Q&A: Price Shopping

"For this article, we asked a dozen successful builders and remodelers from around the country to share their opinions on some of the business questions our readers ask most frequently. Here’s what they told us."

Q. Do you shop prices with different suppliers or do you use one supplier for every job?

A. "We stick with one supplier for most materials, but we go to specialty suppliers for things like windows, doors, siding, and cabinets."

— Howard Ferree

"We use one lumberyard for every job. As a good client, we get taken care of — they make sure we get good lumber, not just the top ten boards off the lift."

— Glenn Farrell

"We ask the two lumberyards in our town to fax us price sheets once a month to help with our estimating. We don’t shop them, however, and we never play one supplier off against the other."

— Bill Medina

"I used to price shop, but now my time is too valuable. I buy 90% of all my material from one local lumberyard, not a national chain. I have a relationship with them that is perpetual and professional. I can’t get that at a chain store."

— Steve Klitsch

"If the supplier is also quoting one of our competitors, we’ll shop suppliers. If I’m exclusive with them, however, I tell them so and go with their prices, sink or swim."

— Mike Weiss