I have been able to find everything cheaper online. I have also been able to negotiate much better prices working with my GCs vendors directly rather than involving him in the conversations. GC's may use their special "relationship pricing" for their personally funded spec houses, but they are not apt to pass those savings along to you. If it is a cost-plus build, the higher the pricing from their preferred vendor...the more the GC makes. If it is a fixed-price contract, how would you ever know what the GC is paying? And, if it is a fixed-price contract with allowances, then why would your GC spend time trying to get you a lower price...there is no incentive to him doing so.

Anyway, biggest savings online vs. local would be (by far) lighting. We saved thousands. On just our great room fan alone we saved over $800 by purchasing online vs. Fergusons. Out of over 30 light fixtures, only 1 arrived damaged and needed replaced. 3 others were of pretty cheap quality (not necessarily damaged) and the online vendor told us just to keep them rather than even having us return them.

I would like to support the local economy, but not at the expense of my checkbook.

Dixiedoodle - Where did you purchase your lighting? I've done several online searches and haven't found any to be less one of my local suppliers and HD or Lowes for some of the higher volume, std fixtures.

As for plumbing supplies and door handles, just about everyone online has been less than the pricing I was getting through my builder's suppliers. I haven't ordered any of them yet, but will likely be going with faucetsdirect.com, homeandstone on ebay and might try stockblowout.com for a vanity light fixture or two.

I also have to agree with Dixiedoodle on trying to get directly involved in the negotiations with the vendors. I also made sure my GC was fully aware that I would be bidding out some of the work too. I want to be fair and honest with all parties, but I don't intend to pay more than I should have to pay, especially given the risk of building right now in this shaky economy.

I found cabinet knobs online at about 25% of the cost of local vendors. Our cabinets were knobless and could be used that way but DW wanted the knobs. Needed door closer for basement double doors, primarily to hold them open while using the opening. Wind banged them around otherwise. eBay for the openers, again about 25% of local new cost.

This is a great thread. Has anyone found a reasonable source for bathroom vanities? We are looking for the furniture look vanities but I've been amazed at how expensive they are.

Great lighting place online: www.lightingplusonline.com
I bought my lights from there store locally, but have had several DIY friends use them. Very nice. If you call the Columbus, MS number ask for Harold. He gave us a contractor's discount because we used him for all our lighting. His prices beat most and the stuff we have looks great! Here are some pic of what we have gotten from there. Sorry some fixtures are tilting still....not enough time in a day...haha!

mini-pendant lights in kitchen:

tilted fixture in dining room: haha

Ceiling fan in great room:

Master bath fixtures:

Guest Bath:

BTY, I am not related to them or have any relationship to this company. Just very satisfied! Tell them Robyn sent ya! :)

For lighting, the builders vender beat on-line on everything but the cheaper closet lights and lights I purchased from Stockblowout.

For cabinet pulls, I got the best price for the ones I wanted at Hardware4.

Just about anyone beat the price on the builders vender's plumbing fixture. For sinks, Galaxytoolsupply. I also found items on Overstock.

Maybe the lighting savings we were able to utilize was due to the brands that we chose. We have a combination of lights from Kichler, Murray Feiss, Quoizel, Hubbardton Forge, Framburg and Hinkley...nothing that was available at the box stores. Other specialty pieces were from designer Tracy Porter.

None of the local dealers were able to order all of our lights in one order b/c of exclusivity relationships, so it was just as easy for us to order online. And, an $800 savings on one fixture alone was a pretty big incentive to do the legwork. My Tracy Porter pot rack for the kitchen was also about $400 less than I was able to find locally.

My favorite lighting sites were 1stoplighting, lightinguniverse, lunawarehouse. We also purchased some items from lbg...good prices during sales.

My great room fan that I got a great deal by buying online is below. It looks awesome installed...it's huge!

Here is a link that might be useful: Fanimation Caruso

We've had tremendous luck keeping in touch with our local Habitat for Humanity warehouse. HforH gets donations of overruns, clearance items, etc from vendors and suppliers all over the county, and sells what they don't use at a tremendous discount. Every so often, one of the local lighting companies will drop off a truckload of merchandise, some display items but most brand new in boxes.

We recently picked up four Quoizel Belissima fixtures for our guest bathroom; Total cost at most sites: $800-$900,
Total cost from Haitat for Humanity: $110

And for a downstairs half-bath, I found three Murray Feiss Canturbury pieces: Total cost from most sites: $300+,
Total cost at HforH: $35

You have to be flexible in what you're willing to use (these were a lot fancier than I had intended to use in a guest bathroom or a utility bathroom, but who cares?). Also, at least in Knoxville you have to be willing to sort through stacks of boxes, mostly unlabeled, to find matching sets; and I haven't been able to find any matching or even harmonizing pieces in brushed nickel for the master bathroom. But I'm so completely thrilled with what I've found, the time and multiple visits it took (four in all) were SO worth it! HforH also had dozens of sinks, several countertop pieces, a few tubs, and boxes and boxes of plantation shutters. But in Knoxville, the lighting ixtures are the real teasure trove.


----------------- Trilby

Lighting, plumbing, tankless water heaters, exterior doors and tile were all much cheaper online. Door hardware was less than $2 different online vs Stock Supply and my local fireplace installer got a much better price than I could've on the fireplace.

