Buying materials in bulk

[ukpc]

Hi everyone.
New to the forum

I'm interested to know if anyone buys materials in bulk and how you go about it. Either buying in bulk direct from local merchants with discounted prices or buying online. My local merchants don't seem too interested in offering better rates buying in bulk, how easy to set up a merchants solely for you plumbing business and buying direct from suppliers... is that even an option

 

[rpm]

Welcome to the forum ukpc. Take a short scroll up and take a look at Williams (trade only), Ray`s your man to start talking to.

 

[Masood]

Another vote for Williams and Co. Very competitive and totally transparent pricing.

 

[PlumbBobBob]

vote three for Williams you will be looking for a very long time to find a better merchant

 

[quality]

Got to and another vote for Williams price and next day service

 

[SimonG]

Yep, Williams. Other end of the country but order today, get tomorrow. No one on my doorstep provides me with that service. Good pricing as well.

 

[oz-plumber]

If a Plumbing supplier doesn't offer you a greater discount for buying in bulk, then I would go to another supplier.
I found the trick is to put a bulk order in close to the end of the month.
Some manager may want to boost or rectify their monthly turnover.

Generally I always buy in bulk - due to the savings incurred in doing so.
Make a list and email to as many suppliers that you can think of - someone will take the bait

 

[Geyser]

Ive got to get more organized and get around to using Williams.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Thanks for all the kind remarks guys - much appreciated.

The OPs original question was two-fold.

1) How best to organise bulk buying
2) Whether its practical to set up as a merchant in order to reduce your materials prices

They are very different questions!

1) depends on a few factors. Do you have secure storage? Do you have the capital free that you can afford to tie up in stock? Is your material usage sufficiently predictable that you can be reasonably sure of using what you buy? Is your material usage sufficiently high that the time and effort that you put into setting up and running the system will be less than the savings?

2) is an entirely different kettle of fish. Its easy to set up as a merchant, just like its easy to set up as a plumber after a 6 week course. Doing it is easy. Doing it successfully - thats a different question. It takes expertise and capital - I would say that asking the questions that the OP is asking, then he doesn't have the expertise. To open a plumbing merchant branch probably needs £100k in capital. If you want to do heating as well, then you can double that.

 

[Ray Stafford]

If a Plumbing supplier doesn't offer you a greater discount for buying in bulk, then I would go to another supplier.

You wouldn't like us then Oz. We work on a different basis. We drive the price as low as we can go, and then charge the same to every customer, large or small. Our customers benefit from the collective bulk buying of the whole Williams customer base, but they all benefit equally.

If you have the capital and some storage, the best way to take advantage of us is to cane the online deals that we periodically do.