Lack of stuff at supplyhouses

RJMCTAFO

Went to get material today to do an easy re-pipe on an oil boiler in a home that froze. I am putting in all new baseboard and splitting the house into 2 zones.Local supply house had none of the pex fittings I needed in stock, does not stock 1" press zone valves for some reason, and would not have them for me till Friday. Counter guy said they are having trouble getting them from the supplier. Took out my phone and showed him that Supplyhouse.com had over 150 in stock. Just shrugged his shoulders. I would love to strictly buy local but they do not want to carry any sort of inventory anymore.



They wonder why they are losing business to a website.......

Paul S_3

I live in nyc....i have 1 supply house that stocks pretty much everything i use...caleffi, press zone valve...viega...tekmar etc....if they werent around i would only use supplyhouse.com

RJMCTAFO

I have switched to pretty much all Caleffi components and they are the only house that carries them. Funny enough a 1" press Z-one zone valve is what I wanted that was not stocked. Seems like a common enough valve. I asked them to carry the trim kits to make everything easier for boilers but they said guys don't like not being able to order everything separate. One would think making life easier would be desirable but I guess not.

Paul S_3

the plumbing supply that I go to only stocks the 3/4 press valve....and they really only stock it for me and one other guy....most contractors just buy the honeywells...around me like I said I know of one supply house that stocks caleffi and tekmar ...the way I do it is I give my guy a list in advance...and they pretty much get everything within 2 days...

hot_rod

Let me know which supply house and I will get them some options.
The same Z-one valve can have 1/2, 3/4, or 1" press tailpieces attached. It has a 1" "G" thread on the body. They could just stock some spare 1" tailpieces.

Also an extra long 3/4 tailpiece for retro fitting longer valves.

Aaron_in_Maine

I am in the same boat. I have to ask my guy at the supplier I use the part number so he can get it for me. I just got him to stock a couple of the the zone valve controls to go with the zone valves. He always says I find out about this stuff before him.

aircooled81

I started out working in the plumbing field with my uncle, and took a job at the local plumbing wholesaler. Back then, they bought truck loads of copper fittings, water heaters and wax rings. They only had two branches, and didnt want to run out, also got the best price on bulk purchase.
Nowa days, supply houses are chains and do their purchasing to distribute amongst the branches. Number crunchers figured out inventory sitting on the shelves was intrest that could be accumulating at the bank. So they fix a certain amount of supplies based on the rating of that material. Thats how they decide how much to stock. An 'A' item like 1/2" copper 90 flys off the shelf so they carry many. A 'D' item like a jet-swet sells once a month, so they only keep 1 or 2 of those.
We feel the pain in the field, because we dont plan far enough ahead to wait til friday for the back orders to arrive.
I hate it, but it is far too often the trend. I'm lucky to live in a very densley populated area, so when one supplier doesnt have it, its very likely someone 5 minutes away does.

RJMCTAFO

Thanks Hotrod. The sheet you attached is perfect. I will have them get me a couple sets of 1" for my van. Are the tempering valves the same G thread? I could save the 3/4" from the zone valves and use them on the tempering valves.

vvzz

Now I'm not a pro. But I needed a 1" street copper elbow. The local supply house was twice the cost of supplyhouse.com and it wasn't even NIBCO, but something from taiwan.
Same thing for black fittings - you have to specifically ask for it to be ward, otherwise they will slip in some China brand fitting.

hot_rod

RJMCTAFO said:

Thanks Hotrod. The sheet you attached is perfect. I will have them get me a couple sets of 1" for my van. Are the tempering valves the same G thread? I could save the 3/4" from the zone valves and use them on the tempering valves.

Same 1" G thread is used on 521 thermostatic valves, 6763 thermal actuator zone valves, 644 ball/ zone valves, 535 PRVs, 132 Quicksetters, 127 balance valves, so it would be handy to have a few selections on the truck, 1/2, 3/4 & 1"

They are Low Lead, approved for potable water use.

NY_Rob

I went to our local supply house looking for insulated kindorf clamps as show in the photo below- I even brought the photo with me to make things easier. The counter guy took a look at the clamps in the photo- and said he never saw any clamps like that and stated ..... "I only sell what guys buy", that was the conversation stopper right there.

