The independent lumber dealer vs. the big box store. My test

I have been speaking to independent lumber dealers for a couple of years now. It might be home technology, business marketing, or how to run a kitchen and bath business. I live in Portland Oregon where in the Northwest technology is king. We even have Intel manufacturing computer chips right in our backyard. 

With our current situation in Oregon we can tackle those home projects, construction is moving if social distancing is happening. So, we generally are open for business. I figured I would build that backyard shed because I am paying for a storage unit that is costing me money that I am not really using.

I decided I would try an experiment. I had about a third of the materials at the house from a previous project. This material had come from a Lowes home improvement store delivery. To be honest this was the excess material so even out of this the best material had already been used. 

I jumped online and filled out quotes online for a material quote from a couple of my major independent lumber dealers. One of them I even had a cash account with. Now keep in mind I could have jumped on and had a quote from the big box stores in minutes off their apps, but I wanted to see how my local independent lumberyards were functioning. 

I filled out the forms Thursday evening online asking for a Friday, Saturday, or Monday delivery. Friday afternoon at 4pm my first quote came across. The second came in at 9:34 am on Monday. What could have taken 10 min on an app with a major chain it took 24-36 hours for a six-line item quote. I am only talking under $400 of framing materials. 

Even though one of them was offering next day delivery, the soonest I could get was a Wednesday delivery. I jumped down Saturday morning to pick up my materials. I received about the same service as a home center. I had called ahead and put an order together and it was pretty much up to me to pull the order. I was OK with that as it was the same level of service, I would have had with a big box store. 

What was surprising was the quality of lumber that was in the bins. I will be honest….it was crap. I picked the best out of the materials that were there and took them home. I was standing outside in the rain loading up the trailer and I grabbed the best I could. In a Big Box Store, I would have been inside and able to take a little more time. My SUV and trailer was parked in the isle next to the lumber but all over everywhere are long staples and nails that if I make too many trips in here will get me a trip to the tire store and another two hours of my time. 

When I got home and had the pile next to the pile from Lowes…. It hit me. That myth of the big box stores having junk lumber and people that wanted the good stuff went to a lumber yard is dead. I had 2×4’s that were splitting down the middle in two pieces when I cut them, to bark still being on a lot of my 2×8’s and 2×6’s. The lumber from Lowes was great and in good condition. I am not mad or frustrated and to be honest I thought I was going to have a different outcome of this test. 

If this is the way the independent lumber dealers are going to be battling the home centers, they are in for some rough roads ahead. If I were a new builder trying a  Independent Lumber Dealer for the first time I would not have gone back. Right now, in these times, companies that invested in systems that make it easy for their consumer to do business with them are going to win. The ones that are slow and cannot react to where we are at today will fail. If you are running an Independent Lumber Dealer where are you in this? How fast can you react to an order coming in? We have raised a generation where phone calls are the last thing they want to do…. this is your new builder client. These guys were not ready for that. 

Is your kitchen and bath department running at full steam? They could be. This whole thing has been my small test of the Independent Lumber Dealer vs the home center. I know it is one sale but Who is winning? I can tell you who is in the first quarter of this bigger game. Its not the lumber dealer. My question to the Independent Lumber Dealers out there….What are you doing to keep and gain new clients with the big box stores performing this well?