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SELLING TO REMODELERS: What Remodelers Want

The high turnover rate of employees at big box stores makes it hard for builders and remodelers to establish these types of long-term relationships.

David Merrick, MCR, president of Merrick Design and Build in Kensington, Md., explains that having a dedicated account representative from TW Perry is a primary reason for their long-term relationship.
“Our representative funnels us to the correct person within their organization but he’s also responsible for providing quotes and ordering products, and if anything does develop in the way of a warranty issue or we need manufacturer’s assistance he will set that up for us,” says Merrick. “That person doesn’t exist in a big box store.”

Quality and Warranties
All three men also agree that the quality of the materials available through LBMs is better. “I don’t want our brand connected with [big box store] brands,” says Gehman. “To me, it feels like it would not give a good image to our brand or reputation.”

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Merrick has a rule at his company that anything which requires a special order or major product must come from their building material supplier because of their product knowledge, customer service and warranties. “It’s usually just a better quality of material and though we pay more money, the materials are straight.”

Merrick’s company purchases about 70% of its lumber and building supply materials from TW Perry, 10% from other local building suppliers and 20% from big box stores.

Lumber and building material suppliers also guarantee their products. Gehman says in their 25 years of business they have rarely received an inferior product from Peter Lumber because the company inspects the millwork they distribute before shipping it to a remodeler. “They take the time to open things up to make sure it meets their standards before they spend the time to deliver it to us,” says Gehman.

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Education and Training
An important element that TW Perry provides Merrick’s company is product education and training. Merrick explains that TW Perry sets up regular demonstrations from product representatives to showcase the latest products. Their LBM also regularly provides training opportunities to local builders and are sponsors of four different NARI chapters in Maryland. TW Perry offers educational courses such as lead paint refresher courses and building science classes for healthy air quality and energy efficiency in home builds.

“They actually provide business coaching and training to help you be more successful along with the basic elements of doing their business,” says Merrick.

When the home repair division of Merrick’s company started installing storm doors, he turned to TW Perry to help train his men on how to properly install them. His sales rep at TW Perry sent out an Andersen representative to give a two-hour training session to Merrick’s employees on storm door measuring, installation and product information.

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