Solving the Building Industry Problem

A well-to-do plumbing company in my area along with investors and a supply house are teaming up together to develop the ability to make fittings.

I would assume this is plastic fittings, not copper. Pretty sure PVC which would be a takeoff from Charlotte or Nibco, Legend.

The plumbing supply houses have really been struggling in my area.

Cutting down store hours, not working on saturdays, coming in a 1/2 hour later.

Depending on what supply house you go to...you can end up paying considerably more and that is taking advantage of your loyalty. I had this happen a couple months ago and the only thing I'll do with them now.....is use their dumpster to get rid of garbage.

Shouldn't treat the little guy like that.

I haven't been affected by this building slump as service work is steady and strong. Seems like every friday I turn down at least 3-7 calls as everybody wants a plumber on friday afternoon. No thanks.

I'm sure that being a distributor of plastic fittings will be an asset to the community but I'm sure the profit margins in those are pretty high. At the most I use maybe a garbage can of fittings a year so I probably won't gain from this latest development.

fittings

Once they start making them then they will have to get them certified by IAPMO and the NSF, at the very least, which will cut into their profit even more.

never try to beat another man at his game.....

They will lose their butts....

they dont know what they are doing and
every time you see someone try to compete with
someone that has been doing something for ever
they almost always fail...


failure is about what always happens with new ventures like this at least 95% will fail...

my father worked for a successful builder back in the 60s
the fellow thought he could walk on water and do about
anything becasue he could build a home and make a good profit...

so he decided to sink 5 million into a fast food venture that lasted
about 2 year, then he sunk another 3 million into another venture
that lasted about a year.... 8 milion was a lot of money back in 68

then after he threw it all away..... he left town in an old car
rideing on bald tires to die in poverty down in Texas.

all because he thought he had to prove he could beat someone at their own game

I don't understand. If you have ever seen an injection molding factory, you would know that the investment in machinery is truly measured in cubic dollars. Besides a mult-million dollar machine, just the MOLD to make one model of fitting could easlily run $50,000. Molds are extremely complex. Add to this, the people that are in this business have years of experience in the art of injection molding. It takes a skilled engineer to set it up and a skilled technician to keep the temperatures and pressures adjusted.

You can set up a factory, but producing acceptable quality parts is a big leap from the get go. Years ago, long before I got in the plumging gamre, I was involved with a project where a company had moved several product lines to Tijuana. They lost their shirt because they never could get good plastic parts from the local injection molding companies. And when there was a problem with a mold....they do have problems and need repairs and touch ups, they would have to get an old gray haired machinist down from long beach to fix it.

Anyway, I would like to learn more about this story, because it just seems a long shot that a start up could compete in this product line.

lousy chinese products

We ought to find some way to keep these Chinese creeps from pouring sub-standard, and dangerous products into our nation.

RUGGED said:

I would assume this is plastic fittings, not copper. Pretty sure PVC which would be a takeoff from Charlotte or Nibco, Legend.

Click to expand...

A bit of trivia here ...

"NIBCO" is an acronym for "Northern Indiana Brass Company", and they did not switch to "NIPCO" when they went plastic.

I agree it's a huge risk to do this.......especially when there are so many other bigger fish in this bowl.

Apparently they feel that instead of being distributors....lets just gauge the material moved in the course of a year. Thinking they can sell locally and move product and extend outwards.

There is a great deal to consider.....

I'll keep this ongoing on its progress. I'm curious to know how much they offer.

I bought a 4" 22 last night that was $5.48 plus tax. A 2" 90 was .79 plus tax from HD. Of course there was more plastic involved in the 4" fitting but you can only imagine how much profit is in those fittings.

I think the gamble is too risky IMHO. I guess they figure the building industry will slowly pull out of this slump. There is development everywhere in my area.

The raw ingredient...plastic resin granules.....is a commodity, like copper or wheat or petroleum. Many years ago, I know that ABS resin was about a buck a pound on the world market. Obviously must be much more than that today, considering the price of crude oil. So just weigh a plastic piece, and realize the base starting price includes X per pound just for the plastic.