Danspot
New Member
We’re building a new house. We tuned up the default plumbing fixtures a bit, and the general contractor came back with an updated quote from the plumbing supplier, Ferguson’s.
Their prices are 20-30% higher than what I can find at Home Depot / Lowes, or Terry's online store (for the Toto toilets) based on a representative sample for a couple rooms. This ends up amounting to several thousand dollars, which is significant. I even found them charging a buck more for a tub wall kit than they what they list on their web site at retail, not contractor prices.
Based on past experience, my GC is going to balk at getting supplies from somewhere else, whether box store or online. These are just the fixtures, and the quote comes directly from the supplier. There are separate line items for labor.
Does anybody have any tips on dealing with this situation?
Should I push on the supplier, the GC, both? If my GC rants about not being able to warranty things he didn’t source, should I just take that risk and source the items myself, trust that Kohler == Kohler, and trust his sub to do the same quality job on the install?
I've heard that in fact the same Kohler part from Lowes inferior to the same Kohler part from Ferguson's, which is surprising to me.
Is it practical to go with a bare minimum set of fixtures and installation (e.g. necessary valves and piping, only one working bathroom) to pass inspection, and then do all the fixtures with another contractor later?
Should I close my eyes and accept this as the cost of going with a GC, and reassure myself that I’ve saved much more in money and time elsewhere in the project?
Thanks.
Their prices are 20-30% higher than what I can find at Home Depot / Lowes, or Terry's online store (for the Toto toilets) based on a representative sample for a couple rooms. This ends up amounting to several thousand dollars, which is significant. I even found them charging a buck more for a tub wall kit than they what they list on their web site at retail, not contractor prices.
Based on past experience, my GC is going to balk at getting supplies from somewhere else, whether box store or online. These are just the fixtures, and the quote comes directly from the supplier. There are separate line items for labor.
Does anybody have any tips on dealing with this situation?
Should I push on the supplier, the GC, both? If my GC rants about not being able to warranty things he didn’t source, should I just take that risk and source the items myself, trust that Kohler == Kohler, and trust his sub to do the same quality job on the install?
I've heard that in fact the same Kohler part from Lowes inferior to the same Kohler part from Ferguson's, which is surprising to me.
Is it practical to go with a bare minimum set of fixtures and installation (e.g. necessary valves and piping, only one working bathroom) to pass inspection, and then do all the fixtures with another contractor later?
Should I close my eyes and accept this as the cost of going with a GC, and reassure myself that I’ve saved much more in money and time elsewhere in the project?
Thanks.
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