Tile was interesting, because we bought pallet qty of 12x12 travertine from Builddirect, then found an ebayer selling moulding pieces, bought some samples of style and color, and then ordered what we needed from them to compliment the 12x12s. Our travertine was about $2 sq ft delivered, while the local shop was $10. And the trim pieces were between $4 and $7 from the ebayer while the local shop is $12+. You have to need 300 sq ft of tile, which is about right for a good sized master bath floor and shower accounting for some breakage.

bdpeck-charlotte, I was wondering about Builddirect bc I found a few tiles that I liked on the website for a good price. Since I've never ordered tile online or from that website, I was wondering what the quality was like. I was also wondering how the delivery process worked since the tile must be heavy to deliver, and how the customer service was. Did you order samples ahead of time?

Thanks!

We ordered samples, just cost a few dollars in shipping and got them in a few days. The quality is great, but we like lots of rivers of color and such. Some of their other tile is more consistent. We also opted for honed and unfilled, so we had to wait 60 business days for delivery, about 3 months. We ordered some slate later on from their normal stock, and got it within a week.

The tile is in pallets, delivered by a trucking company, like Roadway or Schneider's Trucking. They'll call you to set up a delivery window, and bring the pallets to your curb with a pallet jack. If you need them anywhere else, your on your own. Our brick mason was on site with his bobcat (with forks on the bucket to move a bucket of mortar), and he gladly moved ours into the garage.

Customer service was good. Colin Au was my rep, I talked with him about 8 months before I ordered, to get samples and talk about shipping and lead times. Then when I ordered online, he wrote to me to make sure I noticed the lead time.

If you don't need large qty (300 sq ft per size/type of tile), then look elsewhere, but if you need that much, it's the best deal I found.

Brian

LightingUniverse.com and BuildersDepot.com have been a complete nightmare for me!

I ordered lighting from lighting universe and it arrived with parts missing - it obviously was a return as I actually found the nasty note the lady who recieved it before enclosed when she sent it back. I called customer service and they were very nice and said they would send the missing parts. A month and several phone and emails later and I still do not have the parts. I am now in contact with American Express (card I used to purchase with) and they are disputing the charge and getting my money refunded.

I also ordered a light from Builders Depot - it was packaged VERY poorly and arrived damaged but my husband fixed it because it was not worth the hassle and expense to ship it back.

I did get some beautiful lighting from Pottery Barn and it arrived perfectly and their customer service is top notch - but you will not get any bargains here.

I ended up going to my local lighting store and ordering Golden Lighting - I mentioned the prices on the internet and they beat them all and threw in free light bulbs! I couldn't be more pleased. Might as well start at your local lighting store and give them a chance to match or beat prices - it can't hurt to ask! Your local stores are hurting right now and making some fantastic deals - not to mention not having to worry about returning stuff you bought online.

Lightingdirect.com - excellent prices and everything arrived in great condition. They even paid shipping both ways to exchange outdoor lantern lights so I could get a larger size.

Pullsdirect.com - just used them last month. Fast shipping, correct order, and great prices on quality knobs. I saved over $1/knob plus no sales tax and free shipping. $1/knob adds up when you are doing an entire house.

Ebay. Hit and miss I know but I found my kitchen faucet (1st quality) for 1/2 of any local or online store and purchased all of my bathroom vanity fixtures on ebay. All fixtures are working great after 1+ year. Check feedback.

Simpsonshardware.com. Great prices and customer service.

I always buy from D. Lawless Hardware. They always seem to have the lowest prices, and if youre ordering 50 dollars or more shipping is free. dlawlesshardware.com

I built my last 4 houses myself. The current house is in NE Penna. I was getting such high prices for Roof shingles, windows, kitchens That I decided to call supliers all the way down in Philadelphia 2 hours away. I ended up saving over $10,000
The best deal inkitchen cabinets and the ones that have "best buy" rating by consumer reports was IKEA. Window wizards sells anderson for half the price of a lumber yard.

Thank you for the replies!

Any other recommended online suppliers? Thanks.

MW

I'll second the recommendation for simpsonshardware.com. Excellent service and knowledge - great prices on Emtek door knobs.

cheapstairparts.com - quick shipment, great prices & everything as expected - Scary name, but my stair balusters from there are great.

faucetdepot.com - Excellent service, good sales - purchased faucets and silgranit sink from there. The sink came in a package larger than my refrigerator - very well protected.

faucetsdirect.com - good prices, decent service, but if you need right away call to make certain they have the product in stock. I bought LOTS from them, but did have a problem with one item. They credited me, but due to time constraints I had to make a different selection.

I also bought 2 copper sinks online, but can't remember for certain who I bought them from. Excellent service too.

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised with the service level and speed of shipment on all my online purchases.

Got my lighting from bellacor.com

They almost had too much selection for someone who doesn't kow what they want but the search feature lets you narrow it down by many variables if you have something specific in mind. One bulb cover was broken, customer service was easy and fast.

And this may be totally irrelevant but if anyone has kids, there are a lot of suppliers who participate in upromise. Considering the amount of money you will spend on building items, if you are not a member you may want to join, and if you are a member be sure to sign in and shop for rebates.

Great thread, thank you.

I have cut and pasted a list. :-)
Thank you!

I purchased most of my lighting fixtures from Bellacor, one through Ballard Design and one from HD. You can get some good deals with Bellacor on items that are returned to them by others. They aren't broken, the people just didn't like them. They sell those at a 50-60% reduction and of course only have 1 or 2 in stock.