Save Money With Suppliers
When it comes to building your home, you want to save money in as many aspects of the process as you can. One of the areas you can save the most in is materials and suppliers. As the materials are what your house is made of, you want to get as good a deal as possible, but keep the quality high. So how can you do this? The following is a list of suggestions
- Find out what is returnable: This is a great start! If you know what you can take back in advance, you will save money. S, cover your bases and ask for written return policies from every supplier you speak with or use. You want to be able to take unused materials back because let's face it, when it comes to building a house, you rarely come out exactly perfect on supply orders
- Use purchase orders: Using purchase orders will save you money because it helps you keep better track of all of the supplies you purchase, as you will be purchasing a lot of them. A P.O. is an order sheet you generate and either take in or fax to a supplier. It allows you to keep track of your purchases, as well as let subs pick items up, or order items that are needed, and you get the bill for them, and know what it is that was purchased.
- Minimize inventory: You don't want to keep items like drywall and windows around too long or chances are you will be paying for the same things twice as they may get broken easily. It is best to order doors when framing and sheetrock is complete, because it allows you to walk through the house with the supplier and get the right swing on every door. There are a hundred more examples of why you want to minimize your inventory, but the best thing is that if you can stick to a schedule, and have materials delivered when they are needed you minimize your exposure to theft and damage, and therefore increase your savings.
- Get materials dropped where they will be used: This is especially important with items such as bricks, blocks, sand, gravel, etc. Have items dropped in the most convenient locations. This means, if you are going to be using plywood on the second floor of the building, that is where you want the deliverymen to drop it. You are the customer, you should get what you want, so ensure that you do by writing special delivery instructions on your P.O.'s.
- Keep materials protected: You will only save money on materials if they don't get ruined. Cover them with visqueen or keep them inside the garage or house whenever possible. Keep lumber and plywood off the ground, stack it on pallets, or whatever it takes. You don't want your materials to be ruined because of poor planning on your part. Protect your materials and save a lot of money.
- Protect materials from theft: If items are easily moveable, they are easy to steal, so keep them locked up. This means tools, materials, etc. Theft happens, but it doesn't have to happen to you. Keep your materials locked up, and be the only one with the key.
- Get discounts: There is no better way to save money than to get discounts. Often times there are early payment discounts. You should try to get as many of these as you can. Also, ask for any and all discounts available. The supplier won't likely tell you about possible discounts if you don't ask-so ask!
- Order early for prompt delivery: The order in which you order, is generally the order in which you will receive. It is just like being in line at a movie theater, the first person in line gets their tickets first, and thus gets their pick of the seats first. If you want to get your materials early, and have all day to use them, order them early the previous day. This will save you money because you won't have to wait as long, and waste time waiting on materials.
- Give your plans to suppliers: This saves you money because a supplier can look at your plans and have a good idea of the exact quantity of materials you need for certain projects. This saves money and time. If you underestimate the amount needed you have to wait around, if you overestimate you may pay restocking fees, or be unable to return products, thus take a loss. A little overestimation is better than an underestimation, but you don't want to be too far over, so ask the supplier to take a look and give their input. They deal with these materials every day, and they know what they are talking about.
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