Which Hardware is the best ?

Carlosthejakal

Hi,
I am doing a little research for a project for myself.
I am wondering which hardware do you find the best or which one do shop with the most.

Stories of which one you will never go to again and why would be interesting also

Carlosthejakal

I personally mainly go to Woodies most as it is the one closest to me and generally I find it cheaper than B & Q which is also near.
But if I am buying a lot I tend to go to a builder merchants like Murdocks

Sleepy

I'd have found the opposite: Woodies tends to be the most expensive.

I'd usually go to Heiton Buckleys or, if they're closed, B&Q.

A Law

Woodies because I get 10% off with axa and because its the closest.

Alun

Woodies because it's only 5 mins away, and the youngwans on the till think I'm over 60, even though I'm not, and give me the 10% discount on Thursdays

Steve

It really depends on what you are buying and now much of it.

DIY shops are great to 'feel up' products and get ideas for DIY but they will generally never beat a builders providers or wholesaler on price.

The only difference with a wholesaler or provider is you have to know what to ask for.

Also Lidl / Aldi should be in that poll, some great bargains for the DIYer to be had.

_Brian

I don't bother with these styled hardware stores. I go to a local independent Agri store where things aren't hyper inflated prices and I find they know the products well.

DublinDilbert

Woodies is a disaster, trying to get help to check for stock or find out pricing. Even if you check online when you go into the store they don't have stock or the price is different.

For out of hours B&Q is fine, not the cheapest but generally they have stock. Also the free timber cutting service is great. I needed shelves for inside a wardrobe, take the measurements, go to B&Q pick up the conti board and get them to cut all the shelves to size. I needed to rebuild a press around a boiler last weekend, again got them to cut the timer to size, made the job simple on Saturday morning.

jack of all

I would rarely ever buy stuff in Woodies, except for some unusual hardware items (certain types of oversize washers, speciality screws, bolts or fixings) that the regular hardware stores don't have in stock. Woodies may be dear for those few bits I want but I don't mind for one-off items for a specific job. My local hardware/ builder's merchant is an Arro store and that's where I go for most things, pricing is keen, delivery available (at a charge) for large sheet material etc, so happy enough. Used to go to a Homevalue store as well but it closed a few years ago. No B&Q near me but I would check it out if passing. I find it horrendously expensive for consumables like screws etc. Sometimes have good offers on tools though. Have a Homebase local to me which I would browse from time to time- have picked up the odd bargain in discontinued stock, but otherwise very expensive and staff are completely in the dark about what they sell, in the main.

In short- if the local builder's merchant have what I want I will generally buy it there, they are usually cheapest but I always price around on bigger ticket items, because you never know!

Right2Write

Very rarely buy materials in the big chain stores. Local hardware/ builders merchants are more competitive, friendlier and will deliver if required. Some of these trade under Arro, Homevalue but are essentially small separate local businesses.

Carlosthejakal

Seems like everyone has their own favourite.
I suppose one of the biggest factors is your proximity to your local or big box hardware store.

Does anyone shop online for hardware stuff ?

budhabob

Carlosthejakal wrote: »

Seems like everyone has their own favourite.
I suppose one of the biggest factors is your proximity to your local or big box hardware store.

Does anyone shop online for hardware stuff ?

Bought some tools off screwfix alright after pricing in DIY stores and local builders providers. Find em good to deal with, decent prices and easy returns

flossy1

_Brian wrote: »

I don't bother with these styled hardware stores. I go to a local independent Agri store where things aren't hyper inflated prices and I find they know the products well.

agree farmers are good at getting good value , I always go to these type of store

eeguy

Not a store, but the home and garden section of HUKD has some decent bargains. You can set up alerts for keywords so you don't need to be constantly checking it: http://www.hotukdeals.com/home/deals/hot