How to Choose your Building Materials

In this "How to" I will give you some guidlines and cautions that will help you to choose quality materials at a descent price for your area. Materials and thier prices vary from area to area and from one supplier to the next... also standard dimensional lumber like dog eared fence boards sometimes vary in thickness... so be on guard and know what you are buying.

Instruction

1.Step 1

Review the List of Materials needed and the special consideration (like interiour use or exterior... Metal fittings or plastic... what kind of fasteners are recomended and which one is prefered. etc...

When you move on to step 2 you want to have all your little ducks in a row.
2.Step 2

The Home Improvement Center

There is nothing that can replace the value of wandering around a home improvement Center (HIC) and just looking at the materials and considering things like the prices and quality differences... and looking at the different options that you have for your materials...
Once you have decided on the basic list... and any brand considerations... Like prefering Paslode 2" ring shank nails for your Fence project over the 2 3/8" nails of another brand... Know which one you are looking for before you get on the telephone in step 3.
Step two can be boiled down into this commen sense: Make inteligent decisions based on practicality and availability.
You can learn allot from your local HIC!!! Be sure to write down prices and availability of your needs.
Do you need to pick the item up yourself or do they package it and deliver?
3.Step 3

Now that you have your list of prefered materials and know approximately the prices you are looking at...

Do some armchair warrior work... get on the telephone and go right down the telephone list of Building Materials Suppliers and find out the prices... If you have a fax machine you can ask them for a "Check out" just fax them your list and they will do your pricing and fax it back to you... It may take them some time to do this... Remember they have many customers to take care of and will do the best they can. They are usually very helpfull with advice in later stages also... so be good with them and make note of wich ones are the most helpfull and knowlegable. Even if you spend a little more using one of these suppliers it is money well spent when you need to return an item or get advice as they are going to be your more helpfull "friend in the Business" (If you are in Hattiesburg MS check out Economy Supply)
Dont worry about getting to many price comparisons... you will learn something after several of these price quotes... the prices of materials although usually close... do vary from supplier to supplier and by a little bit of homework you can save quite a bit on your project. If your project is a large one.... like a 500' fence for example... ask if you can get "contractor price" on the materials... this may open the door for a big discount.

Source by : Mr. Maranatha, ehow.com