Where to Source Your Construction Supplies: Local vs. Online Retailers

When you're a construction contractor, the question of where to buy materials comes up frequently. Materials, including their costs and availability, can affect everything from the flow of work to the cost of the job. Finding the right supplier can help you avoid disruptions in project progress and delays that can harm your reputation. Finding supplies at a good cost can also support healthy profits white ensuring a lower cost for your clients. In other words, the supplier you choose can affect the success of your business.

For some contractors, the question comes down to whether they should buy local building materials or supplies from online retailers. When making a decision, it's important to recognize the differences between these two types of suppliers, so you can choose the one that's right for your business.

What to Consider When Sourcing Materials

When you're trying to decide where to source your materials, there are several factors to take into consideration. Overall cost, transportation costs, quality, and environmental benefits all make a difference.

Overall Cost

Overall cost of materials can impact the price when you're bidding on jobs as well as the profits you make. Overall costs make a big difference, and can vary depending on many factors.

Some local suppliers may offer discounts to contractors to keep their business, while some online retailers may offer discounts because they operate on a large scale. Comparison shopping is necessary at the beginning, to find the contractor that offers the best deal overall.

Transportation Costs

Online suppliers charge delivery costs, and those charges can add up. Transportation costs for local suppliers are much lower, and for contractors who pick up their own materials, transportation costs from local construction supplies are no more than the cost of a tank of gas. Don't forget to add transportation costs to the final cost of your materials.

Quality

Quality is vitally important when you're choosing materials for a construction project. The difference between a straight wooden beam and a warped wooden beam, for example, can impact the beam's usefulness. Being able to inspect the materials and look for materials of the best quality is important. Local construction supply companies allow contractors to visit the warehouse and select the material for themselves. Meanwhile, online suppliers send whatever they send, and contractors must deal with the quality, whatever it is.

Environmental Benefits

For businesses that prioritize having a lower carbon footprint, buying from a local material supplier can help keep the business green. Some contractors like to keep their business environmentally friendly, while others simply work with customers who care about using environmentally friendly materials. Whatever the case, working with a local material supplier with locally sourced materials can reduce how many fossil fuels are required to get the materials to their final destination.

Availability

For local building materials that originate in nearby communities, it's easier to get the materials if they're locally sourced. Even after the materials run out, they'll require less transportation time to arrive at a local supplier, and should be back on the shelves soon after they're made. This can make local suppliers a much more reliable and efficient source for the materials that contractors need.

Benefits of a Local Retailer