When I was looking for 3 toilets to replace in house we were remodeling, the first toilet we bought from local HD would not fit together (two piece Cadet 3 I think)...the contractor took it back twice and couldn't get a good fit either time. I went to plumbing supply place cause I needed a specific part for Roman tub not available at Lowes or HD and talked to guy there... He said that what often happens is that big box stores sell "seconds" basically--products like a two piece toilet which came separately are much more difficult to find good matches/fits than the ones sold through his company where the two pieces came in one box...I ordered 3 of same toilets from him and cntractor didn't have any issues with installation at all... He said that plumbers would not waste the time homeowners would taking stuff back that didn't work right... I know that often times, faucets sold at HD and Lowes come sans handles so you have to buy those and often times both prices are more $ than when ordered as one unit from a plumbing supply place... I ordered almost every bathroom and kitchen fixture on line from company I can't remember now--cheaper, no sales tax, and better quality... I wonder if the tile like DalTile sold at the Big Boxes are maybe border line seconds as well--where the color isn't quite fired right or the edges are not quite as even/smooth...

@jwillhouse - Your plumber has a vested interest in convincing you to buy things with a markup. I can assure you that the same part numbers are the same no matter where the faucet is ordered from. As for your contract with your plumber, is it a time and materials contract or cost plus contract? Your post notes that your plumber lists retail, wholesale, and a 15% markup. If it is a time and materials contract and the 15% is the mark up from wholesale to retail, then it is on the low end of markups. If it is a cost plus contract then the markup is on his actual cost less any rebates, so the 15% should get added to what he actually paid not the listed wholesale price. In a cost plus contract, the 15% is likely unavoidable as it is still a cost even if you buy it somewhere else. Many contractors in a time and materials contract don't allow you to supply your own items. --- While it is absolutely true that you can benefit from sourcing products cheaper from sources other than you plumber, we should recognize that to some extent it is a zero sum game. Most plumbers are not getting rich off a single family home, they are just finding alternative ways to present the profit they need to make. So while adding profit to a faucet may seem like a ripoff, if all the faucets were bid at cost the plumber would likely just charge more for the installation and you would be in the same position. It can still be an advantage to you to get your faucet at a cheaper price if your plumber allows, but don't fall into the trap of thinking you are getting ripped off just because the plumber adds profit there instead of somewhere else.

$350 to crawl up under a sink, remove the clips, break a rusty one, and then tease the silicone out from between it and the counter would be high. However, you also have to shut off the water, disconnect the supply lines, and disconnect the drain lines. All without cracking the old brittle pipes or breaking the old shut off valves that no one has exercised in a decade and are almost frozen shut. Then there is unplugging and disconnecting the disposal, which has a pinhole leak in it because it's a cheap Badger model that the grind chamber is rusting out, and the homeowners Wouldn't be "conned" into replacing something that theY "never" use. The DW drain hose is like iron instead of the flexible plastic it's supposed to be. The new sink has to have the faucet installed too. Then there is the reverse process, which is made MUCH harder because the new sink is deeper than the old one. And the homeowners don't want to replace the waste arm that is almost level now instead of sloped downward. That means the sink will drain slow, because water doesn't really go uphill. But they'll blame the plumber for doing a poor job. And that is just for replacing a plain top mount sink. $350 is not "high" for someone to do that. Not if you want that someone to have proper training and assume the major RISK that working with piping entails. If that's a charge for an uNdermount sink cutting and mounting, again, not high at all. I imagine that very few of you have been to a fabricators shop and seen the $10 million piece of equipment that it takes to do the job well and accurately. CNC equipment ain't cheap. Neither is doing it by hand, if your fabricator is just a small shop with a bridge saw. How long do you think it takes to hand polish a sink edge? Hours, if done properly. That $350? Well, we charge $500 for an undermount sink cutout, Polish, and mount. And my guy doesn't have errors. But, maybe he did in the past, and he knows that $350 doesn't cover the price of him buying you a whole new slab of stone. BTW, the $500 undermount charge still needs the $350 plumbing charge added to it, or call you own More expensive plumber. An average DW, disposal, sink, faucet, whole shebang unhook and new hookup, well, you're not getting that bundle for $350. More like $500, and I'm in a cheap labor market. But, we don't usE or recommend handymen. Just licensed plumbers who have insurance when that Original cheapo kludged saddle tap for your DW line starts pouring water out onto the floor. And this is why it makes no sense to choose the cheapest possible materials. Labor is the expensive component. You'll pay the same $350 to install that $49 23 gauge No name sink as you would a $700 18 gauge Blanco sink.

I'm like mushcreek a lot-we had to outfit the whole house with lights by the final inspections, and after researching the subject-I realized my only way to get stuff I like and not go broke is to buy vintage. So everything was bought on eBay, Etsy, Craigslist, except for can lights in utilitarian areas, under cabinet lighting(these were part of the builder's quote), dining room light, one of the vanity lights(had another plan but had to tweak the last moment), and some lanterns for the backyard. So..except for these new the rest are vintage-two chandeliers, 2 flash mounts, 3 pendants, two vanity lights, one wall chandelier(there is a thing like that apparently)), 3 sconces..we already had table lamps and couple floor ones. I have a big aversion to fans I must say, and also don't really need them in the very mild climate of coastal So Cal. We did have them in our previous home and I was always afraid to turn them on:) (kids did love them though). So no fans. The house is also on the cooler side I'd say. One story. In the previous home upper floor got hot in the summer..here, no such problem. Was able to talk my family out of using fans here. It took a lot of time and energy to source the lights and some needed tweaking. It was not serious tweaking, no rewiring was involved (but for one light) but some parts were harder to get since they had to be European this and that. Eventually we were able to track these in local high end lighting stores, and on Amazon UK. My DH did all the tweaking. Frankly I d rather pay someone since he had enough of his plate, but he was very stubborn about it. I mostly found buying from individual sellers a good experience. They were attentive, responsible, and usually pleasure to deal with. Of course had to pay shipping costs(unless it was a Craigslist find)-but even with this, much much cheaper than buying very ordinary but new lights. Some fixtures were relatively expensive but it was balanced out by all that were dirt cheap. What I'd do differently? Well as much as it was long and tiresome..Nothing probably. That was my way to get the lights that I like for the price that we could bear. Also I know now much more about what questions to ask..what's the diameter of the canopy? does it have a crossbar attached? things like that. because I was asking about wattage and voltage and wiring, and had no idea there are small things that have to be there and due to the age and provenance of a light, they'd be different from standard here. In a fantasy world I'd probably still use internet-and this wonderful high end store where the selection was impressive as were the owners and the sales people who knew what they were selling, and were very helpful, tiny stuff or not.