DirectBuy-- any members? (1 Viewer)

[St. PJ]

I did a search and found on thread on the same topic that was too old to submit my post to, so I am starting another. I am thinking of joining, but can't get them to give out any prices over the phone. They are adamant about getting me and my wife there for an open house in Baton Rouge, and I know there are different levels of membership, but does anyone know the cheapest? As of right now, we are just looking for new furniture, but we do plan to add on to our house a master bedroom, office, and master bath. That's probably a year or two away, and Im sure a membership would probably be beneficial, but what I am looking for is someone to tell me the cost of the cheapest membership before I waste the gas and time to go to an open house.

Does anyone know what the lowest membership cost is?

 

[krushing]

I know several folks who have tried it. You can find stuff just as cheap if
you shop hard . If you want to buy everything in one place, it's not bad. Don't buy the membership untl you are ready to shop. My friends got delayed on their house and had to renew. Personally I'd rather shop around Furniture has up to a 200% markup. Prices are all over the charts at different stores.

 

[St. PJ]

I have a close friend who owns a furniture store. I was considering direct buy because I also plan to add on to the house. Someone pm'd me their fees. $5000 to start, $250 per year membership fee. At 50% off, you'd have to spend over $10,000 before you start seeing savings. If it weren't for the startup price, I'd consider it.

 

[Boudro]

I looked into it after the storm but quickly gave up on the idea when they would not give me any info on the fees but were insistent that I show up for an open house.

From everything I've heard it's only worth it if you're spending a large amount and don't mind being limited in your selections. You're probably better off shopping around on your own.

 

[KiwiSaint]

As a former member when it was United Consumers Club, I would say stay away. Proper investigation and good negotiations will yield similar savings. DirectBuy will nickle and dime you to death on shipping and handling charges. Plus, their hard sell tactics can be a real turn-off.

 

[St. PJ]

My wife and I own our home. We are both 29. We have decent savings and make right at 100K combined. If we were 15-20 years older, with a much bigger gooseegg, building our dreamhouse, Directbuy would be good for us, and worth the savings. But its not for us right now. We do plan on adding on, but between our contacts and do it yourself know how, we will probably save what we'd save from Directbuy. Also, Directbuy sells very good stuff at a discount, but we are more practical, by choice, when it comes to material things, except for my big tv So we wouldn't normally buy many of the goods directbuy sells. Its not like a furniture or appliance store where you have dirt cheap, reasonable, and more expensive stuff. Its like a store that sells some of the most expensive stuff, but at half price. At least that's my impression after viewing another member's catalogue. I don't think, no matter how prosperous we may be in the future, that we will ever build a dream house, but who knows? Right now I'd say that I would never buy a $50,000 truck just to guy buy groceries in, but if I won the lottery, Im sure I'd indulge my human nature to the neglect of my practical principals.

 

[dtc]

I have had two customers join while we were building their houses. Neither of them would do it again.

 

[iron error]

I joined and would not do it again. But that is not to say we did not do OK. We were not able to recoup our cost completely (as of yet), but that was more or less our fault.

There are some areas that you can do real well in. Appliances, plantation shutters, flooring.

There are some areas that you do pretty well in. Cabinets, Furniture.

I am sure there are others, but we were not looking at all areas.

Here is the deal, if you shop clearance items or on the internet and ship from out of state, for example, or on ebay or craiglist, then you can get similar deals on certain items. On other items, a simple really good sale or deep discount at a local store will get you a similar deal.

You could in theory make back the some fee on single cabinet purchase. However, there are so many cabinet brands, and they have only so many, so it is hard to compare costs brand to brand. We had our cabinets built on site so that was a moot point for us, but opportunity lost to make some fee back.

We saved nearly $2000 on Kitcheaid appliances versus the best deal I could find locally and online with freight.

We saved likely $1500 on plantation shutters. This was versus local. I live in a smaller city so savings may have been less in a big city.

For flooring you can get the same exact cost as a flooring supplier or subcontactor for Emser Tile, and do pretty much the same on wood floors. You can figure that if the best price you locals will give you on nice wood floors that cost $8/sf you can get it direct for $6/sf. This savings can add up fast. Tile at supplier cost is also nice for Emser Tile. This is not to say you could not do the same deal on ebay with freight, but that is a lot of risk to take.

So, if you buy appliances and flooring alone or appliances, cabs, and shutters, for example you have your fee paid back.

Problem for us was we fell in love with a brushed marble only brought in by Arizona Tile and did the whole house with it, so there went that opportunity.

