Local distributor?

Hey guys,

So far I had been piecemealing everything, but have gotten to a point where a local distributor would be ideal.

I am thinking of using Russ over at Southside for bigger items, particularly because of his willingness to help on another dilemma I had...however in the long run it would be great to meet someone in the Middle TN area, as it would be more conducive to a lasting business relationship considering proximity.

Thanks

I have never found the need to work w a local distributor. I get everything I need from Paul or Russ. Including advice.


Doug Rucker
Clean and Green Solutions
Pressure Washing Roof Cleaning School
Call or Text 281.883.8470

Nick, Professor Rucker just gave you some advice that money can't buy.

Just as an experience that I've recently encountered..

One of the distributors in Houston (won't say any names), sells some of the same products Paul sells at the power wash store... And would you care to know the difference?

... The guys here charge nearly 2.5x what Paul charges. EVEN AFTER SHIPPING.

The guys at the PowerWashStore (though not local), will BEND OVER BACKWARDS to ensure their clientele's satisfaction. I could go on and on about it, but all of those guys there are genuinely are great people, with lots of knowledge, and ultimately... competitive prices. There's no other reason to think about it twice!

I dont like my local guy. he is ignorant arrogant and self centered. he is the type to say stupid stuff. the only time i had to see him is when i needed something rebuilt right away. I recently upgraded my pump with Paul at The power wash store so now I have a spare of everything including a pump. Now i can say bye bye mr. ahole. I want to keep my business right here with these guys.

I have a local guy who services my unit when i need to

He is constantly inquiring about selling me hose & chems

i asked him once for the helluva of it for a price on a 100ft 4000psi 300F rated 1 wire Karcher hose

Guess what?? more than double the price than Paul and thats without quick connects

I suspected it was more all along but not that much

Yes, you can't beat these distributors: Pressue Tek, Powerwashstore, Southside Equip., and KEC Supplies. Of the online distributors I have tried, these 4 all have superior service and good prices.

My local guy is terrible. He is still working on fixing my burner and insulation on one of my units and it has been over 4 weeks. Arrogant, stupid excuses, over priced, snooty, etc. Makes me want to go be an apprentice for Russ Johnson and then come back and put this local operation out of business. I'm a pretty easy going person, but this local distributor is really testing me. Our next closest distributor is 1:45 drive from us.

I feel your pain Nick. Would be great to have a reliable and fair local person, but seems to be a dream in most cases.

The local shops here, 2 left of three now, are worse than worthless.

The nearest local place for me is pressure washer products, I guess everyone knows Rex the pump guru. I heard they won't work on anything they don't sell. I also emailed them 3-4 times inquiring about a few things and they never responded. Don't know what their deal is. Russ and Bob are the ones I order from. Haven't ordered from Paul yet .

I use a local distributor for variable wands and that's it. They are about $90 each, I don't know who makes them but the side handles never leak on them so they are well worth the extra $$$.

My local places just suck! Prices more than double than most online vendors.

Go ahead and buy local and build relationships if that is what you want to do and if that makes you happy, to each their own.

Start looking all over, pick up the phone book or look online, I am sure you will be able to find local vendors, they are in most every city.

Well it seems like so far Russ Johnson will be my go to for advice, supplies, and maybe a daughter if he's got one of age

As far as something local, it seems like there could be good business in all of us figuring out a model that would work that we could duplicate to have store fronts locally but that offer supplies...except I am not sure how the conflict of interest would run.

This was a topic of discussion at the bar in Myrtle Beach......Local Distributors, and how they suck. I don't understand their thinking, it's like they think we'll be out of business in no time so they need to gig as much money off of us as they can.

Paul Kassander said it best......"By helping you better your business, will help better my business"....Win, Win,

I have never seen the kind of Distributor commitment to Contractors (New & Old) as I have seen in Paul Kassander, Russ Johnson, or Bob Williamson......Ever.

Just Saying.....

Guy Blackmon said:

This was a topic of discussion at the bar in Myrtle Beach......Local Distributors, and how they suck. I don't understand their thinking, it's like they think we'll be out of business in no time so they need to gig as much money off of us as they can.

