BiggerPockets

Talk to commercial services desk.

Often they have a minimum order size for the discount, but if they get to know you sometime you can get the discount on everything, except tools. I could never get it on tools...

I prefer Lowes, I have pumped hundreds of thosuands through that store and don't let them forget it! LOL I can now just go to the store manager on duty and say "hey, I need a little better price on this" last item was a gas fireplace with screen for 200!

You can ask for a discount...better, IMO to say a better price any time. You can certainly ask at any store and sometimes you get it, but not if you don't ask! Good luck.

Also keep in mind that Lowes and HD generally accept each other's coupons...so, if you have a 10% off coupon for one, you can generally use it at either.

Here is where you can get the coupons:

http://www.homedepotmoving.com/signup/registration.aspx (sign up and they'll send you one)

http://www.lowes.com/cd_Coupon+Registration_253641591_

Not sure if it's the same everywhere, but at our local Home Depot stores (Los Angeles area), you speak with someone at the commercial (or contractor's) desk, and if your purchase is over $2000 (or maybe $2500, I'm not 100% certain), they will send the order off to the "Bid Room". I've gotten over a 20% discount on a number of occasions. Large appliances seem to be treated differently, though.

The commercial services desk at Lowe's in my area will print a good for that day only, 15% off coupon for paint. I buy in 5 Gallon sizes, so not sure if it applies to all orders or not. Although I have accounts with Lowe's, I don't think it is necessary. You just go to the desk and ask... and they provide!

Go on ebay and you can buy the Lowe's 10% off coupons for about a buck each.

You can also get gift cards to Lowe's, Home Depot, Menards, etc., on ebay for about 90% face value.

Combine a gift card you bought for 90% of face value with a 10% off coupon you bought for a buck and you can get pretty good deals.

I always keep at least 4 or 5 of the 10% off coupons in my wallet at all times. As long your purchase is over $10, the coupon pays for itself.

Bryan,

I have bought several gift cards and have never had a problem with the info being incorrect. If you buy them off of ebay, make sure to use a seller that does a ton of business and has good ratings.

Most of the time this is what happens (I used to do retail security during college):

A person steals something from Lowe's, returns it without a receipt and gets an instore merchandise card for say $100. They then take the merchandise card to a pawn shop and sell if for $50 or $60. The pawn shop then puts the merchandise card on ebay and it usually sells at auction for approximately 90% of the face value (pawn shop that is selling it will have called the 800-number on the back to verify $).

If you are not comfortable buying merchandise cards off of ebay, go to a pawn shop in the worst part of town, tell them to call you when they get merchandise cards as you will buy them for 90 cents on the dollar of face value. I actually have 2 pawn shops that call me quite a bit when they get these cards in.

Couple this with the 10% off coupon you bought for a buck and you get approximately 20% off of a purchase that you needed to make.

Originally posted by BigBubba:
Bryan,

I have bought several gift cards and have never had a problem with the info being incorrect. If you buy them off of ebay, make sure to use a seller that does a ton of business and has good ratings.

Most of the time this is what happens (I used to do retail security during college):

A person steals something from Lowe's, returns it without a receipt and gets an instore merchandise card for say $100. They then take the merchandise card to a pawn shop and sell if for $50 or $60. The pawn shop then puts the merchandise card on ebay and it usually sells at auction for approximately 90% of the face value (pawn shop that is selling it will have called the 800-number on the back to verify $).

If you are not comfortable buying merchandise cards off of ebay, go to a pawn shop in the worst part of town, tell them to call you when they get merchandise cards as you will buy them for 90 cents on the dollar of face value. I actually have 2 pawn shops that call me quite a bit when they get these cards in.

Couple this with the 10% off coupon you bought for a buck and you get approximately 20% off of a purchase that you needed to make.

You can also go online to plasticjungle.com and buy Home Depot gift cards for a 7% discount. While I was waiting for my last flip to settle I accumulated $18,000 in HD giftcards for $16,700. Add that to the contractor desk discount and it adds up to about 20% discount. Ka$hing!

May I suggest slickdeals.net ? Set an alert for the actual thing you're looking for (paint, a specific tool) and if it comes up be ready to pounce on it.
They also have a lot of good strategies for getting cards that aren't illegal.

Originally posted by J Scott:
At Home Depot, if you spend a minimum of $5000 (though they'll do smaller amounts if they know you), you can go to the contractor desk, submit your order to them, they'll submit the order to corporate for a price quote, and a few hours later you'll be offered a price somewhere around 8-12% below retail for that particular order.

From there, you can negotiate further (I never accept less than 12% and have gotten it down to 17% off). Generally, the discount will be dependent on the actual stuff you purchase -- higher margin items will get better discounts than lower margin items.

Actually if you spend enough at Home Depot you can become what is called a managed account and then sending purchases to what is called "The Bid Room" is only a max of $1000. On one project for a four story porch i got all the wood from Home Depot and sent it all to the bid room and I got 38% off, no joke. It all depends on the markup of the items. Sometimes I only get 6% off.