Quote:
Originally Posted by M_Six
My nephew once told me that things like plumbing fixtures and such that are sold in big box stores like Home Depot are inferior to those a home builder can source through their suppliers, even though the two items may appear to be identical. He pointed me to several sites where you could source commercial grade stuff, albeit at a higher price.
Fast forward to today. I had a hot water circulating pump installed and had the plumber supply the pump, which they got through their wholesaler. The pump seems to be top quality. I have no beefs with that. But the cost was roughly double what a seemingly identical pump would cost from Amazon or Home Depot. When I mentioned that to the plumber, he gave me the exact same spiel about commercial grade supplies vs big box store grade.
Is this really a thing? Do the big box places sell inferior stuff from the same manufacturer just so they can keep the prices low?
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it honestly, just depends on the product.
i have bought plumbing fixtures equipment from both plumbing supply places and from home depot/lowes for work and my house, and as long as you are buying quality items from the stores in similar price brackets, you are getting similar quality.
Now, if you are looking for something that is meant for commercial use vs residential use, yes, you can buy that at the plumbing supply stores for more costs, but its because they are built to withstand significantly more use than a normal residential product.
For something like a pump, it depends on the amount of use it will get if the commercial grade is worth it. a commercial grade pump may last you 5 years with XXX amount of use per day, where a residential grade pump may still last you 5 years but at X amount of use per day.
if youre curious, i can look up your pump with one of my suppliers to see what exactly the difference is between what you got and what HD/amazon had.