wickes etc) are in on the racket. An item my company sells to B&Q for 0.58 ends up at 4.50 on their shelves. Ask the price at the Builders Merchants before buying and tell them to get stuffed if it is too high. Dont worry about offending them. They are used to it and have hides like a Rhinoceros. Yep have a requirement at the moment for a hot water cylinder 125 best price "won't find cheaper guv" from local plumbing dept of large merchants, 94 quid from Screwfix!... -- Tony Sayer |
#8
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![]() Yep have a requirement at the moment for a hot water cylinder 125 best price "won't find cheaper guv" from local plumbing dept of large merchants, 94 quid from Screwfix!... -- Tony Sayer Plumbers Merchant probably paid around 50 -60 for it. Whenever I am waiting at a Plumbers/Builders Merchants Trade Counter to see the buyer, my toes curl when I see what they are charging Retail Customers. I used to sell a Manual Shower Mixing Valve, (Chinese, but never had one back), for 19. Most Merchants sold it at around 60 - 80. |
#9
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On 10 Apr 2006 01:39:09 -0700, "Bookworm" wrote:
| | | Yep have a requirement at the moment for a hot water cylinder ?125 best | price "won't find cheaper guv" from local plumbing dept of large | merchants, ?94 quid from Screwfix!... | -- | Tony Sayer | | |Plumbers Merchant probably paid around ?50 -?60 for it. Whenever I am |waiting at a Plumbers/Builders Merchants Trade Counter to see the |buyer, my toes curl when I see what they are charging Retail Customers. |I used to sell a Manual Shower Mixing Valve, (Chinese, but never had |one back), for ?19. Most Merchants sold it at around ?60 - ?80. Ah Yes, but you can get almost anything (plumbing), in small quantities, from a plumbers merchant over the counter, complete with advice on how to use it. The Sheds will just sell you a very restricted selection at a slightly lower mark up. Swings and Roundabouts! -- Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk Google Groups is IME the *worst* method of accessing usenet. GG subscribers would be well advised get a newsreader, say Agent, and a newsserver, say news.individual.net. These will allow them: to see only *new* posts, a killfile, and other goodies. |
#10
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Ah Yes, but you can get almost anything (plumbing), in small quantities,
from a plumbers merchant over the counter, complete with advice on how to use it. The Sheds will just sell you a very restricted selection at a slightly lower mark up. My local plumbers merchant is cheaper the B&Q etc for everything I have bought. Radiator spanner ? 1 british pound please mate. B&Q would charge a few quid for such a thing. However, for baths, taps, basins etc, merchants seem to have some poor quality stuff at a low price, the other stuff is very expensive. In general, it seems like the comsumables are cheap, other stuff not so. Simon. |
#11
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Phil L writes
Martin Wiseman wrote: I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted 11 for a 2m length (and 5 for an outlet shoe). Travis Perkins? No, Ridgeons in Cambridge. 15 years ago I didn't think their prices were too bad, memory says they had comparable prices to the likes of B&Q but with a better selection. Then they discovered the DIY market, started staying open on Saturday afternoons and bumped the prices up. Martin. |
#12
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![]() wrote: Ah Yes, but you can get almost anything (plumbing), in small quantities, from a plumbers merchant over the counter, complete with advice on how to use it. The Sheds will just sell you a very restricted selection at a slightly lower mark up. My local plumbers merchant is cheaper the B&Q etc for everything I have bought. Radiator spanner ? 1 british pound please mate. B&Q would charge a few quid for such a thing. I bought one this very weekend for 42p in my local B&Q Whorehouse. |
#13
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![]() "Neil Jones" wrote in message ups.com... wrote: Ah Yes, but you can get almost anything (plumbing), in small quantities, from a plumbers merchant over the counter, complete with advice on how to use it. The Sheds will just sell you a very restricted selection at a slightly lower mark up. My local plumbers merchant is cheaper the B&Q etc for everything I have bought. Radiator spanner ? 1 british pound please mate. B&Q would charge a few quid for such a thing. I bought one this very weekend for 42p in my local B&Q Whorehouse. "B&Q Whorehouse" LOL! ETV |
#14
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I've never seen a japanese hornet wasp, but I've been stung badly by Travis Perkins.
