Many homeowners and contractors head to the big box home improvemet retailer to get their supplies for projects. Sometimes it might not be the best price or value! Here are my tips and tricks on what to get and NOT get at the big box stores! This could save you some serious money!

Many homeowners and contractors are fighting rising costs for their projects. Sometimes the big box retailers can save you some serious money. Other times there are better places to go to get a higher quality product and even at a better price! How do you save money on these projects? These are my tips and tricks and the places that might help you save!

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[00:00:27] Eric Goranson: Cause the home centers want to get more margins, which means making more money. Now let's sing, yeah. Is what a lot of these companies have done are taking plywood and things like that They're shipping it overseas and then they're having those parts machined when it comes to remodeling and renovating your home There is a lot to know though.

[00:01:08] Eric Goranson: Welcome to The Round The House Show, the Next Generation of Home Improvement. I'm Eric G. Thanks for joining me today for this first hour of the show. Hey, if you wanna find out more about us, head over to around the house online.com. You can give us a call in the studio at (833) 239-4144. That number again is 8 3 3.

[00:01:59] Eric Goranson: So [00:02:00] we've got a lot going on over there. And today I thought we'd talk about. My top 10 things to not purchase at your local big box home improvement retailer. And these are interesting ones. If you were following me on social media this last week, I was down at my local Lowe's store and I'm just, I call it as I see it guys, and I don't care if I make some people mad or not, it's just what it is and I walked in there and you can take a look on social media on my Facebook and of course, Instagram, I walked in and there were moldy.

[00:02:50] Eric Goranson: It was worse than a lot of the stuff we tore out of there. And it was in the lumber rack. And as I started looking around, I found three or four more bunks of lumber that was covered in the same [00:03:00] stuff. And of course it was anything from two by fours to two by tens or whatever else. So it was absolutely disgusting.

[00:03:29] Eric Goranson: From the different wholesale lumber companies or your typical lumber yard. The difference being is you have to pay attention to the grade of the lumber. Make sure you know what you're getting. Sometimes it's green. It's not killing dried, depending on your location. And it could be a lower grade. Now that's the first thing.

[00:04:07] Eric Goranson: And you don't have the homeowners digging through in a lumber yard traditionally like you have at a big box retailer. So. If you get in there and it's halfway pick through, they've already picked out the great stuff. So now you have the lower portion of the grade. So that's a big one right there. So I don't blame the retailers, the big box retailers for having low quality lumber as much as it's really the homeowners going through there.

[00:05:02] Eric Goranson: And if you're looking at lumber like that, just make sure that you're getting something that's clean. You don't need to be bringing mold into the building. That's for sure. All right. The next one here is probably one of the biggest mistakes people make, especially with rentals, buying toilets at the home center.

[00:05:39] Eric Goranson: Thousands of our stores, but you need to get us at this price point. So they'll use B grade or they'll put a cheaper plastic parts in it. And it won't be as nice as the one that you get from your plumbing store. And I'm talking about your local plumbing, wholesaler plumbing showroom. Traditionally, that is going to be higher quality stuff there.

[00:06:16] Eric Goranson: Cheap toilets cost you money. And if you're a landlord, that's the biggest mistake you can make on that next to putting somebody bad in one of your units is putting in a cheap toilet. Cause if you have to call a plumber, When you're out of town to take care of it, you could have just bought the right toilet and probably eliminated that problem and toilets have gotten so much better.

[00:07:01] Eric Goranson: They have actually designed they're expensive, but you can get them. Self cleaning toilets. You really don't even have to wipe down. Maybe get some dust off the lid on top But everything underneath pretty much self cleaning these days So that's cool with their e water And of course with that nanotechnology on the coating that is something to take a look at if you're out there shopping for toilets Especially if you got a lot of people in a household spend a little bit more you could take a look at the toto drake It's going to be probably similar price maybe a hundred bucks more than we get the home center for their upper stuff You And that's the thing to take a look at there.

[00:08:01] Eric Goranson: So if you're going to do something that you want to last a little bit longer, or if you want to have a little bit more style, you're probably not going to find it at your local big box retailer, but that's okay. I love doing business locally with our local companies out there. And it's also great to give them work as well.

[00:08:35] Eric Goranson: We're going to go back to plumbing fixtures here in a minute, but the next one here is an amazing one as well. And this is where people get taken advantage of and I get low price things because it's all you can afford. But the problem is, is when you go into these home centers and buy the two 99, one 99 sale barbecue, I tell you what, those will last you a couple of years, they rot out, you throw it [00:09:00] away.

