I visited a Selco Builders' Merchants with my architect brother today, and was blown away.
I mean, it was... just... like... any... Canadian... builders'... store. Only, I felt like I was being deceptive just by being in there to look, because they sell to builders only.
What the hell kind of business model is that? I can totally understand having trade prices and regular retail prices. I am sure the gazillion lumber and builders' stores I visited with my dad growing up had two different pricing categories, but to sell to tradespeople only.... How and why would you want to do that?
The place was great. It was so nice to see "raw" materials with which to build, instead of a lot of pre-cut and/or pre-packaged and/or pre-finished stuff, the likes of which you tend to find in the average Homebase or B&Q. It was good even just to wander the aisles and develop ideas based on what I was seeing. I remember my dad educating himself on what a project would require by doing some wandering himself, back in the day.
So, while my first question is what advantage exists in limiting your clientele like Selco, my second would be: what would the closest shop to a Selco's be that is open to the public?
Same reason any distributor doesn’t sell to end use customers.
They can’t be arsed dealing with muppets. No offence.
You say that, but the numpty behind the desk today spewed utter bullshit when asked a technical question. So yeah, I guess it works both ways.
Anyway, isn't "dealing with muppets" kind of a hazard of, well, any job?
Many trade places do serve ordinary punters. I use several regularly
It's the same as Howdens. Trade only for no obvious reason.
I'm doing a bit of landscaping in my front garden ATM, and need about 3 tonnes of gravel, but the price difference between builders merchants and DIY, and then the delivery charge, means the difference between decorative stone and building gravel.
when i say dealing with muppets, i don't necessarily mean not knowledgeable. I mean people who show little or no loyalty. With trade you are dealing with folk who want a working relationship over a number of years, not just the duration of one project. people who do the same thing day in day out, and who aren't necessarily doing a job for the first time, and have all the info, but no understanding of it.
Why don't ZyroFisher/Extra/Madison deal with end use customers?
You might be clued up about the building materials you require, but the majority of non-trade customers do not know the difference between a brick and a block. They take up an inordinate amount of time asking what to buy, and usually only buy a small amount.
Overall, it pays to not sell to them, as profits are small, and loss of time can lose other 'proper' customers.
As for staff not knowing a brick or a block, that is true too. Some are useless. They are shop workers, and some do not take an interest in their line of work. Others can be great.
There's plenty of other merchants who sell to the public gladly, though I would generally not go to a builders merchants for wood, some of what they sell is stuff that would be rejected by a wood merchant.
I must say the trade places I use have been very patient with me not knowing the name of the things I want but patiently listening to my description and working out what I want.
I can understand why some do not want time waters like me as customers tho
Howdens protect their price list to allow their customers (tradesmen) to provide a markup without risk of the end customer knowing how much. It’s a good service but sucks if you are the end customer and are trying to work out the breakdown between materials and labour.
If I was a tradesman I’d use howdens and there is something in the old price of everything and value of nothing adage.
Reported the above post.
same here. the post has gone now, it's now not the above post that's reported
It's just a different business model and there may be some legislative differences.
We use a lot of 'Trade Only' suppliers in work, they're not massively cheaper than consumer suppliers, in fact sometimes they cost a bit more (they base their pricing on volume so small players like us pay more than large retailers).
Everything is on-account. Their business model is based on lots of easy repeat business with a relatively small number of customers, not lots of transactional business with the public at large. Mojo used to be that way years ago, you could drop in and use the 'trade counter' but they clearly weren't well set up for it, you needed to give a lot of info, have an account created, get an invoice and then pay.
Customer Service is basically zero, you're expected to provide the knowledge, not them - you cam get advice from manufacturers, but as you can imagine it's not exactly unbiased. Returns take weeks and weeks to sort (but we don't pay for 30 days so don't mind, we just order a replacement).
Mostly though I think it allows small players a chance to exist. It's not perfect, lots of retailers will buy up thousands of one line when it's on offer, or just use bulk discounts and then retail them lower than we can buy them for direct to consumers, but we get by.
what would the closest shop to a Selco’s be that is open to the public?
I'd says Wicks, but I'm no Tradie, they seem more that way than the usual DIY places.
Travis Perkins are open to the public.
It's not hard to set up a selco account though, is it.
It's no different to any of the big cash and carrys