NEVER again!! -- For full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/uk-diy...et-351569-.htm |
#15
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On Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 11:26:05 PM UTC+1, Martin Wiseman wrote:
I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted Ł11 for a 2m length (and Ł5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for Ł5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. A few years ago when we were doing a lot of work here, I went to our local builder's merchant three times in a week to buy sand (among other things) and was charged a different price for the sand each time. Jonathan |
#16
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On 22/04/2021 14:33, Jonathan wrote:
On Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 11:26:05 PM UTC+1, Martin Wiseman wrote: I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted Ł11 for a 2m length (and Ł5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for Ł5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. A few years ago when we were doing a lot of work here, I went to our local builder's merchant three times in a week to buy sand (among other things) and was charged a different price for the sand each time. Jonathan Did you not know? Sand is silicon dioxide which is mined, and is traded on commodity markets, so the price you pay is tied to the spot price on the commodity markets on the day? :-) I have the same issue when sellign scrap metal to scrap dealers, teh price they pay me is tied ot the spot prices on the London Metal Exchaneg in London.. Its the same with buying currency through a foriegn exchange...... |
#17
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On Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 2:38:57 PM UTC+1, SH wrote:
On 22/04/2021 14:33, Jonathan wrote: On Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 11:26:05 PM UTC+1, Martin Wiseman wrote: I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted Ł11 for a 2m length (and Ł5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for Ł5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. A few years ago when we were doing a lot of work here, I went to our local builder's merchant three times in a week to buy sand (among other things) and was charged a different price for the sand each time. Jonathan Did you not know? Sand is silicon dioxide which is mined, and is traded on commodity markets, so the price you pay is tied to the spot price on the commodity markets on the day? :-) I have the same issue when sellign scrap metal to scrap dealers, teh price they pay me is tied ot the spot prices on the London Metal Exchaneg in London.. Its the same with buying currency through a foriegn exchange...... Discounts depend a lot on who you are and on your purchasing power. Many years ago I was sent to make an unusual across the counter purchase of some electric equipment for a LA, normally these things are done through a requisition order and therefore you never see the cost. On this occasion I did and the discount on the retail price was 80% that is some mark up for Joe Public, and I am sure the distributor still made a profit on the transaction. Richard |
#18
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On 22/04/2021 15:03, Tricky Dicky wrote:
On Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 2:38:57 PM UTC+1, SH wrote: On 22/04/2021 14:33, Jonathan wrote: On Sunday, April 9, 2006 at 11:26:05 PM UTC+1, Martin Wiseman wrote: I went into our local builder's merchant to get a length of drainpipe at the weekend and walked straight back out again when I discovered they wanted Ł11 for a 2m length (and Ł5 for an outlet shoe). I bought the 2m of pipe from Homebase in the end for Ł5. So how much discount do tradesmen get at builder's merchants? At those prices I would think it would have to be at least 60% for anyone to even bother using them. Martin. A few years ago when we were doing a lot of work here, I went to our local builder's merchant three times in a week to buy sand (among other things) and was charged a different price for the sand each time. Jonathan Did you not know? Sand is silicon dioxide which is mined, and is traded on commodity markets, so the price you pay is tied to the spot price on the commodity markets on the day? :-) I have the same issue when sellign scrap metal to scrap dealers, teh price they pay me is tied ot the spot prices on the London Metal Exchaneg in London.. Its the same with buying currency through a foriegn exchange...... Discounts depend a lot on who you are and on your purchasing power. Many years ago I was sent to make an unusual across the counter purchase of some electric equipment for a LA, normally these things are done through a requisition order and therefore you never see the cost. On this occasion I did and the discount on the retail price was 80% that is some mark up for Joe Public, and I am sure the distributor still made a profit on the transaction. Richard Funnily enough, I'm interested in know who the major distributors are for satellite and TV gear, I already know about Solutions group and Vanjak. S. |
#19
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On 22/04/2021 15:03, Tricky Dicky wrote:
On Thursday, April 22, 2021 at 2:38:57 PM UTC+1, SH wrote: On 22/04/2021 14:33, Jonathan wrote: Discounts depend a lot on who you are and on your purchasing power. Many years ago I was sent to make an unusual across the counter purchase of some electric equipment for a LA, normally these things are done through a requisition order and therefore you never see the cost. On this occasion I did and the discount on the retail price was 80% that is some mark up for Joe Public, and I am sure the distributor still made a profit on the transaction. Richard Agreed. Forty plus years ago many "trade" counters would not serve the general public at all. I worked for the CEGB and my site purchasing department would, on request, give you a "trade note" that said something like "Supply goods as requested for cash payment". The discount on their "book" price was typically 35%. But their book price was usually better than the sheds of the day too. More recently a mate of mine had a Radiospares account for his business. IIRC his discount was also 35% on their catalogue price. |
#20
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On 22/04/2021 20:32, newshound wrote:
