I need advise on finding materials cheap for building a house.?

Question

I am trying to afford building a house out of pocket. I am not a general contracter, although I do know how to build a house. My question is how to go about finding the materials, lumber cheap. Is Lowes/Home Depot the best bet? Smaller lumber yards? Or something else. I need to keep it pretty in expensive to be able to afford it out of pocket.

Answer 1

My community has a "Used Building Supplies" store which stocks just about anything you could ever want - lumber, doors, plumbing fixtures, kitchen cabinets, light fixtures, etc. The only new stuff you might need would be nails, gyproc, and so on. Check out renovation companies - they have to do something with the materials they remove from houses and apartments. Other than that, you'll just have to shop around for the best prices. Make a list of what you'll need, then write down the prices as you cruise the building supply stores.

Answer 2

Sometimes large lumber yards are best because you can fined exactly what you need better than in a Small yard. On the other side, a small lumber yard sometimes will give you a better deal. They don't sell as much lumber and may have to much in stock. You might also consider the idea of used lumber. Find someone wanting to have a house torn down or someone who has left over lumber. Even if you have to take it all used lumber is cheaper and you can check it ahead of time to make sure it's not rotted or broken.

Answer 3

Yes lowes or home depot is your best bet for price most of your other lumber yards are higher they do not have the buying power they also have the same amount of overhead but less sales you can try talking to a sales rep at a normal comerical lumber yard normally they can adjust the price a little but dont know if its enough to compete with the larger chain stores

Answer 4

When I called around and Home Depot/Lowes in Calif was lower than in Utah/Nevada where we were building so we brought the supplies in from Calif. Lowes/Home Depot has lower prices in larger cities where there are multiple stores as compared to smaller towns where there's only one home improvement store.

We did find smaller yards for specialized lumber was competitive.

I've bought alot of building products over the internet through ebay such as electrical outlets, door handles/locks and amazon.com has good tool prices.

For flooring we found www.builddirect.com.

For doors Lowes has nice solid wood 6 panel prehung doors at a reasonable price. Watch for close outs on product lines for good deals on lighting fixtures and plumbing fixtures, Lowes sometimes discontinues a style line and they give a discount on the remaining stock, you can ask in the various departments of Lowes about close out items.

The best price on cabinetry is IKEA hands down, you do have to assemble but that's pretty easy, you can see their products at www.ikea.com .

Answer 5

With all due respect, and no preaching about unknown skills you might possess, or multiple issues you'll encounterr, FIND a "Habitat for Humanity" Thrift store location. The materials are as good as any, and donated, to maintain a valued charity (You'd be helping) and so many contractors etc. are always around, you might even HOOK UP with.

Steven Wolf

Answer 6

smaller out of the way(still partly in the bush)mills or lumber yards where you have to haul the lumber out yourself.