Your favorite place to buy roofing material

Contractors--what is your favorite place to buy your materials and why?

soldierboy Said: We use Willoughby Supply here in Ohio. They area a local that has expanded over the years. I can send in a fax before 1:00 p.m. for my materials and have them on the rooftop by 10:00 a.m. the next morning. They also offer same day delivery and express delivery within an hour for those mistakes that we have all made. They are not the cheapest by far but they are the best at customer service and rooftop deliverys. We dont have to stop working to help them load the roof at all. Keeps us fresh on the roof. Second, would be Modern Builders Supply. That is only cause they are the cheapest. We use them to keep our cashflow moving and when we have enough time to set up a job 2-3 days in advance. They are good guys but lack behind the service we get with WIlloughby. Price is hardly ever the issue, Customer Service is big with our company.

I know the family that owns Willoughby--it is a great company and one of the best independent distributors in the nation--good, hard working guys!

We use Willoughby Supply here in Ohio. They area a local that has expanded over the years. I can send in a fax before 1:00 p.m. for my materials and have them on the rooftop by 10:00 a.m. the next morning. They also offer same day delivery and express delivery within an hour for those mistakes that we have all made. They are not the cheapest by far but they are the best at customer service and rooftop delivery's. We don't have to stop working to help them load the roof at all. Keeps us fresh on the roof. Second, would be Modern Builders Supply. That is only cause they are the cheapest. We use them to keep our cashflow moving and when we have enough time to set up a job 2-3 days in advance. They are good guys but lack behind the service we get with WIlloughby. Price is hardly ever the issue, Customer Service is big with our company.

Earl - I found that RCSer of the month interview with EGG. I posted it.

Egg: Your first sentence goes back to my post - Pick 2.

Earl: Egg is one of my favorites also. I am going to look for and re-post his old RCS'er of the month interview. You will like him even more!

Old School--I am new school to the forum. Thus I will look to Vicki to guide me to sign in on the thread.

As far as where I am from--Saint Paul MN in the summer and Queen Creek Arizona in the winter. Our cooperative is NEMEON www.nemeon.com if you want to take a look.

I used to run a business here called Roof Depot. We sold it in 2006 to Beacon Roofing Supply. Now I am President/CEO of this cooperative that has over 180 members who are all independent businesses. Our job is to level the playing field so they can compete on all aspects with the large national chains and big boxes.

Egg--great comments. You would be one of my favorite customers.

I guess that I will give this subject a try. When I first started out on my own in 1974/5 I quickly realized that all suppliers offer a combination of three big things. Price, service, and terms. It's hard for small contractors to get the best of all three from one place. Nevertheless, for any given period the little guy generally settles on one or two sources that offer the best combination of those three.

Of course price is where we all start, but that is seriously affected by terms. Service is harder to assess but probably more important than either of the other two assuming pricing is at least in line. Service includes honesty, reliability, promptitude, knowledge, willingness to spend some time on non-core sales items, location, capacity, and a fairly long list of etceteras.

As a buyer, I assume I need to reciprocate across the board. I view my clients as relationships and I view my suppliers as relationships. It takes some strength of relationship and some history to get me centered on a supplier and the supplier usually gets about three mess-ups before they get bumped. I don't count them secretly until I get to three. I bring up my beefs when they happen and if they get redressed, they are penciled out and the account goes clean. A stack of three and it's over. I'll still buy if the price is good enough, but it's just bargain hunting at that point.

Loyalty generates loyalty or it's no fun. The money isn't good enough if it's no fun.

I buy ahead on parts and accessories. I like to have control of my stock. I shop for that stuff and if the price isn't right, I go where it is. I'm always looking. The heavyweight things I can't stock in quantity. I want someone who stocks what I want to sell. I want to sell what my clients need to be getting. I want to buy from people who carry a wide variety of goods. Big box stores that stock Timberline lightweight laminates don't interest me. I'll buy their units of OSB. That's about it. I don't want their 28 gauge junk.

But I'll be honest. If I like the people and their price is in line, it's hard to keep me from buying from them. Sometimes I will pay more than they are asking just to prove to them that I want them to make money too. I have fun at it and it keeps me smiling.

Interesting comments which I appreciate. Our cooperative has over 180 independent roofing and siding distributors nation-wide. Most are family owned businesses. We all compete for the contractor's business.

Robert--Unfortunately the competitive nature of the business does not allow us to overcharge for the products we sell--and I can guarentee you we are not in cohoots! The average before tax bottom line profit in our market is less than 5%. We are brick and mortar businesses that take a lot of risk (buildings, trucks, inventory, people, etc..) only to split our profit take with Uncle Sam at the end of the year. I don't think most contractors would do what we do for what the owners get to keep at the end of the year.

As for Dianne--her and her husband Ken were a game changer for distribution in the United States. They took a risk by buying three run down distribution yards and made it work from there. Before ABC Supply, most manufacturers had their own distribution and did a poor job at it. ABC basically created a clear path to a distribution channel that is beneficial to both contractors and manufacturers. They are our biggest competitor and tough--good at what they do which means we need to be better--I guess that is good competition. Buying an insurance business just compliments their committment to our industry and I applaude Dianne for again taking a risk. Thanks Vicki for your support on this topic--I do welcome all comments--good, bad, indifferent or otherwise.

Earl Said: Contractors--what is your favorite place to buy your materials and why?

Most of the well known names except for the nationwide supply company whose billionaire owner recently purchased a P&C insurance company with some of the money she made off of thousands of contractors over the years.

Nah, don't worry. Roofing ads character AKA wrinkles.

Everyday when I look in the mirror as a matter of fact. And your point is? 37 years.

R&S. Local. I knew the owner when I was 8-9 years old. Gave me my first business account when I decided to go on my own. Corporations won't do that. Buy local, buy American.

Hey Earl is a friend of mine and he reads our Forum almost everyday. He really wants to know who and why. Let's make it easy.

Who do you buy from the most....?

In one word why do you come back...?

AUCTIONS!

I have no favorite, i think thier all in cohoots to overcharge for material that aint worth what thier charging! :woohoo:

Here in Canada, we have RoofMart....