Buy local: Will it help you DIY like a pro?

There’s a reason people don’t ‘buy local’ more often. Actually, a lot of them.

In no small part is has to do with the locals themselves, the poster-people (oft described as the friendly AND rhyming ‘Mom & Pop’) that look angry you’re there. Or, just half in the bag. What?! It happens. And they cannot have my money.

But when the ‘buy local’ gambit pays off, it’s sweet retail bliss. Especially buying items for home or DIY projects.

Why should you keep reading? For what you might get out of it on your next project.

At the LBM Ideas tradeshow I was invited to I got to met a lumberyard pro named Keith from a lumberyard you’ve never heard of.

Someone asked to show him their product, an attic stair. Then the magic happened: A few hits into the conversational tennis match, Keith shoots off rough-openings for attic stairs like he was reading it from a cue card.

Note: No cue card.

He knows because he lives it. Breathes it. He, in the truest sense of the word, owns it.

[This is the sound of me clapping.]

So what does this mean for you, your home and why you should try to ‘buy local’?

First, ‘local’ is a relative term. Small businesses and big boxes source a lot of material from a global supply chain. What you get when you buy from a ‘local’ (and good) lumberyard is the product PLUS knowledge and desire. In other words: X-Factor. People work there and shop there because they want to. Not because they just need a job or because the think they’re getting a low price. (They’re often getting great pricing and that’s part of the story).

I’ve found this true from the lumberyard who’s worked with our crazy MyFixitUpLife crazy projects (Niece Lumber, you rock) from truck drivers to sales guys.

I’ve seen it lumber yards around the country working on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and Save My Bakery and at the LBM Ideas show.

The best part for me is that I found it without looking. That, my friends, is the payoff.

Next time you’re shopping for DIY gear—attic stairs or lumber or paint or a saw—park your car next to a truck at the local lumberyard. It’s refreshing when you meet people who want to be there, that like what they do, and—follow me all the way: Know how to do it.

That’s value worth more—by a mile—than a low price.

Mark

A licensed contractor, tool expert, wood and outdoor enthusiast, and elite Spartan Race competitor, he writes about home improvement and tools for national magazines and websites, and teaches hands-on clinics for other remodeling professionals. Check out his book, The Carpenter's Notebook.

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