[00:09:25] Eric Goranson: So when in doubt, I like to buy barbecues. If you're going to buy the cheap one. Go into the home center. But if you're really going to get the good stuff, you're either going to order it online from those guys, because usually they don't have the nicest stuff in the store. Like I said, they're that. Kind of bottom 30%.

[00:09:57] Eric Goranson: Don't go anywhere.[00:10:00]

[00:10:26] Eric Goranson: We have coming up on 900 videos. We're at 800 now coming up on that getting close to 900 after the end of the month here where you just keep growing on that stuff. And we've got some exciting stuff, new stuff coming out that I can't wait to show you when it's all ready to go. And you can give us a call here in the studio at 833 239 4144.

[00:11:16] Eric Goranson: They rot out super quick and then you have to pay to get rid of it and then do it again about every third year. That just gets expensive. Now we were talking about this earlier in the cheap toilets, but I'm going to bring it up again because it is a separate subject name brand plumbing fixtures. That's not where I get them.

[00:12:01] Eric Goranson: It is built cheaper and put in the home centers. And so you're better off to go to your plumbing retailer, get the ones there. It's probably going to be a little bit more, however it's going to be more durable and you'll have better quality parts. And it's not bad for everything, but trust me over the years, I have bought.

[00:12:37] Eric Goranson: So that's where the big thing is. So be careful doing that It's not the place I would get it And that's where you have to have to be a little bit careful. Now, number five here on the list is cabinetry. Now, this is a big one and I don't have a problem with the cabinetry suppliers in many of the home centers.

[00:13:14] Eric Goranson: Now, the thing is, is what a lot of these companies have done are taking plywood and things like that. They're shipping it overseas and then they're having those parts machined and sent back and assembled here in the United States. And there's been a big battle over that over the last few years, because.

[00:13:55] Eric Goranson: And there were tariffs that were put on that, that cheap cabinetry. But here's what happened is a [00:14:00] group of large manufacturers bailed out of there. Because they were making things overseas and we're moving more production overseas and the kitchen cabinet manufacturers association and their fight to make sure that to that production state in the United States and to make sure that they're on a level playing field.

[00:14:35] Eric Goranson: That's got, uh, More urea formaldehyde in it from the glues. Is it stuff that meets building code? You just don't know. And we had a lot of problems with that back in the hardwood flooring days with other, other companies that got nailed on that stuff. So you just don't know where those materials are coming from.

[00:15:16] Eric Goranson: And so what's interesting is if you start to look at what brands these are, there's some big ones. Yorktown, Medallion, Mastercraft Cabinets, Marillat, Cardell, Schuller, and you're looking at that Aristocraft, Homecrest, Midcontinent, Omega, Decora, Kitchencraft, Schrock. And so you've also got Timberlake, Waypoint are another one there, another brand.

[00:16:08] Eric Goranson: So those are the brands that I'm not a fan of inside the home centers, because I'm trying not to support that. I want to support American manufacturers. And here's the thing. That's one little piece of this pie. Second of all. Many times you can go in if you were to go into a craft made dealer versus a home center and buy craft made.

[00:16:53] Eric Goranson: There's a big negotiation. And I've been in these negotiations when I work for cabinet manufacturers. So what [00:17:00] happens is, is they start out by saying, all right, we want your displays. You're going to put four displays in a thousand stores and we're not going to pay for them. So the cabinet manufacturer has to put those in.

[00:17:33] Eric Goranson: To sell those at the home centers. So you're paying a little bit more there. Now, home centers have to capture their margin because they're a business. They traditionally make more mistakes or have more returns than any other retailer in the cabinetry marketplace. And so what happens here is, is that they just have a big loss there.

[00:18:15] Eric Goranson: If you put it on their credit card or six months or a year, no payments, no interest kind of thing. That's the only time that that works out well on the financing side of things. But really, if you go apples to apples, that retailer is going to probably Probably be better at a price point than that big box store around the house.

[00:19:11] Eric Goranson: Welcome back to the round, the house show, the next generation of home improvement. Thanks for joining me today. If you want to find out more about us, head over to around the house. So. Online. com. A little bit of my background for all the people that are just joining us or are new to the show out there.

