Have you ever....

...tried pricing building supplies online?

I don't mean low voltage lighting or sinks or designer toilets.

I mean for lumber, roofing, windows, you know, the stuff you actually build stuff with.

If you have, then you know my frustration with trying to price out what it will cost me to replace my roof.

It's not like I live in some backwoods, backwards town where there is only one lumberyard, and they know you by name. Where I live we have all the major players; Home Depot, Lowes, Home Building Center, Rona/Cashway, and a regional chain, Turkstra. So pricing a job in this, the age of Google, should be as easy as accessing a website and searching for a product, right?

Wrong. I can get prices for roofing tar and plywood clips, but not for roofing or plywood.

So, I have to estimate how much of each component I need, write it all down, then trundle off to my local building supply store, choosing either Big Box or Big Bux.

I have to find the material I want, jot down the price per sheet/foot/piece.Then I calculate the extended price at each store before I make my choice.

But wait there's more...

...because I want metal roofing, I can't even calculate it for myself. They don't post the prices of that stuff on the wall, to get prices you have to seek out an 'Associate' (that always makes me think of a bad mob movie, "Yo, I'm Vinny an dis is my associate, Guido.")

So, because I'm paying for this work myself (for the reason why, read this), and I don't want to spend any more than I have to, I need to repeat this process at every store.

The kick of this all is two fold:

• most of them have a price match system, where they will match the prices of their competition, and
• the 'Associates' have to punch up the prices on their own computers.

So why can't they link their databases to their websites? It would save a lot of time for us do-it-yourselfers.

If the retailers are forcing me to go traipsing about the town to get prices to save a buck on one thing and two bucks on another, that's how I'm going to buy it too. I'll buy the plywood at the store with the best price, the roofing at another store, soffit and fascia at another, eaves trough at the other guy and so on.

And I'll arrange for delivery from them all on the same day.

It's not like I live in some backwoods, backwards town where there is only one lumberyard, and they know you by name.

But if I did, it would go like this, "Fred? It's D.J. Yep, the girls are great. How's your boy? Good. listen, I need a new roof. Make it metal, green, 18 gauge. 10 square. 1/2" Sheathing, 125 feet of soffit and fascia, and 50 feet of eaves trough, 4 downspouts. Oh, and 25' of ridge vent. Yup, I'll be home Saturday before noon. Great, see ya at darts on Tuesday."

DJW

Don't get me started on pricing car parts on-line.