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It probably comes as no surprise to anyone that reads the postings here that I work in IT. Seriously, who else would care about most of this stuff anyway. At the same time, I like to get my hands dirty and have a pretty good knack for figuring things out. About 10 years ago, my wife and I purchased a fixer-upper. Not that we knew what we were getting into at the time, but it was in a great town, with great schools and in a quiet, affluent neighborhood. Before we ever actually moved in, we rolled up our sleeves and got down to work. The house was built in the early 60's and not much had been done to it since. However, as they say, it had good bones. Over the years we have done a good deal of work ourselves and hired out when we didn't want to tackle something (like new shingles for the roof). During that time, Home Depot was a close friend. Some may argue that the stuff you get from Home Depot is crap, but all the equipment that I have purchased there over the years is still in use after many, many active hours.
Fast forward to today (or more specifically - yesterday). We are on a well and the pressure tank for the water (and the associated plumbing around it) needed to be replaced (immediately). I went to Home Depot and purchased the copper and brass fittings that I would need to breath life back into our water delivery system, but I really wanted to replace the pressure tank with the same make we already had. Home Depot and Lowe's did not carry them as they are typically only available through plumbing supply stores. I started to make the rounds and stopped at the one closest to work. They didn't carry anything, but could have one within the week. I don't think so. Rather than continuing to drive around, I hit up Google on my phone and started calling. The next closest place had one in stock, but their price was three times the cost of the units at Home Depot and twice the online price for the same thing. The next place I called said they had one in stock. When asked what the price was, they said they couldn't tell me over the phone if I didn't have an account with them. Seriously? Did they expect me to drive an hour, round-trip, just to find out the price?
After all the run around, I came to a conclusion. It seems to me that many of the trades are responding to the likes of Home Depot and Lowe's by becoming more and more exclusive. You need to be "in the club" just to get a price for something. I think they are attempting to differentiate themselves from the warehouse stores and commodity contractors, but all they are doing is pushing those people with the remotest bit of handiness in them away. At some point, those that are willing to pay an expert to come out and change a leaky faucet will be few and far between and it will be difficult for the experts to stay in business. That being said, we NEED the experts. I don't want just any old person designing the electrical system or the plumbing in my house. At the same time, I expect to be able to work on things myself and have access to the full range of supplies I might need. I think that if the trades want to succeed in the world of today, they need to start embracing it and find ways to pull people in rather than push them away. I for one, will continue to pick and choose when I do the work, when I don't and exactly what equipment I will use and I want it all to be available to me when I need it. When I want an expert, I'll call one and when I don't, I won't. I suspect that I'm not alone here and I really hope that the various trades and their suppliers will wake up before its too late.
