Importing Fixtures/Finishes From China

ChrWright

Tile, Cabinetry, Granite, Doors, etc...

Anyone have any experience with importing? I was watching a "Flip This House" episode last weekend that piqued my interest in this.

The two guys doing the flip bought all of their finishes from China--which showed up onsite in one large semi container: interior doors, exterior doors, kitchen & vanity cabinetry, granite slabs, tile, etc.

They tiled a significant portion of the main level floors with granite slabs (looked to be at least 3/4" thick) & tiled the master bath walls from floor to ceiling with slabs as well.

All of their interior & exterior doors came pre-finished & looked very good (looked like a TRU-STILE type door with square sticking). Also, some very cool folding accordion exterior patio doors that were at least 8' wide.

Normally these shows are one huge eye roll from start to finish--but the quality of finishes looked very decent. They claimed to have gotten a huge break in cost by importing so I'm curious to know the validity.

Anyone?

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Christopher Wright, CR: President @ WrightWorks, LLC/President @ Central Indiana NARI, Named to the 2010 REMODELING Big50
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buildenterprise

Good luck following up on any warranty issues with defective material. Tile and granite are one thing, but cabinets and doors? No thanks.How long to wait until you get a cabinet to replace the one with the peeling finish? What happens next year when the door starts leaking and the hardware fails? Are they going to send out the China-junk sales rep for your area to take a look at it?
I'll stick with my local family-owned lumberyard where they actually know my name, and can resolve issues easily.
And we wonder why our trade deficit is so huge.

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Tom F.

One of the major builders in Knoxville is bringing in all his interior stuff from China. He has actually gone over there and made the arrangements in China. I am told it was a substantial savings for him. However, he is building multi-unit developments where he is obviously pretty standardized. It would be pretty hard to do it for a custom homes or individual projects.

silvertree

I'm sure it's OK but, we have a huge trade deficit, our economy is at risk. I'm not judging people who buy from China but I gotta ask. What about buying American Products that keep Americans working.This country is headed down a slippery slope when we send dollars out all for a quick buck.
Buy American when you can! Or lets start importing tradesmen from China, think of how much money we can make with laborers we pay $160 a month.
Of course some of them will start their own businesses and then we can compete with them and always on price.

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Vote for Pedro
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grahambuilder

Ok the guys on flip this house are HACKS!!! they hire the cheapest, scummiest workers they can to save money. I like when they bitch when the job is to slow or costs more. When you hire cheap thats what you get. Do not get ideas from the flippers. Your better off asking a guy at Home Cheapo.

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ChrWright

This thread is not about the flip shows...That topic's been done ad-infinitum.

I was curious to know if there are any contractors/remodelers currently doing importing.

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Christopher Wright, CR: President @ WrightWorks, LLC/President @ Central Indiana NARI, Named to the 2010 REMODELING Big50
www.WrightWorks.net - Facebook - Twitter - Carmel Remodeling
Indianapolis Kitchen Remodeling Contractor - You Can Get There From Here

woodman42

Not if I can avoid it. I will pay more for products made in America before I will intentually purchase imported materials. Most of my experience is that if you save a buck now by buying cheap imports, you will pay for it later when you have to go warranty that material because of failure.

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GregS

This episode was discussed a little bit already.

http://www.contractortalk.com/showth...ght=made+china

SelfContract

Funny most electronics things, most clothing outfits, most household fixtures and furniture in USA stores have a "Made in China" label affixed to it. It means most US companies outsource their labor skills to China to save on labor costs. Even so, there are many US companies already moved their factory/operations into China too. So buying or importing "Made-in-China" stuffs today or tomorrow does not necessarily mean that that item must be owned by a China company, but it might be owned by USA, European, Canada, etc., companies too?.. Never know, just ask Walmart, Sears, JCPennys, Macys, Costco, etc.

WarnerConstInc.

I get a great line of cabinets from China, way nicer price point wise than anything from around here.

nnnbbyyy

spam

concretemasonry

China can give you what you want to pay for.

Because of the local labor rates in China, you can get far superior products that require highly skilled labor much cheaper, but the cheap stuff is questionable. The freight and shipping is not really important, but the time may be a problem.

If you do not know what you are getting, you might as well go to Craigslist. If you have a big job and know exactly what need, take your wife and go there for a great 1 or 2 week vacation. - It scares you at what they can do on the top end for a decent price. Much of the equipment used is either from the U.S. or is U.S. designed/manufactured. China imports a lot of the good wood from the U.S., Russia or other areas since they have little wood and it is not correct to use it for rough construction.

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Dick

Engineer, designer and consultant recently active domestically and internationally on construction and design in about 35 countries.

WarnerConstInc.

The cabinets are solid wood face frames, doors and drawers, all ply sides backs bottoms.
Throw in a few little extra things and people think you gave them customs for a deal.
Nice knobs and they can make for a nice kitchen.

BuilderOne

We imported marble from Italy and Tiles also when we were building a 2500sq ft foyer. Importing materials has an excellent mark up potential for the contractor. We did receive quite a large discount in doing so.

SalesMGR1011

We imported all our granite for a hotel we built and it allowed us to signifigantly save some money in our bid on the entire project allowing us to make money in many other areas of the project

will575

Seems like most stuff is made in china. Seems to me people at least want their house to be made in USA. Just my opinion.

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