How many trips do you make to the Home Depot?

[eryque]

How many trips do you make to the Home Depot when you work on a project? It doesn't seem to matter how small my project is, it seems they all require numerous trips to the store and take four times as long as I thought they would.

The latest project: fencing in my yard. My yard is tiny. The longest run of fence was about 20 feet. Three smaller sections added up to another 15 feet. This took me 3 full days, including a couple of hours just now to put up the gates across the driveway, and involved at least 7 or 8 trips to the store for something I'd forgotten, or to replace something that I screwed up.

I thought I'd have it done in one day, no problem.

[TheGoodTexan]

Yeah - my wife makes fun of me for that very reason.

Originally Posted by my wife

You need to think things through before you start.

That's after 3 trip to Lowes, and 2 trips to Tractor Supply, two Saturdays ago, while I was rebuilding my tractor.

My response is that there's no way to know in advance what I'm going to encounter along the way.

By the way, what type of fence did you put up? I've got to put up a small fence on the back side of my property too.

[timgreene]

I make it usually in one trip. I plan, and plan. My problem is I always buy more things than I need, just to avoid your problem.

[Bob Mc]

eryque
My wifey had the Home Depot install guys come out and give an estimate to fence in part of my back yard for my pup.
75' x 50' area; $14,000.00 USD.
I inquired rather indelicately about the young man's mental health and well being. Can't be written here.

[eryque]

Bob, I got lucky that The longest run of fence was already installed by my neighbor. That would have probably been close to 50 feet. My garage is detached and sits in a weird spot, so I used that as the boundary for most of the back side of the yard.

TGT: I just installed simple chain-link, 48" high.

I made a couple of stupid mistakes, fortunately they're no big deal. One of the small runs has a rise of about 6 inches between the two posts. I set my posts so that I'd have about 49" of post above ground. Neat, except for that hump. The best I was able to do was make it so that only about 2" of the fence fabric comes above the cross bar. The other mistakes are no big deal and only show if you go looking for them.

For whatever it's worth, I found that the Lowe's is better-stocked and the stuff is slightly better quality. They also protect their garden section from the elements, so all the packaging is in tact and the bins are sorted properly. The Home Depot is a mess, but is only 2 miles from my house.

AND I DID PLAN!!! That's what gets me so frustrated. I checked and double-checked my materials list before I even went shopping. It would have come out right if I'd known what I was doing ;-)

[Oskar]

The closest one was about 20 miles from me. I would go there thinking I'd save all this money on stuff. Come to find out that the local hardware stores were pretty competitive with prices, and they were only a few miles from me. Needless to say I don't shop Home Depot, especially with the price of gas being high.

[Val-tone]

My wife and I opened a store in downtown Milwaukee in November and I had the best luck with the local (shameless plug here) Brady Street True value. The clothes racks we have at our store are custom-built (by me) and are suspended by marine(?) cable that is bolted from ceiling to the floor. The plexiglass shelves here are installed (by me) the same way. The folks at True Value bent over backwards to help us. What they didn't have in stock, they called the other True Value stores in the area and found what we needed or had it overnight shipped. I can't say enough how helpful they were. Maybe it was because I spent close to 300 bucks my first time there, I don't know...

I went to Home Depot first for what I needed and it was nothing but a waste of time. I realize that if you're trying to buy fencing, or get a dozen 4X8 sheets of drywall or whatever, or a truckload of 2x4's the mom and pop places might not be the best way to go, but...

Oh, here's another thing: (okay, you've got me started on a rant here) It's happend to me more than once that I go into Home Depot, have a question about whatever it is I'm working on and/or want to buy, and I can't find anyone to help me! Usually I can find a friendly and knowledgeable salesperson who is always ready to lend assistance, but there have been times I've walked out of those places empty-handed because I couldn't find anyone to answer my questions.

Okay, one last thing... Last summer we were getting our house ready to put on the market. Who was there to help us? The friendly folks in the red vests at True Value, but this one wasn't in Milwaukee. Their store was only a couple of minutes from my old house in New London. It got to the point where they knew my kid's name and they were letting me borrow some of their tools (a pvc cutter comes to mind) for those "once only" jobs. Try getting that kind of service from Home Depot. I'm trying to remember if my wife sent them a Christmas card, they went the extra mile and were so nice...

[tahoebob54]

Originally Posted by eryque

How many trips do you make to the Home Depot when you work on a project? It doesn't seem to matter how small my project is, it seems they all require numerous trips to the store and take four times as long as I thought they would.

I for one never make one trip to the Home Depot, If I forget something well I will not drive the 70 miles round trip to go back for one item. our local hardware store that is another question.

[mark norwine]

Trips to Home Depot?

None.

Second-rate lumber, factory-reconditioned tools {yes, I can prove it}, re-packaged returned merchandise {can prove that, too}, standing in long lines....overpriced commodities.....

Give me a "real" lumbar yard any day....

mn

Oh....and another thing. Tony Stewart is an A___H_____. Why Joe Gibbs tolerates behaviour which he'd *never* tolerate on a gridiron is beyond me. Anyway: Tony Stewart is just another great reason to avoid this dump. Why support a store that endorses a man who handles anger management with his fists?

[Mik]

Hey Mark, so Home Depot just don't have enough backbone for ya?

I miss the lumber yard/hardware store in my former neighborhood. And another small local hardware store. They helped me complete my Tele project back in '98.

Now, I'm several miles between Home Depot and Loews. Those are the only local choices.

Home Depot is always a Two Trip Miniumum Cover Charge.

Mik

[Bill]

I figure 1 trip for every three hours of work I do on a home project.

And to me, Home Depot is the Guitar Center of hardware stores. I much prefer Orchard Supply Hardware. I always look for the oldest employee in the store, and then go ask her/him my questions. They always know that stuff off the top of their heads. I figure that if I value my time at anything over 25 cents an hour, I come out ahead by spending the extra few bucks at a proper hardware store.

I wish Guitar Center was like that--I could just look for the oldest musician working at the store, and go up and ask some old blues guy, "So, what amp should I get for that Muddy Waters Chess-era tone--the tweed Princeton or the Silvertone?" It would be better than hearing "Dooooood, get the Parker Fly 12-string with a Marshall stack. Totally nails it."

[agent2x4]

There's an indy lumber yard 2 blocks from my house. I go there. I'll pay a litle more to talk to folks who actually know how to build stuff and knows a little product knowledge.!

I only go to depot if the other is closed.

[Val-tone]

I always look for the oldest employee in the store, and then go ask her/him my questions. They always know that stuff off the top of their heads.

Me too. Forgot to mention that in my rant.

[eryque]

I guess I should have known better than to use a trademark name in my post! I'll admit that HD is nowhere near as good as the lumber yard/hardware store that I grew up near, but the indie hardware store here ain't worth a damn at all. No selection, only one person working there seems to know anything, no parking, and mediocre prices. If I'd bought all my fencing material there, I would have had to carry it from the front door of the store out to the curb by hand.