SWEI

Cushion clamps, and yes -- we also have to order them.

hot_rod

You are more apt to find "cush clamps" at suppliers that carry refrigeration supplies, they are commonly used in that industry. Johnstone Supply in my area always has a wide selection, and one of the large mechanical supply wholesalers keeps the larger sizes for the industrial and food process customers.

CMadatMe

Supply houses for the most part, not all, have turned into box movers. Counter/Sales guys are very weak from a technical standpoint, can't think outside their computer screen and are not well rounded where it comes to knowing the features and benefits of competitor products. There is no self teaching, people are lazy and corporate owned supply companies are either very leveraged or at the mercy of the banks to earn and turn. Also are there really any Branch Managers anymore or are they just glorified counter guys.

Most of the good supply house people moved on to rep agencies or mfgs once the corporate world bought out the mom and pops and reps now do what the supply house once did. Technical Sales was for a period of time the supply houses job but that's long gone now.

ChrisJ

NY_Rob said:

I went to our local supply house looking for insulated kindorf clamps as show in the photo below- I even brought the photo with me to make things easier. The counter guy took a look at the clamps in the photo- and said he never saw any clamps like that and stated ..... "I only sell what guys buy", that was the conversation stopper right there.

You're trying to buy them, and he made that statement so I guess you're not a guy?

Makes no sense. Obviously he only stocks what people want to buy but saying that to someone trying to buy it is stupid.

NY_Rob

^, yeah... while I was driving home- I was kind of chuckling at his statement. If he doesn't carry it- how will "guys" buy it in the first place so he can stock it for purchase? It's the whole chicken or egg argument again.

I also inquired about the Grundfos ALPHA 15-55 F (about $160+ online) and he said they run about $300 and he could order it, but nobody around here uses them so he doesn't stock them.


FWIW- this supply house is the nicer/friendlier one in our area, the other one treats non-trade walk-in's like street bums

Solid_Fuel_Man

I'm also all for the local approach, however when the local guy is sometimes twice the cost and I can get it online in the same amount of time.... It is a hard call, as I want to keep my money local and it is nice to have a local supplyhouse, if we stop buying from them, they will eventually go away and we will be the ones that a forced to keep the inventory.

SFM

Aaron_in_Maine

hot rod said:

Let me know which supply house and I will get them some options.
The same Z-one valve can have 1/2, 3/4, or 1" press tailpieces attached. It has a 1" "G" thread on the body. They could just stock some spare 1" tailpieces.

Also an extra long 3/4 tailpiece for retro fitting longer valves.

Just had my guy order me some 1" and 1/2" if he doesn't stock it I will.

bob eck

I work for F W Webb Company in Allentown PA. We are based out of Bedford MA. We currently have almost 90 branches and we have a 400,000 Sq Ft CD warehouse. We stock product! We are committed to having product in stock at the local branches. We are in the process of building a 1 million Sq Ft CD center. We will put more product into our inventory. Our Allentown Branch is 64,000 Sq Ft with over 4.5 million dollars of inventory. We are always asking our customers is there some type of product that they are using and we are not stocking. We take a look at that request and if it is in our company somewhere there is no question asked it is brought into our Allentown inventory. If the product our customers are looking for us to stock and it is not a current inventory item we look at that and if we have enough of a demand for that product we bring that into our inventory. When contractors call us or especially when they come into our store looking for product they want and need it NOW not tomorrow and not in a day or two. We stock product, we have knowledable counter people, inside sales people and outside sales people. We get the manufacturer reps and manufacturer sales people involved when nessary, we offer many counter days throughout the year with manufacturer reps to educate our customers, we have a 40 seat training room for training and educating our customers last night in Allentown we had a Reillo burner training there were 40 men learning about Reillo burners about 3 weeks ago we had 60 people doing training on Heat Pumps we are involved in the local master plumbing contractors Association, PA-PHCC, OEPS, Better Home Heating Council and ABC we are committed to the Plumbing, Heating, HVAC trades we also are involved in the following product lines

Core & Specialty Businesses
F.W. Webb has extensive inventory and expertise in 15 core and specialty businesses – each supported by personnel with deep product and solutions knowledge in the industry served. Our core businesses encompass:

Plumbing
Heating
HVAC and Refrigeration
PVF (pipe, valves, fittings)
We are equally committed to these specialty areas, which bring additional value and efficiencies to professionals across many industries, including manufacturing, hospitals, food/beverage production, schools and campuses, hotels, offices, and multi-residential living spaces:
Process Controls
Propane Gas Equipment & Parts
Water Systems
Commercial & Industrial Pumps
Industrial PVF Specialties
Fire Protection & Fabrication
Thermoplastic Piping
High Purity Process Components
Building Controls
Take an energetic ride through our 15 areas of expertise! See our short corporate video.