[00:19:55] Eric Goranson: So we've got a lot going on out there and I'm trying to help you with my knowledge to help you [00:20:00] save some money. And be able to fix that home up right and make it yours. We've been talking about the top 10 things to not purchase at your local big box retailer. And going backwards, we talked about cabinetry name brand plumbing fixtures.

[00:20:33] Eric Goranson: Now here's what's been happening on power tools. And it's something that, uh, I've heard some myths busting on. I've seen this go both ways, but is widely believed out there that the power tools that show up in the home centers. Might be cheap, really built compared to other retail locations. And so they have basically put together some kits, [00:21:00] some things that are maybe missing accessories that you would see in other places.

[00:21:23] Eric Goranson: It's going to last just fine. And so you'll get the new model five or 10 years down the road. It'll be great. But I have heard some serious things from builders who have gone out and bought the, the kits there, and then went on to an online retailer that had the more standard stuff or went into their local tool store, got them home and started looking at them, go, wait a minute, same model, different thing altogether.

[00:22:05] Eric Goranson: One, they've got everything locked down so much that it's hard to find a sales associate to come get it out for you. And that's just due to their retail theft problems. But The other issue is that they've been trying to serve the contractors, but they've got multiple brands, but I tell you what, trying to find someone to help you and to make sure that even got it in stock can be pretty troublesome at these locations.

[00:22:52] Eric Goranson: And if that's going to be. The best deal for you, because really when it comes down to it, there's a chance that might not, and you [00:23:00] could be getting a lower quality tool. So be careful with that. Do your research. There's a lot of mixed reviews on this subject out there. And if I have time, one of these days, I will go out and try to see if I can do some myth busting on this and take a look at it and see if, if you buy a tool from the local place to the big box retailer, take them apart and see what's inside and see if there is a difference.

[00:23:44] Eric Goranson: Some stores are starting to do this now that you're starting to see more of a pro delivery. But I would be going to my local lumber yard if you're going to be doing a DIY roof. And that way you can have a rooftop delivery on it. And of course, sometimes it's not available. [00:24:00] Sometimes those power lines are just in the wrong spot.

[00:24:19] Eric Goranson: Then your big box retailer for that stuff. Anyway, so do your shopping around, find the best price, but make sure you've got that delivery in there. And sometimes it's that stuff that you see in the home center is there on price. It's not the highest quality. It might be the lowest quality, but it's there for price and availability.

[00:24:54] Eric Goranson: Now, my next one here on the list is interesting. This one here. Is one [00:25:00] that if you're doing a small project, you're okay. But if you are taking on a major house project, this is where you can save some money. And I have found in many cases it is cheaper to have that attic space or the walls insulated by a company that actually going into your big box retailer and buying that insulation.

[00:25:47] Eric Goranson: And they come in and knock it out. I'm happy about that. Free labor on the, on the spreadsheet for me when I'm trying to tackle a project is awesome. So there's no reason to really spend the time and the money to do it. [00:26:00] I would go take a look. If you're taking out a big insulation project, take a peek at that because there are some things there that you look at and go, man, I am better off to call a company up and they're going to come in and do it.

[00:26:32] Eric Goranson: And it was like, wait a minute, you can install it, tape, texture, and all that. Cool. I'm out. You handle it. Cause to me that's saving time, which is money. And of course, bringing those pros in and having them do it like that. What's your time worth. And with the installation thing, many times it's cheaper to have somebody do it.

[00:27:10] Eric Goranson: There are things inside the home centers, and usually it's what in the ads or what they call their lost leaders. These are things that are traditionally higher markup, but they're going to come in and they're going to do this to bring in the trades and you as a consumer. Electrical wire like Romex in the past has been very inexpensive there compared to other places.

[00:27:54] Eric Goranson: Sometimes it's in the store. It's better. Sometimes I've jumped on Amazon during COVID. I could get her on Amazon [00:28:00] way cheaper than what I could get at the home center. It was a third of the price. And so these are things that can really save you a ton of money. When you're looking to tackle a project and the same goes for things like mulch and stuff like that that you see that are really those things that they're trying to get you in the, in the door that so many bags for 20 bucks or one of those kind of things.

[00:28:43] Eric Goranson: Returns don't go anywhere.[00:29:00]

[00:29:25] Eric Goranson: And that's what we've been talking about today. Now, one of the things that I wanted to talk about here is a lot of the things that you see on their sales or special buys is where you find a lot of great deals. Now you have to be careful with some of those, like we talked about in the earlier on in the episode, but I tell you what, you can find some great deals that can save you a ton of money.

