Reminder - Shop Around

"Rumpy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I think the real lesson here is don't shop at Home Depot.


Dang Rumpy, where have you been. Did you finish that kitchen and how is
that saw working out for you? :~)

Tom Veatch <[email protected]> writes:

>Ron, from the places you list, I'd guess you're on the east side of
>town. If you get out west, you might try B&B Lumber, another privately
>owned yard. They are on MacArthur near K-42, and primarily service the
>contractor/builder trade although anyone's money is welcomed. (My only
>relationship with them is as a customer, plus my neighbor works
>there.)

How come every time I call a lumberyard, they are way more expensive than
Home Depot or Menards? 2x4s are usually like $1 more each.

I don't get any extra pay for extra hours at work, so I spend my time
finding the few good 2x4s at Home Depot or Menards. If I was building a
garage or something I would probably order from a lumberyard.

>WRT the HD warp, I'm convinced that if they (at least the one on the
>west side) ever put a straight board on the rack, somebody would get
>fired.

For some reason, Home Depot likes to wreck good plywood by putting on
racks that aren't level. One of the three arms will be lower or higher
than the other two almost invariably.

Brian Elfert

"RonB" <[email protected]> said:

<snip>
>Lowe's - $63
>Home Depot - $67
>Star Lumber (a local privately owned yard) - $44
>Andale Lumber (a local privately owned yard) - $47
>
<snip>

Ron, from the places you list, I'd guess you're on the east side of
town. If you get out west, you might try B&B Lumber, another privately
owned yard. They are on MacArthur near K-42, and primarily service the
contractor/builder trade although anyone's money is welcomed. (My only
relationship with them is as a customer, plus my neighbor works
there.)

WRT the HD warp, I'm convinced that if they (at least the one on the
west side) ever put a straight board on the rack, somebody would get
fired.

I think the real lesson here is don't shop at Home Depot.

"RonB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:TSYqg.29302$FR1.1564@dukeread05...
>I am building about 225 feet of privacy fence. Using PT wood for posts and
>frames and Rough Cedar for face and details. Project includes an arbor
>gate using 4"x 6" rough cedar and some redwood detail.
>
> For Info, here is a price comparison for 10' rough cedar 4x6 in our area
> (South-Central Kansas):
>
> Lowe's - $63
> Home Depot - $67
> Star Lumber (a local privately owned yard) - $44
> Andale Lumber (a local privately owned yard) - $47
>
> I fairness, the Home Depot timber came with an added feature... about 3"
> of warp in the only one they had. The locals had very good stock. I paid
> more for the Cedar facing at a local yard but it was about 50% thicker
> than the big box offerings.
>
> RonB
>

I am once again getting reacquainted with the local supply houses after
getting reaching my pain threshold with Home Depot and such. I am being
very pleasantly surprised at not only the price but the levels of actual
customer service as compared to the big box stores. Home Depot has become
clueless to customer service, and product quality is getting to be a close
2nd. My experience is now to shop local - my wallet is for the better and I
usually end up walking away happy with the service v.s aggravated at HD,
etc, etc
"RonB" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:TSYqg.29302$FR1.1564@dukeread05...
>I am building about 225 feet of privacy fence. Using PT wood for posts and
>frames and Rough Cedar for face and details. Project includes an arbor
>gate using 4"x 6" rough cedar and some redwood detail.
>
> For Info, here is a price comparison for 10' rough cedar 4x6 in our area
> (South-Central Kansas):
>
> Lowe's - $63
> Home Depot - $67
> Star Lumber (a local privately owned yard) - $44
> Andale Lumber (a local privately owned yard) - $47
>
> I fairness, the Home Depot timber came with an added feature... about 3"
> of warp in the only one they had. The locals had very good stock. I paid
> more for the Cedar facing at a local yard but it was about 50% thicker
> than the big box offerings.
>
> RonB
>

On Fri, 07 Jul 2006 13:09:21 -0000, Brian Elfert <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Tom Veatch <[email protected]> writes:
>
>>Ron, from the places you list, I'd guess you're on the east side of
>>town. If you get out west, you might try B&B Lumber, another privately
>>owned yard. They are on MacArthur near K-42, and primarily service the
>>contractor/builder trade although anyone's money is welcomed. (My only
>>relationship with them is as a customer, plus my neighbor works
>>there.)
>
>How come every time I call a lumberyard, they are way more expensive than
>Home Depot or Menards? 2x4s are usually like $1 more each.

Sometimes that's true- but in the case of Menards, they've got people
who do nothing but sort through the crap as it comes in and restamp it
as a higher grade if it meets a minimum requirement. So you're really
not comparing apples to apples there. If you want to be fair, you've
got to compare the lumberyards' #2 common to Menards' "select".
They're often still cheaper, but it closes the margin a bit, and you
still have excessive warping with the Menard's crap unless you buy an
entire pallet- they seem to stay a little straighter if they remain
banded until you use them.

I'm guilty of getting framing lumber from them about 50% of the time
myself, as I'm often trying to hit a lower price point- but there is a
real qualitative difference between Menards or HD stuff compared to
any decent lumberyard.

>I don't get any extra pay for extra hours at work, so I spend my time
>finding the few good 2x4s at Home Depot or Menards. If I was building a
>garage or something I would probably order from a lumberyard.

I don't get it- you don't get paid any extra for putting in more time,
so you opt for the more time-consuming option? You're a real
go-getter...