Agreed. Forty plus years ago many "trade" counters would not serve the general public at all. I worked for the CEGB and my site purchasing department would, on request, give you a "trade note" that said something like "Supply goods as requested for cash payment". The discount on their "book" price was typically 35%. But their book price was usually better than the sheds of the day too. More recently a mate of mine had a Radiospares account for his business. IIRC his discount was also 35% on their catalogue price. I considered RS to be expensive in the first place but for a business prompt next days delivery can be very important. -- mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk |
#21
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On 22/04/2021 14:15, Landyman wrote:
I've never seen a japanese hornet wasp, but I've been stung badly by Travis Perkins. NEVER again!! For once I found Travis Perkins to be reasonable for a recent project when factoring the "free delivery" for multiple bulky items (order value was £190 incl VAT) -- mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk |
#22
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On 22/04/2021 22:17, alan_m wrote:
On 22/04/2021 20:32, newshound wrote: Agreed. Forty plus years ago many "trade" counters would not serve the general public at all. I worked for the CEGB and my site purchasing department would, on request, give you a "trade note" that said something like "Supply goods as requested for cash payment". The discount on their "book" price was typically 35%. But their book price was usually better than the sheds of the day too. More recently a mate of mine had a Radiospares account for his business. IIRC his discount was also 35% on their catalogue price. I considered RS to be expensive in the first place but for a business prompt next days delivery can be very important. Next day? I once paid (on expenses) £25 for a timer relay from R.S. and £90 for delivery, by a motorcycle courier, within an hour. A bakery production line was shut down waiting for it! |
#23
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alan_m wrote:
I considered RS to be expensive in the first place but for a business prompt next days delivery can be very important. They also had an interesting policy: if you ordered and there was no stock, that was the end of it, they wouldn't schedule subsequent delivery, they simply cancelled the order. This meant that whilst they were very handy for getting stuff for immediate use, we were banned from ever using them for production orders. Chris -- Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK @ChrisJDixon1 Plant amazing Acers. |
#24
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On 23/04/2021 07:52, Chris J Dixon wrote:
alan_m wrote: I considered RS to be expensive in the first place but for a business prompt next days delivery can be very important. They also had an interesting policy: if you ordered and there was no stock, that was the end of it, they wouldn't schedule subsequent delivery, they simply cancelled the order. This meant that whilst they were very handy for getting stuff for immediate use, we were banned from ever using them for production orders. Chris I worked for a Marconi company who were notorious for not paying bills until the last moment (plus some) and while Radio Spares were good for immediate delivery in a development environment when the bills were overdue all shipments stopped for a week or more. I do wonder how much money this actually cost the company with design engineers being more idle than necessary due to the lack of components, and with no prior warning about delays. There was a time when we referred to Radio Spares as Reject Spares when when they over-wrote the manufactures identity and part number on the top of ICs with their own code number. Although their code number could be removed with a solvent cleaner it showed that the same RS part was assigned to chips from different manufacturers and with different specifications (speeds etc.) and in one case to the "same" generic IC from two different manufactures only one of which had a known bug with a documented work around. -- mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk |
#25
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alan_m wrote:
On 22/04/2021 20:32, newshound wrote: Agreed. Forty plus years ago many "trade" counters would not serve the general public at all. I worked for the CEGB and my site purchasing department would, on request, give you a "trade note" that said something like "Supply goods as requested for cash payment". The discount on their "book" price was typically 35%. But their book price was usually better than the sheds of the day too. More recently a mate of mine had a Radiospares account for his business. IIRC his discount was also 35% on their catalogue price. I considered RS to be expensive in the first place but for a business prompt next days delivery can be very important. RS used to be stupidly expensive, especially for small quantities and non-trade users (originally they wouldn't sell to retail customers). However I think the likes of CPC, Rapid-Recall, Farnell (yes, I know they own CPC) and even Maplin forced RS to become cheaper and more 'user friendly'. They're still usually a bit more expensive than the others but not always, for example they were cheapest for a Dymo Rhino label maker (some years ago now). -- Chris Green · |
#27
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On 22/04/2021 14:15, Landyman wrote:
I've never seen a japanese hornet wasp, but I've been stung badly by Travis Perkins. NEVER again!! A lot has changed in the 15 years since the original post (Read the date before replying). 80% markup seems typical for car parts too if my ex-MOT tester neighbour is anything to go by. |
#28
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Chris Green wrote:
RS used to be stupidly expensive, especially for small quantities and non-trade users (originally they wouldn't sell to retail customers). However I think the likes of CPC, Rapid-Recall, Farnell (yes, I know they own CPC) and even Maplin forced RS to become cheaper and more 'user friendly'. It is worth going via Topcashback, which can have quite generous cashback for the likes of RS, Farnell, CPC, etc. We get a consortium discount on Farnell/CPC (it varies by line), but the cashback seems to work out at roughly the same discount for normal people making cash orders. Theo |
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