Manufacture Product Differences
I'm hoping someone can help me with this question. I was at a local plumbing distributor and the following assertion was made: You can buy a particular faucet here, or you can buy it at Home Depot. But, the faucet will not be the same from Home Depot as from us. They will look the same, have the same name and part number, but you would have to take the faucet apart or weigh it to see that cheaper parts are used in the one from Home Depot. I initially thought, Wow, what a whopper! Why would Moen or Price Pfister decide to make two separate lines of the same exact faucet - one for big box stores, and one for distributors? It sure seems like it would be very expensive and for no real gain. I talked about it with some folks, and most agreed with me. However, a contractor put forth the scenario that Home Depot might contract with a particular company to make a VERSION of a particular faucet, and that company might pay Moen some cash to put Moen's name on it. Moen would supply the blueprints, but that company would end up making it with inferior parts. I also thought that perhaps Home Depot might be the only ones to carry a particular faucet made by Moen - i.e., it would not be available to distributors, but rather just to Home Depot. And it in fact might be made cheaper than all of Moen's other faucets. Does anyone have any objective information to go on here? Thanks in advance for your help. It's true! Faucets that Home Depot sells, are made just for Home Depot. Sorry, gotta disagree..... Sure, some items are HD only, but those are by the companies they own, or have exclusive distribution rights to. If you buy Moen model xxxxx at HD, its the same Moen model xxxxx you can buy at Ferguson, or any other distributor. Think, will Moen or any other manufacturer give you the same warranty and support for an item made by someone else? Don't think so.... I didn't say they were made by someone else, I said they were made for Home Depot. Originally Posted by Shadeladie It's true! Faucets that Home Depot sells, are made just for Home Depot. do you have anything to back that up ? I tend to agree that if the part number is the same its going to be the same product , not a special version made for the BORG I would think that the exact part number being the same would = the part being the same but what happens sometimes at the big box stores is item/part # 1234 [quality fictious part] is different from the big box part #1235 or #1234A And this cat was let out of the bag years ago. Home Depot's house brand is Glacier Bay. Lowe's is Jameco I believe. Home Depot's top end brand is Pegasus, made by Globe Union Brass. I don't buy house brand faucets from either store, just install them for my customers. I stopped buying Delta faucets from big box stores for the #1 reason; they are made of less quality, use different parts from the plumbing supply houses. This discussion was had between my Delta rep and I and we compared two single handle Delta faucets to see if it was true. One had a metal pop-up assembly, the other had flimsy plastic. The flimsy plastic pop-up assembly has a mack washer that's too small to correctly cover the openings for most sink drains. The body of the faucet for the Delta at the big box store is of a chrome plastic finish, the plumbing supply house still carries the chrome brass body finish. A noticeable difference in weight between the two faucets. The cover for the allen screw that holds the handle on is brittle and larger than the plumbing supply house brand. The plumbing supply house repair kits for the faucets produced and sold at the big box stores are not exactly matching to some of the exterior components relating to finish. What was told from my rep, That's not our faucet, we will not supply you with repair parts if you install these and expect us to cover the expense of materials/labor when it fails. He stated that there are HUGE margins found in the products bought and sold by the big box stores which is understandable; the product is shipped off to out of the country, assembled and brought back here to be sold at a more competitive rate than what's sold at the plumbing supply houses. This is what the consumer wants, this is what they always hedge for, bottom price on the dollar. This is what you get since the big box stores own your intent to buy. They just got as smart and figured out make more money on the buy by making a cheaper product with the same name that is tried and trusted. I actually love it when a customer supplies me with a store bought faucet; always missing parts, sometimes leaks from the go, has problems down the road shortly and I'm getting paid for it. I didn't buy it, I just installed it. I used to care to advise people of this issue but the property owner instantly feels I'm trying to market my product for a hidden markup. The big box stores beat me to it....I benefit from it greatly. Anyone that still doesn't believe the facts regarding this, contact the purchasing agents at the big box stores. They'll tell you in short fashion how the ball bounces. If it wasn't true, there wouldn't be discrepancies in product, nor would this thread exist. Home Depot's house brand is Glacier Bay. Lowe's is Jameco I believe. Home Depot's top end brand is Pegasus, made by Globe Union Brass. I don't buy house brand faucets from either store, just install them for my customers. not talking house brand This discussion was had between my Delta rep and I and we compared two single handle Delta faucets to see if it was true. One had a metal pop-up assembly, the other had flimsy plastic. The flimsy plastic pop-up assembly has a mack washer that's too small to correctly cover the openings for most sink drains. The body of the faucet for the Delta at the big box store is of a chrome plastic finish, the plumbing supply house still carries the chrome brass body finish. A noticeable difference in weight between the two faucets. so these where the exact same model and part number ? why would Delta do that , allow the BORG to sell inferior product with their name on it ? sounds like a supply house ,urban legend to me now I do believe they may carry a inferior line but I find it hard to believe the same part number and model number is allowed to be sold with inferior materials Wish I could remember who told me that, but it was quite a while back. It stuck with me, but I have nothing to back it up. Originally Posted by mango man why would Delta do that , allow the BORG to sell inferior product with their name on it ? sounds like a supply house ,urban legend to me Doesn't matter if the model and part number match, it's a product made in another country. Delta *my favorite brand* did it for the money, limits cost of manpower to produce the product and gets probably less money but at a definite lower investment. If you was a plumber and dealt with products from these stores on a ongoing basis, you'd notice the difference in product reliability and whether the product was correctly packaged. It's okay to be a non-believer; that's the divide the big box stores try not to reveal to support sales growth. I noticed Moen shower valves from the big box stores have FIP connections vs. sweat connections from the suppliers...so there is a difference. Originally Posted by Terd Herder I noticed Moen shower valves from the big box stores have FIP connections vs. sweat connections from the suppliers...so there is a difference. The reason? Because in the worst case scenario, the property owner who doesn't understand thermal/heat transfer will take a valve with sweat connections and solder up their valve without removing the cartridge/internal parts. This damages the valve instantly. The use of of IPS threaded connections helps with this problem as the product maker understands that they don't make money when a owner of their product calls up and says their faucet is not working from the go.......when in reality it was how the faucet was installed. Still, some will thread that adaptor into the valve and sweat the pipe in, the majority will jig up pieces of pipe with the adaptor which keeps the heat away from the valve IF they don't understand that they have to remove the internals. Most if not all valves sold at big box stores will be IPS for this reason. Keeps product issues minimized for those who incorrectly install their product. The Delta R10000 valve body however offers both IPS and sweat, which is sold at the big box stores. From the way it looks you'd think it was IPS only.
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