TxLandlord posted a small comment about Build.com in another thread.
I looked around their site for a while, seems like they may have a lot to offer. I’m interested in comments from anyone who has had experience with this company in the past, or for that matter anyone who has had good/bad experiences with ordering products online.I imagine that some customers would not like the fact that they cannot touch the product, and the spacial perception may be a problem for some. I don’t know that we would replace our current plumbing & electrical supplier, but maybe there is some room for this type of product selection?
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Jon,
I built my own house last year. During the process I bought online hickory stair treads, Danze faucets, wooden counter top, hickory hardwood floors, travertine flooring, takagi water heater, Reggio regesters, Kohler kitchen sink, and emtek door hardware. All I had was great experiences.
One thing that helps is if you have the model #'s you want, go to mysimon or some other price comparison web sites. The travertine I was worried about, but they sent a sample and after I ordered it it arrived in three days.
The hardwood florrs were the only product that came later than I anticipated. There are some great deals online, and you can also save yourself alot of hassles running back and forth to suppliers.
http://www.builddirect.com/ ----- for travertine
http://www.reggioregister.com/
http://www.shop4danze.com/ some faucets and towel bars
http://www.stairsupplies.com/
http://www.homeannex.com/ other faucets
http://www.vintagetubs.com/ bath tub faucet
These were a few that I could find.
Thanks deskguy.
I will put the links in my basket of tricks.
Products listed make that sound like a nice home you built.
I checked their pricing compared to my local plumbing supply house and they are about 15% higher. But then I buy a lot of faucets so maybe that helps. DanT
Could have something to do with scale, or that I have not bought lots of faucets at our plumbing supplier. My clients are tyically responsible for faucets, as an allowance item. We can supply them, but the clients usually take care of shopping and purchase.
Again, the faucets we bought were high end, not readily avaliable as stock items from our suppliers but avaliable as special order.
Jon,
My experience with http://www.build.com has been in ordering plumbing fixtures only. I made contact with one of the mgrs and he set me up on builder account, which means I get a discount off of their (already low) internet price.
We saved about 30%, off of builder pricing locally and did not pay local sales tax.
The fixtures I ordered came as promised with no apparent defect. The fixture were high end (which may be the reason for the big discount) vertical spas and lav fixtures.
I would use this source again.
I also ordered some locksets from a dealer for http://www.betterhomeproducts.com.
We bought Satin Nickle and Oil rubbed Bronze levers for about $20.00 each. I have two locksmitchs in my Chuch and had both of them examine the locksets. Both locksmiths said the quality was very good.
I had to use a local dealer and could not direct purchase, but quality and style equaled those that cost $28.00 - $35.00. We are planning a future Home design Center and the Better Home Products sales manager said if we had showroom space and non-conflicting terratory, he could set us up as dealers.
I went to the gas station today and asked the attendant for $5.00 worth of gas.
He farted and gave me a receipt.