B&Q

[t8hants]

I don't think we have a proper timber merchants anymore here on the IoW, I believe there is a small supplier of native timbers, but I have never ventured to find out as my ignorance would be like a neon sign.
So I'm stuck with the over priced firewood that the national chains sell, or reclaimed stuff with all its hidden mysteries.
I suppose working with such stuff is only increasing my difficulties so I oftenwonder what it would be like to work with decent timber?

 

[Jake]

My local B&Q have a superb dimension saw ... but they don't stock full sheets anymore. How bleddy daft is that! :? :x

Daft indeed, unless they still use it to cut up their full sheets on it to sell the half-sheets at 90% and the quarter sheets at 75% of the cost of a full sheet or whatever the crazy pricing is.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Yes - where a sheet used to be e.g. £35 now a half sheet is £27 - the pain is that you can't buy anything in between. If you were doing a job that needed accurate cleanly cut 6' x 2's for instance you can't get them any more. It was worth paying over the odds for the convenience.

 

[Benchwayze]

I like a bit of bargaining power - I can go to my local merchants, pick out a ten foot length of 4" x 2" (or whatever) with a monumental kick or shake in the middle and wanting two four foots, haggle the price - and usually get it half price.

That's a good strategy if you have a wood burner Phil. I don't, and I just had to dispose of a skipful of off-cuts, by relying on a pal to come and collect it, when he said he would! Anyone near me with a wood-burner? :mrgreen:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I have.

 

[ED65]

I've never bought anything but sheet good offcuts from my local B&Q and I have to say I'm one happy customer, or at least I was. Until recently offcuts and leftovers were usually 'priced competitively', which is to say stupidly cheap to get them out the door.

I've snagged some amazing bargains, including all of the MDF I needed to make both my workbench tops for a fiver with enough left over for the top of a small router table or sharpening station, I haven't decided yet.

They would even let very small offcuts (from the bin in the cutting area) go for free. But they've gotten wise now and nothing can leave without a sticker on it and the cost of remainders and leftovers has gone through the roof in the last year or so.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

I've never bought anything but sheet good offcuts from my local B&Q and I have to say I'm one happy customer, or at least I was. Until recently offcuts and leftovers were usually 'priced competitively', which is to say stupidly cheap to get them out the door.

I've snagged some amazing bargains, including all of the MDF I needed to make both my workbench tops for a fiver with enough left over for the top of a small router table or sharpening station, I haven't decided yet.

They would even let very small offcuts (from the bin in the cutting area) go for free. But they've gotten wise now and nothing can leave without a sticker on it and the cost of remainders and leftovers has gone through the roof in the last year or so.

I've noticed that too - don't even bother wandering past the saw area any more ans the offcuts dried up a long time ago.

 

[Stanleymonkey]

My local B&Q have a superb dimension saw ... but they don't stock full sheets anymore. How bleddy daft is that! :? :x

Mine has a stack of 8x4 MDF boards next to the saw, but that's the only full size sheet goods they still hold

 

[thetyreman]

yeah my local B&Q is terrible, most of the boards they have aren't straight for a start, I'd say at least 70% of their plywood isn't even flat...my local timberyard is nothing like that, plus it costs about a third of the price if not even cheaper and you get triple the quality.

 

[Jake]

Back in the 2000s they used to stock Medite Premier and good BB Birch ply in my local B&Q warehouse one, and at very reasonable prices - cheaper than my local merchants would offer me on cash account terms. That stopped when they made the trade entrances and cards etc.

 

[BearTricks]

It always surprises me how many vans are parked up at B&Q, especially as soon as they open. Surely shopping from there cuts in to profit margins severely.

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[Phil Pascoe]

Not if it's on your way to work and spending an extra £2 saves you a half hour drive round trip.

 

[JandK]

My wife just loves shopping at B&Q (well women just love shopping). 4 years ago my Dewalt 625 router was stolen so she spotted a sale at B&Q with a router that looked similar to the stolen one and she bought me a JCB router it is not bad at all, but all is bad. Since then it was decided rather to buy me a gift card from Axminster or similar and let me choose on what tool I will spend it.
So come Xmas or a birthday I know what I will get as a present which some may find boring but I do have fun in getting quality tools that I will enjoy rather than the poor products from the B&Q / Homebase type of stores.

 

[shed9]

B&Q is not aimed at supplying wood for the woodworking market or even the trades. They are a big box store that fills a niche for home DIY'ers, gardeners and the blue rinse brigade every Wednesday.

Can't see why this thread has gained the momentum or direction it has?

 

[MattRoberts]

It tends to happen on a discussion forum

 

[shed9]

It tends to happen on a discussion forum

I get that, it's the consistency of the complaints that dumbfounds me.

It's a bit like complaining about a TV show that no one has any intention of watching?

 

[ComfortablyNumb]

To be fair B & Q do all us tradesmen a favour by supplying Jo Public such utter tat and stupidly expensive prices thus keeping us in work

 

[MarkDennehy]

Problem with the timber yards is that for Joe and Jane Public (including me), they're rather .... I need a word that's a cross between awkward and intimidating.

With B&Q or Woodies, you can potter about, find things you're looking for without hassle, check prices readily on the website or on the shelf, and don't need to have an exact list in mind when you go in (so you might go in to get some sandpaper and on the way pick up some beeswax that you've been meaning to stock up on 'cos the tin's almost gone in the shed, and I could use a length or so of 2x1/2 for some scrap uses, and a half-sheet of 18mm ply would let me do that thing next weekend...
Or, you just go in, take a look at what timber they have, and as you're looking at it, figure out "that'd be good for this kind of project" and buy some of that; some of us do this for a hobby, it's not like we're on a commission - we just do what feels like fun. So if the available timber says a table, build that; and if it says a birdfeeder, build that. But you have to look before you buy for that kind of approach.

Can't do that in Chadwicks really. And can't gauge the price ahead of time without ringing up and engaging with them to get a quote and they're expecting you to be ordering commercial quantities instead of a sheet or two and they're expecting you to have at least a van that can carry full 4.8m lengths or 8x4 sheets, if all you have as Joe Public is a normal family car then you're pretty much hosed.

Honestly, if the timber merchants wanted to, they could steal every last wood-buying customer from the big box stores with not much effort. They're even trying that over here with crowds like buildwithme.ie and build4less.ie which are just front-end websites to builder's merchants. And one or two merchants are actually starting to put together websites that let you see what they have for sale.

But honestly, how hard would it be for them to say "Right, if you're a DIY-er or whatever, our amateur hours are from 10am to 1pm on Saturday. Show up then, you're welcome"? I mean, it's not like we want to get underfoot in a commercial yard...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

In my local b/m the one and only thing absolutely guaranteed to get you stuffed is to pretend you know things you don't (especially timber wise). It's a red rag to a bull. There are places swmbo will go quite happily and say what I'm looking for is a thing about 9" long, it looks like one of them - but it has 4 holes instead of two and it's silver coloured not white. The guy will then say ah, you need a *** ******** - third row down, on the left, bottom shelf. She will not go to B&Q and ask a grunt - to be told sorry, if you can't see it, we haven't got it. Also for an example the merchants will sell her more - if she bought a tin of Hammerite I would expect her to come back from a merchant with either throw away brushes or Hammerite thinners as well, because someone there is interested in their job and has sense to ask.

 

[Wuffles]

It always surprises me how many vans are parked up at B&Q, especially as soon as they open. Surely shopping from there cuts in to profit margins severely.

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Tradepoint cards reduce prices dramatically, sometimes. Bags of plaster or cement are frequently cheaper than getting done over in Travis or Jewson.


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