[00:30:03] Eric Goranson: And what's cool about these Facebook groups is they're like a crowdsourced. It's like the ways or maps where they give you the input of where the police and the roadblocks and all the other stuff are all that stuff. This is this for home improvement. And that's the fun stuff here is that you can find deals when they're closing stuff out.

[00:30:54] Eric Goranson: They'll have something there that they're just blowing out the door. And it's absolutely amazing. So [00:31:00] like I've seen where they've got 120 or 130 to five hours power shop vac type thing, clearance 32 bucks. Until it's gone. And a lot of this stuff, you need to go find it. You got to get there quick because they're, they price it to blow it out.

[00:31:42] Eric Goranson: But just go check and see what's on the shelf to see what's going on there I bought some killer deals there that you can get stuff and you're like wow That was a steal. We i've bought thousand dollar windows for a hundred dollars there for projects So just keep an eye out for that. It can really be Super cool to check out and [00:32:00] that's where you can save some of this stuff and make make that project much more affordable Which is awesome.

[00:32:24] Eric Goranson: That's not the place to get those. To me, I go to Harbor freight for that. It's the same quality. It's the same stuff, but more than half the price you're going to save. And that's really, when you're looking at the, the more affordable things that you would get at Harbor freight, that's going to be a much better deal traditionally than the big box stores.

[00:33:11] Eric Goranson: It can save you a ton of money on those products so all those tarps Get them either online or get them over there at that says accessories for painting that they just nail you on at the home centers and Harbor Freight's a much better deal and you can probably get something for less money, but twice the thickness at Harbor Freight.

[00:33:53] Eric Goranson: Most of the time, this is going to be one of the more expensive places because here's what happens [00:34:00] when you've got a middleman in it, it raises the price. And so what they do is they'll have a roofing company that goes out and gives a quote, which is going to be a little bit better, but they're not marking it down that much for those guys.

[00:34:30] Eric Goranson: So those numbers can be absolutely crazy. And it can be pretty tough navigating that as well, because when you've got a middleman in there, you're now dealing with a store with a store manager, you've got a construction company, you've got all these different things going on, and there are just way too many cooks in the kitchen.

[00:35:10] Eric Goranson: So take a look at that. The HVAC, all those things, there's just, I have not seen any savings of that. The only thing that you will see sometimes is that you will see that they have their financing plans that they've done. But to be honest, you can probably go down to your local bank, talk to your contractor and see there's probably somebody out there that can get you some kind of financing program might not be as big as what they do on their Home Depot or Lowe's or whatever credit cards, but there's probably a way to do it out there for you to work around that.

[00:35:59] Eric Goranson: Cause they're going to have to [00:36:00] do. A whole new paperwork structure for that. They've got to follow the bank's rules. They've got to get paid differently that they normally would be. So take a, take a bit of time and that's going to cost you a lot of money. So if you have a contract with a contractor, that's going to be remodeling your house and you come into the, one of those loans, don't be surprised to see them, uh, Tack another five to 10, 000 on it just because of the time and paperwork and the inspections of how they have to play that game.

[00:36:51] Eric Goranson: That Lowe's way or the Home Depot way or whatever other big box retailer you're working with could be less money only because [00:37:00] of the paperwork required to get through that process. So a little side note on that. Now, the other thing too, is, is that I really think that is a good deal when you're buying appliances.

[00:37:32] Eric Goranson: And I've seen this with a company that was selling Mila below the minimum advertised price to a builder. And they lost the ability to sell Mila for 60 days because they caught them and they suspended their account. So they couldn't sell those appliances for a while. So that is the minimum advertised price.

[00:38:15] Eric Goranson: The other thing though that can be competitive is if they get those special deals. So they'll, they'll order. 15, 000 of these appliances from a manufacturer, the slightly different model number, maybe take a hundred bucks off of it or 150 bucks off of it and put it out there for sale. Maybe they took a feature to offer whatever, and then all of a sudden you'll get this similar model that will be cheaper.

[00:38:50] Eric Goranson: They charge you for that, but many times for big lumber appliances, things like that. It's just easier for them to mess with it. And so I would sure take a look at [00:39:00] that. Now, the other thing that I think is not as good as when you get into the carpet and flooring with installed products out there, it's okay.