The primary appeal of the big box retailer, for me, is that I can buy things there at 7am, 9pm, on Saturday evening, or on Sunday. Otherwise I'd prefer to have nothing to do with them unless I have to. There are times when, whether for reasons of necessity or impulse, that I want to buy *something* now. Home Depot has gotten some business from me for that reason. However, I prefer dealing with the local shop that knows what it is doing. I spend thousands per year at my saw shop, and a fair bit at the lawnmower/snowblower/generator shop, too. It took a number of years to find shops I was comfortable dealing with, though. Reasons follow: 1. I want a shop to actually have stuff in stock when I show up to buy. New units, parts, etc., should be ready to go. 1a. If you have to order something, let me place my "order" over the phone. I will NOT drive to you to tell you to order something that I have to drive back to pick up later, because that adds no value for me. It is, instead, a waste of my time. 2. Have hours beyond 5pm. Even 5:30 can help, but a night or two per week of 7pm would be appreciated. 3. Make sure your sales staff really knows their stuff and recognizes that some customers actually know more than they do. Quoting brochures is useless, and if you've never put any time in on the machines you're selling, well, maybe you should. 4. Service machines brought to you promptly. Nothing should sit in the shop for more than a week. My saw shop in particular is good about getting stuff back up and running within a day or two, since their commercial clients require it. 5. Stay abreast of what "enthusiasts" are doing with the equipment you are selling. I once purchased a lawnmower from a shop that also sells Stihl. The owner was nice enough to bring the mower out to my car, and he started checking out my Stihl 066 and turned critical as he launched into a critique of my improper chain filing technique, carrying on about how nobody knows how to sharpen chain anymore, how my cutters were all beat up, etc. In point of fact the chain was square-filed race chain with the back of the cutter removed, the top of the tie straps relieved for chip flow, etc. His ignorance was excusable, but his attitude was not. I don't shop there anymore.

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...

Similar: Football Different: Football It still stands out in my mind when I was first in Canada we were driving down "the" highway, came up behind someone and they pulled over onto the shoulder of the road. Surprised us both, but we passed without changing lanes. That's something I really like. Should help avoid accidents. And is just plain courteous. But I have also heard that it's not as common in CA as I guessed. Also, at least parts of CA have square plastic ice cream pails, here they're round. Square just makes more sense. Was just watching a Triumph, the insult comic dog bit, where he said about poutine looks like somebody took a dump on my fries! LOL Gotta love old Triumph! And don't get me started about the post office delivering (or NOT delivering) newspapers. 15 days to go 180 miles? Sorry it's not the workers, er employees that should be taking firearms in there and blasting away... I'm amazed more of the bilked public aren't going postal Some milk jugs have a deposit on them, most don't. Some states require deposits on normally non-returnables to encourage recycling. And the first trip up we made the mistake of asking for a "liquor store" when we wanted to buy some beer. Carried a couple brands and it looked so strange to see PBR in the "imported" section. Otherwise things looked so similar. Also seemed to me most stop lights would be horizontal. Most here are vertical although some places, like portions of Wisconsin have horizontal ones. Was a reminder to Toto that we're not in Kansas anymore. "Beaver Tails" sound much like what our bakerys call "cinnamon crisps", "crispies" or "elephant ears". A flaky, crisp, cinnamon sugar pastry. Many places make them, not all make them well. Oh, and another difference, I guess "Preparation H Raymond" had to become "Nupercainal Raymond" when they did the show in Canada. (The one that got Parliament all up in arms.)

@ Sophie The entire reason that cost plus contracts were born was to remove contractors from quality decisions. For example, when NASA wants to build a rocket, they want to ensure quality rather than that it can be done under budget. This is done by control of the bidding process from all subcontractors. This idea of quality control and it's side effect of cost control was perfect for capital investments by businesses and so shortly after WW2 they stole it. When used well, by parties who understand the ideas, it works well for home construction also. However, too many contractors want to use it as if it is essentially a fixed price contract without any risk to them. If you want to ensure quality, or protect supply house relationships, then use a fixed price bid. However, if you want to be largely indemnified from any loss by using a cost plus contract then you give up all rights to dictate quality. There are many far less complimentary words to call someone who takes advantage of the lack of knowledge and experience of their customers. I went with lazy, because I believe the reason most contractors do this is because they simply don't want to go through the effort of producing a fixed price bid, when they can do a serious bid for their money and rough estimates for everything else. @ Joseph Nothing in the original post makes me think they agreed at any time to use his recommended supplier. They even call it a recommended supplier rather than a required supplier. Just because they are agree to a standard cost plus (contractor's net cost, plus contractor's set fee) doesn't mean he gets to decide where his costs come from. That is the consumer's purview in a cost plus contract.