DIY Home Improvement Forum banner

Cheapest place to buy lumber - home improvement store or lumber supplier?

110K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  J S Machine 
#1 ·
I'm fixing to make a pretty decent purchase of lumber for a project. It will be in the neighborhood of around $1500 +/-. This calculation is based on the local Lowes home improvement store. Several people have told me I will get better quality lumber and materials and a better price if I buy from a Lumber specialty company or building supplier.

I'm going to try and get the complete list up so i can submit it to a few companies. It will consist of sheets of OSB, various framing lumber pieces and sizes and a couple of riolls of felt.

The only downside I can see to buying at Lowes is that I will have to sort through each and every piece to try and find what I want, load and deliver myself..vs way better quality from the get go and having it delivered from a lumber co. - and possibly better price. Some pieces - like the long ridge boards and other various pieces have to be bought at a lumber yard anyway because Lowes doesn't have them in in greater lengths.

What are your thoughts?
 
#2 ·
You pretty much answered your own question! Support your local lumberyard.
My favorite lumberyard has FREE delivery.... I've saved hundreds because of this, AND I didn't have to look through tons of pieces already picked over to try to find good ones.....

DM
 
#3 ·
Just bought two stacks of "bargain" 2x's at Lowe's. They were 10 footers for $1.67 a piece. Unfortunately, Lowe's put the 2 straight 2x's on top and those underneath were shaped like boomerangs. Shoulda known better...........they had them wrapped in plastic so you couldn't inspect them properly.
 
#4 ·
Just bought two stacks of "bargain" 2x's at Lowe's. They were 10 footers for $1.67 a piece. Unfortunately, Lowe's put the 2 straight 2x's on top and those underneath were shaped like boomerangs. Shoulda known better...........they had them wrapped in plastic so you couldn't inspect them properly.
Take them back. I never buy from the box stores . You see what you got. A good lesson ??
 
#5 ·
Many things at the big box stores are as high or higher than the supply houses---They low balled their prices in order to kill the competition and have slowly raised prices---

Hardwood is much cheaper at Owl Hardwood--My plumbing supplier sells Kohler tubs at the same price as Depot and will deliver free --Decking is better and cheaper a The Deck Yard---

Unfortunately most lumber yards in this area are gone--Two Plumbing houses folded--It's getting harder to avoid shopping at the Big Box stores.---Mike---
 
#6 ·
You have already answered your own question. What are you waiting for? Even if Lowe's was cheaper, it's because your not getting the same quality lumber, so that means they are not cheaper. Let's say that you were comparing apples to apples and the lumberyard was the same price, why would you not use them?
 
#12 ·
Not much choice here. One discount lumberyard, all seconds and junk, one big box, not much better than the discount place, one builder's lumberyard, the employees won't even wait on DIYers. they want contractors only. Nothing else for 60 miles.
 
#14 ·
I've been buying studs for my basement from HD, and have had decent findings. It takes a few minutes to sort through, but I only buy about 50 at a time. Menards has better prices, and I've heard better lumber - but haven't been there to try it out. I wanted to use the local lumber yard, but at over $1 more per stud, it just wasn't economical.
 
#15 ·
I have had several people tell me they are cheaper and better quality but I'm not sure. I've heard the other way too like you say - more expensive. All I can do is send them a list of what I need and hope it comes out better than a box store. I'm really hoping it does because they can deliver for $10, and I won't have to worry with going to the store and picking through everything and loading unloading my truck.

I talked to a "salesman" today from one of the places. I guess this means they are probably on commission, and hopefully that won't get added into the price..
 
#18 ·
The local yard is basically open from about dark'o'clock until lunch, so that tells me that they only care about contractors and DIYers can go F themselves. They're essentially never open from my perspective, because they're closed for hours before I could get there after work and barely open on Saturday.
 
#19 ·
I just got my quote back from the lumber yard. Their prices are actually just a little bit cheaper than the local Lowes. I think I will go with them because like I said, they can get me everything I need all in one load and deliver it. I'm gonna have to go through them for some of the really long pieces (18') anyway, so they can do the whole order. Thank you for everyone's great advice.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top