At Lights and Baths Showroom, we get involved in a wide range of residential projects with a wide variety of customers.  These include homebuilders, interior designers, plumbing contractors, electrical and lighting contractors, and homeowners.  And one of things we most often get asked is, “Why should I use a contractor when I can just buy everything on my own and have the contractor install it?”  First, there’s certainly no problem with buying product directly, and this happens quite frequently.  Most people consider this path because they feel they will save substantial amounts of money.  However, as many find out, while it might seem like using a contractor costs more, very often the value of involving a contractor can actually save money.  Here are the main reasons why:

• Material Timing:  Very often there are several stages to construction projects that require different phases of products.  Contractors know how to manage this timing, and will only bring materials to the job site that are needed at that time, minimizing chances for damage and better managing cash flow.
• Jobsite Logistics:  As you can imagine, depending the scope of the project homeowners that purchase their materials directly can find themselves delivering to and from the jobsite very frequently.  When material is purchased from a contractor, they coordinate and take care of all deliveries and any delivery charges the homeowner might have to pay if they purchase the materials.
• Product Warranties:  When homeowners purchase materials, any product that has something wrong with it will have to be handled by the homeowner.  When a contractor is involved, they will work directly with wholesalers, showrooms, or manufacturers on the homeowner’s behalf.
• Labor Warranties:  When homeowners purchase products, very often contractors will not extend their labor warranty to those projects because they weren’t able to use their expertise to ensure a professional level of quality for those products.  If the contractor is involved with the purchase, they typically cover the time it takes to correct product problems that occur within the first year.
• Wrong or Damaged Product:  Remodeling and new home construction projects are often prone to products that are determined to be wrong, or that become damaged.  Should this happen when a homeowner purchases the product, very often it’s up to them to handle the logistics of returning and exchanging, which can create delays.  When a contractor’s involved, they handle take care of this.
• Project Clout:  If anything happens during a project where a contractor has purchased the materials (damage, wrong product, defective material, etc.), because contractors usually do a volume of repetitive business with those in the supply chain, they can usually facilitate issue resolution quickly.  If a homeowner has purchased the material, some companies are less than accommodating because their business relies on contractors.
• Precious Time:  Remodeling and new home construction projects are very time intensive for homeowners, even without the added responsibilities that accompany purchasing project materials.  With direct contractor involvement, homeowners can focus all their efforts towards finalizing the other choices they need to make, and that the reasonable markup contractors add to the product cost is well worth it to leave the material purchasing and logistics to the contractor.