The Supplier Test: What Happens After You Give Them the Order?

Most distributors can take an order.

The real difference appears after the order is placed.

1. A Good Supplier Should Have Material Available

Inventory is one of the most basic expectations of a professional building material distributor.

A contractor has crews, trucks and customers scheduled around the material order. A slightly cheaper price does not help much when the product will not arrive until after the crew needs it.

A good supplier should know what contractors in its market regularly use and build inventory around those needs.

Suburban Wholesale & Supply maintains local exterior-building-product inventory and supports contractors with material planning and availability from its Davenport wholesale center.

Read: Why Local Building Material Inventory Matters

2. The Supplier Should Stock the Accessories Too

Having the main siding panel is not enough.

A siding project may also require starter strip, corners, J-channel, finish trim, utility trim, mounting blocks, vents, soffit, fascia, trim coil, housewrap, insulation and other components.

The crew cannot finish the wall with a warehouse full of siding panels and no way to finish the window.

A knowledgeable distributor should help the contractor think through the complete package—not simply count cartons of the main product.

Explore Suburban Wholesale's Gentek Sequoia Select contractor support

3. Quotes Should Be Accurate and Easy to Understand

A material quote should help the contractor understand what is being purchased.

You should not have to decode a vague lump-sum number to determine whether corners, starter, trim or specialty accessories were included.

See Suburban Wholesale contractor quoting and support services

4. A Good Supplier Should Know the Products

Contractors should not expect every counterperson to know every answer from memory.

They should expect the supplier to know how to get the answer.

When the contractor asks a technical question, the answer should not be a guess.

5. Your Supplier Should Answer the Phone

Construction moves quickly.

The crew opens a wall and finds something unexpected. A homeowner changes a color. A corner gets damaged. A project needs another carton. A special-order item arrives incorrectly.

The contractor should have a real person to call.

A supplier relationship has real value when the contractor knows who to contact and trusts that questions will not disappear into a generic inbox.

6. Expect Dependable Jobsite Delivery

Contractors make money installing material—not driving across town for it.

Jobsite delivery can help keep crews productive, reduce unnecessary truck time and make larger material packages easier to coordinate.

Suburban Wholesale provides local jobsite delivery support throughout the Quad Cities and surrounding Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois market.

7. A Good Supplier Should Help You With the Takeoff

The supplier does not replace the contractor's responsibility to verify measurements and job conditions.

But an experienced distributor can provide another set of eyes when building the material package.

8. Expect Samples and Sales Tools

A building material supplier can help the contractor before the project is sold.

Physical siding samples, colors, corner pieces, product literature and demonstration materials can make a homeowner presentation easier to understand.

A good supplier should help contractors demonstrate:

See Suburban Wholesale product demonstrations

9. The Supplier's Showroom Should Be Available to Your Customer

The contractor does not have to make every product presentation at the homeowner's kitchen table.

A supplier with a strong showroom can become an extension of the contractor's sales process.

That can be especially useful when comparing siding colors, profiles, windows, doors, stone, insulation or other products where a small sample or computer image does not tell the whole story.

Tour the Suburban Wholesale Davenport showroom

10. Expect Training

Products change.

Installation requirements change. New products enter the market. New employees join your company. Homeowners ask questions your salespeople have not heard before.

A strong distributor should help contractors stay educated.

Suburban Wholesale hosts contractor product training and manufacturer-supported seminars and also promotes vinyl siding installation education.

Explore contractor product training seminars

11. Your Supplier Should Connect You With the Manufacturer

The distributor should not become a wall between the contractor and the manufacturer.

A good distributor should become the connection.

That connection becomes especially valuable when a contractor is adding a new product category or handling an unusual project.

12. Expect Help When Something Goes Wrong

No supplier, manufacturer or contractor operates without occasional problems.

Material can arrive damaged. A component can be short. Something can be ordered incorrectly. A color may be unavailable. Freight can be delayed.

The test of a supplier is not whether a problem ever occurs.

13. Expect Honest Lead Times

Contractors can usually work around a realistic lead time.

What creates trouble is a lead time that changes after the homeowner has been promised an installation date.

A good supplier should identify stocked material, special-order material and known availability concerns before the contractor commits to a schedule whenever possible.

14. Expect Product Choices—But Not Product Confusion

A distributor should give contractors options.

But having 100 products is not particularly valuable if no one can explain when to use them.

That helps contractors build meaningful good-better-best presentations rather than simply showing a homeowner a wall of samples.

15. A Good Supplier Should Help You Make Money

That does not mean the supplier simply gives the contractor the lowest possible price.

Contractor profitability can also be affected by accuracy, labor efficiency, delivery, product knowledge, reduced callbacks, better sales presentations and fewer emergency material runs.

A supplier that helps prevent one lost production day may create more value than a supplier that saves a few dollars per square but regularly creates shortages and delays.

Price Still Matters—But It Is Not the Entire Supplier Relationship

Contractors absolutely need competitive pricing.

The mistake is comparing suppliers using price alone.

The Three Questions That Reveal Your Supplier Relationship

Red Flags Contractors Should Not Ignore

The Contractor Supplier Scorecard

Before moving all of your business because another supplier is a few dollars cheaper, compare the entire relationship.

The Supplier Partnership Formula

The Bottom Line

A good building material supplier should help contractors run better projects and stronger businesses.

That starts with competitive material pricing, but it should not end there.

Expect inventory. Expect complete orders. Expect accurate quotes. Expect knowledgeable people. Expect jobsite delivery. Expect samples. Expect training. Expect manufacturer support. Expect honest communication. And when something inevitably changes, expect help solving the problem.

That distinction matters when you are trying to keep crews productive, homeowners satisfied and projects profitable.