Trade account - electrics and plumbing

[Lincolnshire Ian]

Hi all

We have a trade account for building materials from builders merchants which seem to be giving us keen prices. 

Has anyone had any success with electrical and plumbing wholesalers to get decent discounts. 

Suggestions welcome. 

Thanks 

[MortarThePoint]

Edmundson are good and can normally work on the price for you. The key is volume. Making fewer bigger orders. There are also some good online only options. Careful though, you'll pay a lot of attention to cable prices which are normally well matched, but it's all the other bits where they claw back margin. I've paid an eye watering price for SWA glands before with a shrug from the guy at the counter.

[ProDave]

Honestly, I just used Screwfix or toolstation for their honest visible pricing.  I gave up with electrical wholesalers for their random pricing and often lack of stock.

[Kelvin]

Combination of Screwfix, CEF, and online. Screwfix prices are pretty keen I found but I used them because it’s 2 miles away so was convenient and they could get most stuff not off the shelf next day. They were also great at taking stuff back. 

[MortarThePoint]

Agreed, I went with Screwfix for most of my cable. Sockets and switches from Edmundson though all in one order

[Alan Ambrose]

I think that for e.g. big SWA by the m then you may need somewhere else. TLC seems OK to me.

 

I’m battling with drainage atm - some standard OSMA IC bits - Travis wants £150, Wollesey wants £300 ffs, on-line sellers at £35. What’s that all about?

[saveasteading]

4 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

What’s that all about?

The quality can be very different esp ease of connection.

I once had SF (or was it TS) that were very cheap but very difficult to insert.

The optimum is likely to be from a smaller drainage specialist. At the steading we found onevery locally that brought in a German brand.

The price was much lower than SF or the local (and keen) BM.

The joints were easy.

Keep looking.

 

[Kelvin]

For drainage I used dedicated civils place in Dundee. They knew their stuff so were great for advice. 

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> The quality can be very different esp ease of connection.

 

This is for exactly the same part number e.g. Osma 4D922 IC base (including VAT):

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underground-Drain-Inspection-Chamber-Manhole/dp/B07L7WQ35Z

 

£45

 

https://www.travisperkins.co.uk/450mm-diameter-chambers-and-lids/osma-450mm-universal-inspection-chamber-base-straight-channel-and-4x110mm-branches-4d922/p/712243

 

 

£154 with my 'trade discount'

 

Now 450mm standard brand ICs should (at least in my mind) be very common and therefore fairly priced. Try, say, a 450mm IC to fit 300mm twinwall - cheapest I found was £300 + VAT.

 

 

 

[JohnMo]

I gave up mostly with trade accounts, bought same item, (tape) 3x over about 2 week period, price was a random generated nonsense. Think each time was a complete rip-off.

 

Screwfix, Toolstation, B&Q (Dulux Trade paint) were my go to places a lot of the time.

 

City Plumbing has some good prices, they have some bonkers ones as well. 

[saveasteading]

I agree re Travis P. Great for some stuff (depends on branch even) but not drainage.

I've found that my old favourite JDP is no longer interested in small sales and charge a lot....they seem to depend on having lots of heavy gear in stock for emergency repairs.

 

But try an alternative to Osma.

[Kelvin]

I have a trade account with Travis and there is a big difference with some prices. Despite being 2 miles away I didn’t use them much as some stuff was horrendously expensive compared to online. It’s handy for the odd bit of sheet material as it’s so local to me. 

[Alan Ambrose]

And while I'm in a bad mood :).

 

Why-oh-why don't they include invert level drop for every damn piece of plumbing - sometimes they have every dimension but e.g. below.

 

I know I can figure it out, but FFS.

 

 

 

[Alan Ambrose]

OK so then maybe the OP's question might be: where do you buy quality brand drainage on-line?

[saveasteading]

17 minutes ago, Kelvin said:

trade account with Travis 

I bought a replacement flush outlet for a Roca concealed toilet. Best price about £35 on amazon.  TP got it specially for £16. It helps to have a big order pending.

[Alan Ambrose]

BTW this is the method I usually used to figure IL drop - read the manufacturer's drawing into CAD, calibrate against a known dimension, mark up the drawing ... and read off the number:

 

From which I finally figured out - that that's too much for my application, duh.

 

 

Edited July 23 by Alan Ambrose