Or alternatively, companies that made quality greenhouses, locally, will go out of business and you'll only be able to buy cheap and nasty imported GHs. Experience from other areas is that it is a race to the bottom.

I think your assumption is that the higher priced ones are all made in the USA and I don't think that is the case.
Nearly everything is made in China but the price that they ask has nothing to do with the cost but what they can sell it for.
When something is selling well the price will climb when it don't sell the price will drop.
Does that mean that they will go out of business not necessarily it just means they won't make such a huge profit.
As a consumer I like to see company's have competition.

Fair enough. I don't live there, so I can't judge.

This topic frustrates me because I am in sales. I've sold swimming pools, hot tubs, and currently fishing boats. The implication is that all the products (whatever is being sold)are the same quality, and should be the same price.

Not every $500 GH is a cheap POS, and not every $3000 greenhouse is overpriced. But there will be some truth in both of those statements. It's up to us as consumers to figure out the difference.

In every market there are going to be straight shooters out to earn an honest buck, and scam artists out to do what they do. It's human nature. Everyone on this forum should definately jump all over the scam artists, but we must be very careful when comparing an honest $500 greenhouse to an honest $2000-$3000 greenhouse. We need those choices to accomodate different budgets.

I don't believe that the industry will migrate to the bottom. Everyone will likely move toward the middle. They won't want to cut profits enough to sell a bottom dollar entry level unit, but they will need more volume than they can likely generate from a top of the line greenhouse. They will seek the middle. As consumers we will suffer with less selection.

Phew, I feel better now.

I took my wife to the doctor today and this turned out to be an excellent example of what I was trying to point out.
The doctor wrote a prescription that I could have filled at the pharmacy for $99.00 or go to Wal-Mart and buy exactly the same thing for $4.00
Just because you pay more is not a guarantee of better quality .
Like you said it is up to the consumer to know when he is getting a good deal. I'm not saying that you should buy the cheapest but I'm saying that just because someone ask you more is no guarantee that it is better in some cases it is the exact same thing. Kinda like shopping for a new car. Ever dealership has the same thing the difference is in the price. Competition is good for a consumer.
Without competition the price will always be higher.

And when you pay less you have no guarantee you are getting the same quality. If I am pricing two IDENTICAL items, then of course I want the less expensive. But, only if they are identical does this count.

Take your car example. If i'm pricing identically equipped chevy pickups at different dealers, then yes I would buy from the cheaper. But, would you compare a chevy pickup to a ford or dodge and buy the less expensive? Or would you look closer to see if one had a better engine, better payload, better frame, better warranty, etc.? The best value may not be the least expensive pickup.

Again, I'm in retail sales. There are two unbreakable rules. Rule 1 - Nothing is free!!! Rule 2 - They usually tell you what you want to hear. How does that apply to this discussion? If the price of the GH dropped from $2395 to $1295 I absolutely 100% positively guarantee it is not the same greenhouse. They may say it is the same (i'd read the ad very carefully), but it isn't. Can't be. Nobody builds that kind of margin into their products. They would be losing money on it.

Consumer guide needs to do a greenhouse kit comparison so we can find out why and how the different greenhouse kits are different.

russh_nepa
I think you need to read my last post again because basically we are in agreement.
In my example I was not talking about 3 brands of vehicles I was pointing out the you could buy identical cars at any dealer but the price will vary.
Anyway I will no longer post on this because it has gone way of topic from what should be on this forum.

I get all kinds of catalogs this time of year, every year & they all have some really good sale prices on a lot of different things. I always chaulked it up to moving out last years item's to make room for the new line of spring items. A last ditch effort at getting rid of leftover excess inventory.
Holidays are gone and this seems to be the best time of year to look for things needed, before the spring season. : )

I have built a few greenhouses in my time.
I have to honestly say, the HFGH is the flimsiest, cheapest made aluminum-framed greenhouse I have built. That's not to say without some modifications it won't be a really good GH. The point is, you DO get what you pay for. You would have to spend another $1000 to make it as good as some of the other ones I've worked on. The suggestions have been made that it only takes another $100 worth of modifications to make it as good are (in my opinion, sorry) utterly foolish
Some examples:
1. The thickness of the metal.
2. The bracing (is it hollow or solid?).
3. Do the pieces fit tight? (no matter how well you build the HFGH, it's just not as tightly put together).
4. quality of the fasteners, hinges, etc. (the HFGH doors are the crappiest I've ever seen).
These are just a few that come to mind. I could go on.
Now these might seem trivial to lots of people, but they aren't to some. I'm not bashing the HFGH, in fact, I just built one. My point is "You DO GET what you pay for"
The HFGH is worth the $500 you pay for it. And others ARE worth the $2000 you pay for them.
One last note. I'm in the process of picking out a GH for an elderly lady in town. She needs something sturdy, well built, that she can use with ease. The first time one of the HFGH doors came off in her hand, It'd probably stop her ticker on the spot.
ö¿ö
~

Tom

Gardenerwantabe or anyone else with the answer,

I'm going to build a 10'x12'HFGH. The last time I browsed this forum I thought I saw where you (Gardnerwantabe) had posted a list of modifications that you made to reinforce the HFGH. I'd like not to reinvent the wheel, but I can't find the posting. You help will obviously be appreciated.

Incidentally, I'm new to this forum and greenhouses, so I have a lot to learn.

Dennyg