Building Merchant Self-Builder Accounts

[Ferdinand]

In Buildbase this afternoon in search of a brick, I noticed that they have a 'trade' account for self-builders.

 

https://www.buildbase.co.uk/application

 

Does anyone have experience?

 

(Below is an image with details not a link ).

 

Ferdinand

Edited May 5, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Vijay]

I opened one but the prices are a joke, they definitely have no interest in my business

[jack]

We had one two mins walk from the house we were renting when building, so it would have been really convenient for them to be competitive. Unfortunately, they were often twice the price we were getting at TP and Jewsons, even for cash.

 

I just assumed self builders weren't a market they were interested in.

[ToughButterCup]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand said:

In Buildbase this afternoon in search of a brick, [...]

 

Yeah, right. 

[jack]

It could well have been a brick. Nothing would surprise me with @Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

When I was trying to buy 8 pallet loads of permeable pavers, Buildbase quoted nearly three times the price I eventually paid.  I've kept the quote, pinned to the back of the invoice from Simply Paving, as an illustration of their ludicrous pricing.

 

As above, I don't think they are even vaguely interested in dealing with self-builders.

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

Yeah, right. 

 

I am curious as to what items they sell in Builders' Merchants in Lancashire, if not bricks? 

 

The story is that I need about 20 matching bricks for the 1960s Little Brown Bungalow for various chips, vents and flues to be removed and filled, and be spares for the future etc. As it happens Buildbase has our widest local selection of bricks .. perhaps 40-50 or more types in stock in the yard. It is a family company which is also a Buildbase.

 

About a month ago I finally matched some 1978 brown bricks for a friend who had let her gutter leak and wall spall. Both me and the builder were driving around with a sample in the car, which I matched finally to something like an Old English Traditional Russet Rose (or similar words in a similar order) which BB had bought in for a customer who had failed to collect. So I had 100 or so at about 50p each.

 

I still have the 1970s brick in my car so I went back as it us close enough. But BB have sold them, so I have borrowed a few from the former purchase.(*)

 

So .. yes ... in Buildbase in search of a brick.

 

* innocent face *

 

F

 

* The chap said he had actually sold more than he had got, which I guess means he forgot the ones I had previously.

 

 

Edited May 4, 2017 by Ferdinand

[jack]

Methinks the lady doth protest too much.

[Mark W]

That is one shop I would never use, They are criminals when it come to competitive pricing. They are not interested in the self builders of any other builder. there is no reason to discount, they make far more profit selling to Joe public who have no idea what the proper price should be . I tend to use independants   

[Roundtuit]

I've got a buildbase account (and a legacy travis Perkins account as it happens) and cross check prices for anything big.  Generally, buildbase is cheaper than I can find anywhere else, so I guess it depends on your local branch. 

[curlewhouse]

Sounds like my experience of Jewsons where a new branch manager turned the branch from quite literally joke pricing (a bad joke) to my main supplier literally overnight.

[jayroc2k]

I signed up to Travis Perkins, Selco and Jewson and have found the following to be true

- they are hardly cheaper than online stores or even buildingdepot

- pricing is all down to who you have as a sales contact or manager

- TP advised me to give them a project before it starts to price up as they will be effectively competing for the project and apply the prices to your account (you don't have to use them for all items)

- until you spend north of 50k, you get poor prices

- Wickes can be surprisingly be cheaper (sales and deals)

- TP, Jewsons and Selco make sense when you insider free delivery over many small deliveries made

- you can always take back stuff and minimise wastage (expensive to do online)

- tell them you are a starting developer, this is your first project and you have one in the wings. Worked for me!

 

[Ferdinand]

Since the conversation has broadened, I have changed the title. 

 

I have accounts at TP, Wickes, and B&Q and the usual "identify yourself" at Screwfix. Of those I spend most by far at Wickes, where discounts are reliable, and Screwfix. B&Q are useful for a wider range sometimes, but their discounts are a lottery. TP have better charges for small order deliveries for me (£5 vs £25 for under £200 or so order).

 

I also buy a surprising amount of smaller orders via Amazon, nearly all under £100. But i have Prime, and bought a fair quantity of gift cards when Tesco had an equivalent 9% off offer on the cards.

 

For me, Wickes are also much closer ... about 4-5 minutes vs at least 10-15 for the others in the same direction. When grabbing stuff in the day that makes a difference.

 

I have never really engaged with Jewson's as their closest decent size one is further away.

 

I could probably do a more thorough job.

 

Ferdinand

Edited May 5, 2017 by Ferdinand

[Jeremy Harris]

Like many, I suspect, I did the rounds of all the BM's when we were still at the planning stage, to see what they offered. 

The "big names" (Jewsons, Travis Perkins et al) were all pretty much the same, and generally far more expensive; Buildbase was far higher than anyone else.   Wickes were often surprisingly good, but a bit variable on quality, same goes for B&Q, where buying on a Wednesday knocks 10% off (if you are over 60.......).  Screwfix were so-so, not ever the best on price, but very convenient with their click and collect service (far better than Wickes click and collect, which just doesn't work half the time). 

 

The best overall was our local independent, Sydenhams, who consistently gave good pricing and offered to price match.  Sometimes they just couldn't match the prices for some stuff (an example being the pavers referred to earlier - they told me that they had to pay more for them than Simply Paving were selling them for).  Whenever that happened they were honest about it.  I used Sydenhams more than any of the others, not only because of their pricing, but because they had really good drivers, who'd take the time to deliver stuff exactly where we wanted it, with no hassle. 

 

The best prices were often from online suppliers, but the big downside was that pretty much all (the exception being Simply Paving, who do HIAB delivery) only offered pallet curbside delivery, a real pain when you have a steeply sloping drive and it's heavy stuff.

 

The moral of this tale is twofold; get loads of quotes and push suppliers to price match, and take account of the delivery method - often it's better to pay a little more to get a delivery to where you want it on site.

[PeterW]

I have TP, Wickes and MKM as suppliers. TP are only getting bricks out of it as they are just atrocious at customer service and their drivers are a joke ...

 

Wickes I have a discount card for and I get 10% off gift cards so the 20% discount make them pretty reasonable. 

 

MKM get 95% of the business - branch director looks after self builds and all the pricing is great - delivery drivers are superb too, stuff goes exactly where we ask for it to go and nothing is a problem. 

 

Jewsons.......... well they just made me laugh ! £1.65 for a standard aircrete block ....

[Mark W]

I have to agree with JS's statement 100%. If you are starting a project always go out to at least 4 or 5 merchants and let them know that you are getting other quotations.

I would split mine up, depending on what materials are required,

 

You can always look at using an independent freelance buyer as sometimes they can get even better prices than you can or the merchants you are using. They will charge a % for their services but it is worth it at the end of the day as you don't have to do all the hard work in trying to get the best prices in. When I get any quotation back I would always tell them that need to sharpen their pencil.     

[daiking]

Does anyone have a Selco account I could 'borrow'?

 

I need some skirting board and architrave and when I got the first lot, it seemed like half the price of the online suppliers. I used one of the tradesmen at the time's account but haven't got that now. Seems far harder than somewhere like Perkins to open an account