fliprent

I know it’s been a few days since my last post but I promise I have some really good tips coming soon including this one.  Considering my “negligence”, I’ll let you guys in on a secret that only the pros know about.  When I say pros I mean remodelers, rehabbers, developers, house flippers, investors and others who buy building materials frequently.  It’s called the home depot pro bid room. 

What is this you ask?  Well it’s a service that Home Depot offers it’s pros that allows them better prices on large orders.  This is a volume discount program that can give you various discounts depending on dollar value, quantity and type of material. And guess what, it’s available to anyone whether you are a contractor or not.

According to Home Depot’s September 4, 2007 Quarterly report, “[the pro bid room] allows us to leverage the buying power of The Home Depot for the benefit of our pro customers. Our direct ship program allows us to have large orders delivered from our vendors to the customer’s job site directly, reducing handling, lead-time and cost, building loyalty with the pro customer.”

How it works

Anyone can place an order to the bid room as it does not require a contractor’s license.  The only requirement is that total order must be at least $2500.  All you need to do is call the Contractor Services Desk and ask for your order to be submitted to the bid room.  Once the quote is submitted they will send your order to the corporate office and they will decide on the amount of the discount.  The desk will call you back to let you know how much you saved.   This process can take up to 24 hours and you will need to pay the entire amount within 24 hours from the time you are contacted with the price.  The pro desk will let you know when the order is ready for delivery or pickup.

The bid room is a great way to save on large orders for lumber, drywall and other building materials.  Flipping houses is not going to get much cheaper, so go for it on your next remodel or property investment.  Happy Flipping!