We just bought a company that is getting us into the Water Works business.

Please check us out at www.fwwebb.com

Check our video out at HTTP://your.be/blAkVDQfloo

2016 is our 150 year in business we are here to support our customers and to help you the professional contractor to grow your business and to help you become as profitable as you can. If you can not get the product when you need it you are not making money and you are not keeping your customers happy. We work every day to help you to get your jobs done faster and easier.

Call us anytime my phone is on 24/7 we open for emergency jobs anytime.

Sorry this is so long I am just letting contractors know F W Webb is there for you 24/7/365

hvacfreak2

Sounds great Bob , you would be a hit in the Washington , DC area. The ones we have act as if they are doing me a favor just by being open.

burnerman_2

This is a great topic .. BoB just being on this site puts u ahead of some. a few supply guys never heard of Dan Sometimes I stop at supply house and have parts on my truck another guy needs .. Said supply house had to order it.. A lot of One truck guys can't carry 500 nozzles for oil burners and every year I find one I have to order.. Just did a boiler with a 55 60 A ... most may put in 60 60 A,.. any way I agree supply Houses need to Train their staff then they (staff) need to help learn on their own maybe ride with a Tech on a day off .. I'd ride with an older HVAC guy to learn.. can't ship a service tech job to China

Paul S_3

Most of the contractors out there are not knowledgeable and dont do good work....thats what we see day in and day out....so supply houses dont carry what we need and arent properly trained.....another reason why i love johnstone supply even though they charge more everyone in there is properly trained

BobC

" can't ship a service tech job to China "

That is so true, young people should think of that when looking at a career.

Bob

Robert O'Brien

http://www.newsday.com/business/supplyhouse-com-moving-headquarters-to-melville-1.11615842


HIGHLIGHTS

Online distributor gets tax breaks to relocate from Farmingdale
Will add LI jobs, but move warehousing jobs to New Jersey

Supplyhouse.com, an online distributor of plumbing and HVAC supplies, has been approved by Suffolk County for nearly $500,000 in tax breaks to relocate its headquarters from Farmingdale to Melville.

The company, founded 13 years ago out of the bedroom of president and CEO Josh Meyerowitz, plans to move 74 of its 107 Long Island employees to a facility at 130 Spagnoli Rd. and spend $820,000 to renovate and equip the property.
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Supplyhouse.com, which currently operates out of a 92,850-square-foot office and warehouse space, plans to relocate its warehousing operation — 33 jobs — to a 150,000-square-foot space in Cranbury, New Jersey, but keep and expand its corporate offices here.

The company will sign a seven-year lease for the Melville property, and has the option to purchase it for $7.1 million in year two. The company also has a warehouse in Columbus, Ohio.

This is the second time in less than a year the county’s Industrial Development Agency has granted benefits for a project at the Spagnoli site.
Business


Last July, the IDA granted Hauppauge-based West Rac Contracting Corp., the property’s owner, tax benefits for a planned $2 million renovation and expansion of the 43,560-square-foot distribution facility in hopes of retaining its tenant Carr Business Systems. Carr’s lease with West Rac ends in April.



Carr, a Xerox-owned distributor of copy machines, instead plans to move its more than 100-employee operation to a space at 500 Commack Rd. in Commack, the former Forest Labs property now owned by Bethpage developer Steel Equities. In 2014, Steel received IDA benefits to acquire and convert the massive site into multitenant office space.

Supplyhouse.com has committed to hire 20 employees over the next two years, and estimates that growth will allow it to add 50 over five years.

“We’re growing so fast that we’ve realized over time we need to leave ourselves some room for growth,” Meyerowitz said during a Thursday IDA meeting. His family has been in the plumbing business for roughly 90 years. “We’re moving our warehouse facility to New Jersey, but 80 percent of the payroll is staying in Suffolk County.”

Meyerowitz said the primary driver behind the warehouse move was Long Island’s lack of large enough industrial space with flexible rental terms.

BigErl

Does the warehouse in New Jersey mean people ordering in New Jersey will be charged sales tax? Anyone in New York, are you charged sales tax when you use Supplyhouse.com?

Robert O'Brien

Yes and yes