When I started remodeling the house, I went to the closest building supply store and talked to the manager. Told him that if we could reach an agreement on a discount, I would buy all the materials from him, if he had them or could get them.
We had dinner at some people's house. Our kids played. The wife's talked, and I was stuck talking to the guy, a heart surgeon who seemed too smart to talk to me. His parents were at Auschwitz. He was handsome.... then we talked about his remodelling. He said he was paying cost plus. I asked how the materials were priced. I said that a lumberyard may have a walk in price to the public, a lower discount price to contractors, and a higher official retail price [double the contractor price] that might show up on his invoice. The doctor who had been making me look so stupid a few minutes earlier stared at me like a deer looking into the headlights.
Just to make sure I was getting a discount and not just pencil pushing, early in the remodel I had my wife go buy some 2x4's. She got an invoice that looked normal.... # of items, item, cost per piece, and total for the item, subtotal, tax, total.
Then the next day I went in and bought the same number of 2x4's. Everything looked the same, except my invoice had an extra line showing the discount, and my total was less. It's a straight %age discount before tax.