Paul Kassander said it best......"By helping you better your business, will help better my business"....Win, Win,

I have never seen the kind of Distributor commitment to Contractors (New & Old) as I have seen in Paul Kassander, Russ Johnson, or Bob Williamson......Ever.

Just Saying.....

Click to expand...

Well said

It's really awesome how supportive you guys are. Would love to have offered more before now, but this is my first year where enough growth has happened to begin offering anything, glad to know there are some here to back us up in this process.

NickGann said:

Well it seems like so far Russ Johnson will be my go to for advice, supplies, and maybe a daughter if he's got one of age

As far as something local, it seems like there could be good business in all of us figuring out a model that would work that we could duplicate to have store fronts locally but that offer supplies...except I am not sure how the conflict of interest would run.

Click to expand...

This same idea has also crossed my mind Nick. Maybe one of the great distributors we mentioned on here could brain storm some sort of franchise/co-op program with training and equipment supplies.

Guy Blackmon said:

This was a topic of discussion at the bar in Myrtle Beach......Local Distributors, and how they suck. I don't understand their thinking, it's like they think we'll be out of business in no time so they need to gig as much money off of us as they can.

Paul Kassander said it best......"By helping you better your business, will help better my business"....Win, Win,

I have never seen the kind of Distributor commitment to Contractors (New & Old) as I have seen in Paul Kassander, Russ Johnson, or Bob Williamson......Ever.

Just Saying.....

Click to expand...

This was beautifully put. Not all of the local guys are bad, but.... It's pretty common to find bad local guys lol.

The reason some of the bad local distributors charge what they charge is...

They suck at marketing their business on a national level, so the little local business they do get, they have to rip the customer off.
[AND]
They don't understand their customers needs, and some of them have never done what we've done.

... But such is life, and makes it even easier for guys like Russ & Paul lol

I think that a big part of the local problem is that they focus most of their time and attention to the large business like city, industrial, refinery, offshore, etc.... and they don't really seem to care about the small businesses that are growing.

If they gave contractors decent discounts (they don't have to charge more than double or more on everything they sell to stay in business), showed that they care instead of treating them like a number or acting like they are doing you a huge favor by talking to you, things might be a little bit different and more contractors would purchase local instead of stocking up so much from online vendors.

Honestly, if more of us had the knowledge, time and experience to do more/most of our own work on our equipment, what do we need the local vendors for? They are not really giving us reasons to go see them unless we have to, this needs to change so it helps them and helps us.

My local folks are idiots. Closest I have is hour and half drive to Russ.

I can't blame local Dist. Lol walk through my door looking for one oring an complain after I get it costs a 1.00

I had this old man early on in my career throw my repair guy out. So my repair guy goes down to this place called thorson supply. About 600,000 foot warehouse, ask the old guy if he could get a part. The old man said how many? My guy replied one, the old man through him out. I went down with the same part in disbelief , the old man was there. I started talking to him an ask is this true? He said your ron from Propowerwash ? I said yes how did you know, he said it's on your shirt an I just threw your guy out. What did he do? He said wasted my time, I said what do you mean. Right then he said excuse me, he helped the next three guys behind me.

I said can I talk to the manager, he said sure but he's not going to do anything. Will see I said, this old guy got the manager. Took like 15 minutes. The manager came out with the part I wanted. He slid it across the counter an said could I pls just use his competitor an gave me his card. I was like wow!! I demanded to pay for the part, the man said if I want to throw the change in the can for office coffee donation feel free.

I walked out, I walked back in. The old guy said your a stubborn guy. He said come here son. Called me son , look here is the three guys I helped in front of you get that one part. Number one buys over a million annual, number two 300,000 & 3 he's around 50,000

Being young I thought this guy was even a bigger prick. Said thanks for showing me I'm not worth your time, I get it you don't want my business.

This is when the old guy said we want it, but you can't order one part that less than a 1.00 an expect me to jump. I said one day I will be buying 1000s an I'll never come here.

Guess who I buy my parts from today?


Ron Musgraves
www.uamcc.org