Designers have a skill that that our industry lacks — milking customers. And the designers don’t leave money for us on the table. Part of the problem is that there is a whole ecosystem supporting the designers. There is a huge markup on their goods and the designer can get the customer a discount while making a good commission for themselves. Designers expect a commission from us, but our margins are often less than the commission expected by the designer. We’ve all had experiences where the customer finds a product out on the Internet for less than our cost from a distributor, including free shipping and no sales tax.

All of this undermines our credibility and makes it difficult for us to get a fair deal.

Our tact is to provide a painless experience for the designers and GCs. A group of them know that we solve problems and will not hesitate to recommend us. It’s interesting that we are the only sub on the job that is allowed onsite, unsupervised.