Thoughts on prices at Travis Perkins

[cam123]

My builder is passing invoices on to me from travis perkins and they seem hugely expensive. He's kicking up a fuss about me purchasing stuff through screwfix though.

The one thing a have been able to compare was a roll of twin and earth which was less than half the price at screwfix.

Can any regular buyers of all building materials, including plumbing supplies etc offer their thoughts please?

Obviously if people agree that travis perkins is generally expensive, i'll try a bit harder to swap.

 

[neds]

I'd never shop at TP. Overly expensive for some reason and they couldn't even justify it when I told them the exact same product was selling elsewhere for substantially less. They must think we are morons.

 

[kevindgas]

they must think we are morons.

yep they do. have not used Totally Profiteering for years as they are consistantly 35% dearer than Build Center

 

[cam123]

Oh yeah, and i'm the moron as the customer who has to cover the cost of these materials!

Builder says that non average his discount over all products is about 15% but i'm still thinking that it's expensive even with those reductions.

Any one else? The more thoughts the better!

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Whilst TP are undoubtedly expensive the quality of some of Screwfix's components can also be a bit dubious so you do need to be careful. As you're paying though, why is he kicking up a fuss? Ask him and find out. It does depend though on what/if any contract you have with him and how it was agreed that materials were to be procured (which is another subject altogether)

 

[Richard C]

TP are expensive on practically everything just as the other 2 majors are &, unless your paying “trade”, it can be alarmingly so. Why is your builder getting arsey, have you checked what he is actually paying for your materials; sounds a bit fishy to me?

I get all my plaster/cement products through a B&Q trade outlet; although my TP branch will match their price, I prefer the “shed” as their storage & turnover is so much better so less chance of problems. My plumbing/drainage/electrical supplies generally come from internet sources & I’ve found the cost difference can be massive when compared to the local 3 BM’s. I sometimes use Screwfix, it depends what range of stuff I’m buying but they are by no means the cheapest, you just have to shop around. If the BM’s stick to their present prices, I can’t see them being around much longer. I have a go at them every time I’m forced to go in there, usually only if I’m stuck for something but they just shrug & say that’s the maximum discount they can give me. In some cases it can be 60% but sometimes it’s still twice the price I can get it for on line, especially for drainage & plumbing stuff; even the Build/Plumb centers are bloody expensive by comparison.

Give me a local independent BM any day but, unfortunately, they are all disappearing; the one I used to use here was taken over 2 years ago by


------ Travis Perkins!

 

[hotrod]

TP are renowned in the trade for being vastly overpriced. Procurement from merchants can be fraught in the building game as many of the 'majors' (Jewsons, TP, Keyline etc) like to work on a "list price less x%" pricing strategy (not uncommon for this to be as much as 60%). It's not very transparent at all, so if you don't "know" what you should be paying you can very easily get your ar*e spanked. I like to use local independent merchants where the pricing and discounts are transparent.

I'm not saying this is the case, but your builder's insistence you should use TP 'could' suggest he is on some kind of kick-back / incentivisation from them.

If you want to post up some examples of material costs we should be able to tell you if these are 'reasonable'.

hth

 

[cam123]

Basically, the work being done is adding a 2.5m x 1.5m en-suite wetroom into the corner of a bedroom. Services are travelling accross a 3.5m bedroom to get there, and there is an extra bit of stud partition to be built, around 2.5m long, 2.5m height.

I'm providing all fittings including specialist shower tray and waste, sockets, extractor fan, shaver point, light fittings, basin trap, waste and tap. lav, shower etc etc too.

Leaving all the truly building materials at what looks like a cost of around £1400.

Comments on that perhaps?!

Do you have a recommendation for an internet site best for plumbing supplies please?

 

[cam123]

Just to add, my builder is perfectly happy to go through all the invoices and discuss them with me - and i can clearly see the discounts that he recieves, which he then passes on fully to me. Even with this though it seems expensive.

Basically, i don't have a problem with my builder at all, rather just the price at TP.

I think for him it's convenient to get stuff from there, but i'm on such a tight budget that if i'm gonna shop around for the best value for money lav, shower etc etc, then it makes sense to make sure that the building materials are decent value too.

I agree too that obviously quality is an issue. I'm looking for value for money, not necessarily the cheapest, if you see what i mean.

 

[hotrod]

Just to add, my builder is perfectly happy to go through all the invoices and discuss them with me - and i can clearly see the discounts that he recieves, which he then passes on fully to me.

cam, when I was referring to kick-backs / incentivisations these would be, for want of a better word, in the form of backhanders. You, as the purchaser would be oblivious to them. Days out at the races.........."promotional" deals on power tools..........golfing weekends.....you get the picture...

 

[noseall]

incentivisations

That's got to be a 'Bushism'.

 

[cam123]

lol! good god i'm ignorant, i didn't know that builders merchants did that sort of thing!

i guess it just works quite nicely as a sales pitch for a builder to show a customer the discounted rates he gets on the "full prices"... but it just means nothing if the full rates are 135% of other suppliers.

So is £1400 way over the top?

And for future refence, is it ok with most builders if you as the silly-little-woman-customer insist on going through the materials list and ordering most of it yourself?

 

[hotrod]

That's got to be a 'Bushism'.

I didn't want cam to get the idea all builders were cowboys.

I suppose it's corporate speak for 'backhander' or theft

 

[noseall]

Travis Perkins and Jewson are expensive.

Why did you not draw up a specification or plan, detailing and itemising your proposed wet room and then seek prices.

What your doing seems a convoluted and overly complicated way of doing business.

Some people want the best of both worlds whilst denying a trades person any profit.

I once remember (some years ago) giving a quote to a customer which she agreed upon. In a passing conversation i explained that for quoting purposes i based the rate at £80 per day. The job was completed in two days as we worked our asses off to get it completed. She then presented me with a cheque for labour, based upon two days for two men at 80 per day and asked what the materials will be.

p.s. I'd estimated the job to take three days.

 

[cam123]

I did do exactly that. I'd found a guy who came really highly recommended, who's prices were reasonable and who included materials in his set price, which i was most comfortable with. I had him booked in for a specific date which i checked one week before hand, and then on the day he didn't turn up. There was one phonecall of "having family problems" before never hearing from him again.

This builder i then used because he was renovating my cloakroom downstairs at the time and i was obviously in very desperate need of someone to do my en-suite as other house projects hang off it being finished. We agreed a price for labour and he gave a rough guide of "up to £1200 for materials", which i said i would need to keep lower than that and that i was concerned about TP's prices and would want to consider using Screwfix too.

The work hasn't started yet - he has had £600 for materials (now spent at TP) and gave me an £80 list of things to buy from screwfix. When i said i needed more stuff to come from screwfix i got a list of things left to buy which were plasterboard/aquaboard and large things that i can't get from screwfix. I've just had to give him another £460 to get those things from TP tomorrow.

I know that there is still a fair amount of stuff to get on top of this and he is now saying that he said 1200-1500 for materials. As i have said to him though, there is simply not enough money in the bank account to pay £1500 on materials and pay his labour.

Arrrrrrgggghhhh!