Merchants near Inverness/ Nairn

[saveasteading]

Only for the locals, in the Inverness area.

 

Visiting the site next week, ahead of completion.

Want to run around a few suppliers of standard materials. Any recommendations for materials supplies in the area? 

 

I see JD pipes are there which should be best for what they do.

There are lots of local sawmills, any recommendations, that sell direct and  miss out the merchants?

 

The usual names are there as builders merchants, but I would hope  the local ones excel on price and service?

In the perfect world there will be one in Nairn (or Forres) or Inverness that is consistently good value without asking every time.

It annoys me immensely when I have to show them the Wickes price before the price drops to what they should have quoted right away.

 

Also need a few acrow props, new or used.

 

 

 

 

[nod]

While I’m not Inverness

I totally get your Wickes point 

CTD tiles do exactly the same thing 

So annoying 

[jamieled]

I used HIS for most of my stuff and got reasonable prices (I think!). The big names such as TP, Jewsons, buildbase were a lot more expensive for most stuff though I did get my roofing from Jewsons as they were one of the few suppliers of the kind I was using.

 

I tried timber outfits like Thornbridge, but they were more expensive than HIS so didn't bother with them much apart from when I was in  a pickle and needed the odd length or two. Used woodstock for finishing timber. SIG for some insulation and plasterboard. JDP for drainage stuff. Stone source for some landscaping stone.

 

For me one of the biggies was whether they would deliver, in what time frame and the cost. We are a bit out of Inverness and sometimes any apparent savings on materials were swallowed by delivery charges. I'm just getting my last lot of materials to finish and it's cheaper for me to get a haulage firm to pickup at 3 different suppliers than pay three sets of delivery charges.

[ProDave]

SIG in Inverness did the best price on insulation for me by far.

 

Otherwise I found the timber merchants in Inverness disappointing,

 

Thoroughly recommend Stone Source in Inverness if looking for stone worktops etc.

 

I am mostly now using the independant merchant Fraser Brothers in Alness but this is probably too far for you.

[saveasteading]

Thanks for these.

 

SIG I assume is a new name for Sheffield Insulation.  I used to phone them for 1,000 to 2,000 m2 of fibreglass, and they would quote a list price. Then ask if I was looking for a discount, as it might have gone a bit quiet my end, then offer 70% discount.

Also would quote a price, I'd say I got it cheaper recently from them , then they would say...let me look...ahhh that was in the Midlands, in the SE we don't give that much discount! They should be able to beat anybody if they wish.    One more tip I learnt from them is never to mention a trade name as they are bound to quote only that. So don't mention celotex, but say PIR, best price.

 

Tiles: have only used Topps recently. Nice stuff, strange pricing: always ask for the 'what if I phoned in' price, which can be better. They tick a box whether you are standing there or phoning in, and the price changes. Will have a look at CTD  a year from now. The equivalent tiles in Spain are a third of the price, but would need a few car-loads, and to forgo some wine.

 

HIS, I will message perhaps. They should be prepared to issue a price list for standard stuff.

The big companies I have found depend on the ability of the manager, and again apply regional differences (what they can get away with). Surprised ourselves getting the best prices for one job from B&Q (lorry of blocks) and the non-local TP better than the local one. 

 

Thornbridge appear to import to Grangemouth. I'm hoping to use local trees, and am aware that they are more open grained. There appear to be lots of sawmills.

 

If I need any lumps of granite, whether rubble or ashlar (tractor damage I think) is that easy to get?

 

And lime: any problems getting that? It seems technical, which type you need, and I am not up to speed yet.