Who Is 3% Of HDs Transactions But 30% Of Their Business?

J F

nevermind, just bathed 'em...how do ya' get the dimples out?

nEighter

they let me borrow a pen the other day.. and was told "GIVE THIS BACK WHEN YOU ARE DONE!" uh.. okay?!

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J F

no dimples?

nEighter

nope.. said they grinded em off.. didn't ask why or how.. I cringed just thinking about it

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abacab

The big store in Michigan is Menards, and they are better than home depot as far as their selection, however their special orders suck, and there are a bunch of high school kids running around for sales staff. They are cheaper than home depot, but of maybe 6 special orders, I don't think even one came on time, or was ordered correctly.

J F

abacab

You know that no free pencil thing just shows me they are trying to extract every last penny out of me. And don't get me started with all the "procedures" you have to go through for buying, changing, or returning anything. At my local lumberyard I just plop it down on the desk and leave, I trust them to credit me. Several times I have gotten bids at local lumberyards, and also Home Depot, Lowe's, and Menards, and the local lumberyard came out the cheapest. The only place they fail in is hardware, you can usually get that cheaper at the big box stores. When I'm building a whole house, I can't afford HD or the other big boxes. It wastes too much of my time, and the same salesman is never around for the entire job. They either quit or change departments. The local lumberyard has the same guys that were there 20 years ago.

bwalley

HD is like most large corporations, when times are good, they could care less who is buying from them, but now that times are tough they are starting to look at who they are making their money off of.

Gator Gypsum during the boom wouldn't sell drywall to me since I didn't have an open account, I always wrote a check when I picked stuff up or placed an order, now that times are tough they will sell to homeowners.

So in the past they screwed licensed contractors who didn't have an account and now they sell to homeowners and every other jack leg contractor out there.

Sad to say but some of these companies deserve to go out of business.

Mike Finley

Here is why Home Depot doesn't mesh well with contractors.

Home Depot is a retail store for DIYers.

They are in a death battle with Lowes.

They sell based on price.

They have a small margin of profit.

They can't offer contractors a discount because there is none to give up.

If they raised the price of a 2x4 Lowes would cut their throats.

They are in this position because their primary business is DIYers and they are in a death battle with Lowes.

Home Depot has created this environment. - Think about how they got here.

Who had the lower price on materials 10 years ago? Home Depot or the local lumber yard? The local lumber yards prices were always 10-30% more.

Home Depot changed the lumber/materials industry by selling everything at a small profit, killing the local lumber yards in the process.

The local lumber yards had a higher profit margin and would sell to a professional at a discount because there was enough profit to give up some to sell at a discount.

Home Depot killed that mark up themselves and now has no discount to give to a professional.

WHY WOULD A PROFESSIONAL BUY FROM HOME DEPOT AT THE SAME PRICE THAT A HOME OWNER CAN WALK IN OFF THE STREET AND BUY FROM THEM?

This is the 2nd question I ask them whenever they approach me for my business. The first question is what is my discount? The answer is always there is no discount. My 2nd question is what incentive do I have to do business with a company that is going to sell to me the same product at the same price as a homeowner can walk off the street and buy it for?

They have no answer to that question.

They created the situation they are in.

The lesson is always the same in business. You can not be all things to all customers. Pick your customer and sell to them. If you want to be the best retail store to DIYers, you can't be the best wholesale store to contractors. They can't have it both ways, they can't sell at cut throat prices and have enough mark up to discount to a contractor.

They need to choose who they want to have as their primary customer.

Home Depots #1 main selling point right now to a professional is convienence of store location.

nEighter

no truer words spoken my friend.

Yeah they order stuff from the yards.. put their markup on it and then sell it to us for LESS than we can get it at the lumber yard! Crazy...

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bwalley

Another reason why I as a contractor don't like HD or Lowes is because they are not just a supplier but also now since they do installed sales, are now my competition.

I am a GC and a HVAC contractor, HD sells installed windows, doors, roofing, siding, kitchens, bathrooms and even A/C systems.

Why should I support the competition?

Most of the "contractors" I see in HD when I go pick up minor parts are the guys who obviously have no license, you can tell by looking at their trucks when they list electrical, plumbing, roofing, remodels, room additions, etc. but list no license numbers.

So it could be the 3% = their 30% of gross sales are by the unlicensed hacks anyway.

woodworkbykirk

i buy my tools and gun nails at hd, cheaper there. but for lumber its the lumber yard, roof shingles are $5 less a bundle and $25 less for ice and water than the hd and the hd product is ****tier quality.

if im framing something for inside use ill sometimes goto hd because their wood is inside and dry less chance of twisting when it drys out

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putting down subfloor with glue and screws, well i saw dr. smith and the robot too , i had a martian burger and a sonic shake

Mellison

The Home Depot here opens at 5 AM and closes,I think, at 9 PM.
Those hours are helpful.

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not_right

if i buy shingles and other material from HD for job and they deliver, it is not the material from the store, it is usually from ABC.

I dont understand how the roofing products are ****tier in the stores when i hear roofers say this b/c the material usually comes from a roofing distributer like ABC... at least the stores i have been to.

nEighter

Lowe's wood is usually better quality than HD's.

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Mike Finley

Convenience

Mike Finley

Convenience

Mike Finley

HD - if you want to really serve your contractors - here's 3 very simple things -

Have an actual pro check out that only pros can use (do you know how sick contractors are of standing in a line where some homeowner is trying to buy 13 different sized washers and the cashier has to do a price check for a 3 cent item and the homeowner after they find out it's 4 cents changes their mind and wants to get a different one?) - time is money and once we have our sh*t we want to be gone as fast as possible.

Have an actual under cover parking pick up for pros only. (do you know how sick contractors are of parking their truck there, come back with 20 sheets of drywall and 2x4s and find some homeowner in a VW jetta has pulled up 2 feet off their bumper and is no where to be found?) Or do you know how sick contractors are of not being able to get to their trucks because some customer is out there doing quality control of the 6 sheets of drywall he bought and is rejecting one cause it has a dent on it or a foot print and is taking up 300 sq ft trying to get his $6.00 sheet of drywall replaced!

Train your F*KING cashiers. It's not my job to tell them how many 2x4s I have only for them to count them again or to scan 50 of them by scanning one 50 times. It's not my job to tell them it's "densshield" and yes the F*KING UPC code is on the bottom of the stack of 30 of them. I already pulled the sh*t off your shelves and loaded my cart, it's not my job to unload it all again just cause your cashier doesn't know how much a piece of hardi backer cost or know how to scan a cheat sheet with the UPC symbol posted next to him/her. Train you cashiers to call somebody to help load prior to me being done paying for my items and then having to stand up there like a douche for 10 minutes waiting for a 70 year old man to show up to help me load 100 lb bags of concrete.

And for your biggest DUH going. Having your employees stand at the front of the store and ask me on my way back to the rear if they can help me doesn't help me once I get to the rear of your store only to find out now I do need their help cause what I want is 3 stories up on your pallet racking and there isn't a single warm body to be found cause they are all standing at the front of the store!!!!

Framer53

You would love the HD in your old hometown. We are asked to help on the way in and at least 5 times wenever I go. The attituse has changed. Now the Lowes, that's a different story. They are like the HD you describe.

Our local lumber yard, you know who, are nice guys but, they don't even try to compete anymore. Love their lumber, but not at 1.5/stick of 2x4.

Mike Finley

JK lumber?