Vendors & Affiliates
Our Preferred Vendor List vs. Big Box Store (BBS)
Why the big box stores (BBS’s) i.e. Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, etc. are not on our Preferred Vendor List
We have observed over the past several years that the products offered by the BBS’s are not necessarily the same quality that is offered by distributor stores.
Major manufacturers may build a lesser quality product at the request of the BBS’s in order to sell the item at a reduced price. The item may even have the same product name. Sometimes manufacturers use a licensed third party manufacturer to produce product under their trade name. In these cases the product is only available through the licensee’s distribution network. This has occurred with plumbing fixtures, vinyl flooring and carpet. There is evidence that it is happening in other products as well.
The BBS’s often give the name brand item an exclusive item number. It then becomes impossible to shop the price in the distributor market. When we have managed to find the item through the distributors it may be at a lower price than the BBS’s.
Still another method of managing the market is to offer name brand selections at multiple locations with each location having a different item number for the same selection. A recent example of this is the Martha Stewart line of paint colors. Martha Stewart colors are available at Sherwin Williams, Lowes, Home Depot, K-Mart and Sears. Each location has an exclusive color number for the same shade of paint. The primary problem with this is selecting a shade of paint at one location that is not available everywhere else. The paint company will try to color match but doesn’t guarantee the same shade as the original shade color code.
Clearly these distribution methods add additional product procurement costs and endless searches for your selections. As a result it has become necessary that you only make your selections with the vendors on our Preferred Vendor List. We have been working with these vendors for many years and have established an excellent relationship with them. They will treat our clients respectfully and have a wealth of product knowledge.
For a list of our Preferred Vendors click here - Preferred_Vendor.pdf
For a list of our Preferred Affiliates click here - Preferred_Affliates.pdf