Also, high end carpet can be really discounted but you have to order it real early. We also saved $500 on a fireplace. You have to be aware of installation costs that you will have to find on your own at times as well as long lead times. On a personal house under schedule lead times can be hard to deal with as you would have to pick some items a lot earlier than you would care to.

This I will say. If anyone needs a price on something to see what can be done through Direct Buy, PM me and we can work out something.

 

[dtc]

How about a 36" Thermador Dual-Fuel Stainless Range with the griddle accessory?

I just bought one for $4400 plus freight of about $300. Curious how it stacks up.

 

[St. PJ]

I happen to have a buddy who owns a furniture store and will sell me stuff for his cost. Only catch is that he's 60, and he doesn't order much besides beds because they are easy for him to handle. So with the companies he still does business with, it will be a very limited selection on sofas and loveseats.

For anyone looking to put wood floors down, I used to instal flooring commercially. Wood is good, lasts a long time. But now bamboo is being sold. You can get 1/2" thick planks that you glue down, just the same as wood, for $2 per square foot at Home Depot right now. Unlike wood, it doesn't warp. I just put about 700 sq ft of it in my house, and it looks beautiful, is a pleasure to work with, and easier to instal because it doesn not warp. Has a 25 year warranty and is just as durable as wood. You can find it online for about the same price-- cheapest I saw was $1.49 / sq ft. From the local flooring companies, they are pricing just the same as wood, which is a damn shame because bamboo grows very quickly, so its a renewable resource. I suggest wood everywhere except for the wet areas. Go with ceramic in wet areas. Put rugs on the wood. Better than carpet because you don't get dust, allergens, ect, trapped under wood for years like you do with carpet. Many people are going with the laminate "floating floor" that looks like wood, but its the same price as bamboo, which is very solid. If you want to see an example of it in a commercial place, go to Red's Gym in Lafayette.

 

[krazy9000]

They won't tell you anything over the phone because they want to get you into the high pressure sales situation at the store. As for the fee to join, it's never set in stone. It's basically whatever they can talk you into paying. Sometimes it's $5000, sometimes it's $2000. On top of that, from what I read, the stuff is not that cheap. At least not enough to justify an exclusive membership. This is why the gods made the internet!

 

[dtc]

I happen to have a buddy who owns a furniture store and will sell me stuff for his cost. Only catch is that he's 60, and he doesn't order much besides beds because they are easy for him to handle. So with the companies he still does business with, it will be a very limited selection on sofas and loveseats.

For anyone looking to put wood floors down, I used to instal flooring commercially. Wood is good, lasts a long time. But now bamboo is being sold. You can get 1/2" thick planks that you glue down, just the same as wood, for $2 per square foot at Home Depot right now. Unlike wood, it doesn't warp. I just put about 700 sq ft of it in my house, and it looks beautiful, is a pleasure to work with, and easier to instal because it doesn not warp. Has a 25 year warranty and is just as durable as wood. You can find it online for about the same price-- cheapest I saw was $1.49 / sq ft. From the local flooring companies, they are pricing just the same as wood, which is a damn shame because bamboo grows very quickly, so its a renewable resource. I suggest wood everywhere except for the wet areas. Go with ceramic in wet areas. Put rugs on the wood. Better than carpet because you don't get dust, allergens, ect, trapped under wood for years like you do with carpet. Many people are going with the laminate "floating floor" that looks like wood, but its the same price as bamboo, which is very solid. If you want to see an example of it in a commercial place, go to Red's Gym in Lafayette.

There are different grades and qualities of bamboo and there are different qualities and grades of finishes on bamboo. Let me assure you that there is a difference between the $1.50 home center crap and the $4 stuff, but either way you're right. It's a good looking and very good product with a hardness that's hard to beat when comparing to wood.

 

[rich70116]

Anyone know anything about cork flooring? Sounds like it might have a good cushion but I wonder how durable it is.

 

[DefKhan1]

there's this furniture store that's name starts with an "O" (forgot) on the corner of Loyola and W. Esplanade in Kenner.

Really good stuff for great prices.

Bought some stuff recently cuz I just bought a house...

 

[iron error]

How about a 36" Thermador Dual-Fuel Stainless Range with the griddle accessory?

I just bought one for $4400 plus freight of about $300. Curious how it stacks up.

They unfortunately do not have that brand (another crappy part of the equation).

They had a pretty commercial looking version from a brand named 5 Star that was $4600 plus tax and freight.