Contractors Buy Locally, Too
Where Does the Penny from the Penny Nail Go?

by Heidi Thomas

Keeping their money in the local economy is important to area contractors. And, more often than not, it’s actually less expensive to purchase materials locally because of shipping costs.

The Skagit County Business Monthly talked with several contractors about where they buy their materials and why.

“Price is not always an issue,” states Keith Swanson, owner of Skagit Builders, 21307 Sherman Lane in Mount Vernon.

“It all boils down to customer service,” agrees Joe Toussint of Mason and Toussint Construction, 542 S. Spruce St., Burlington. “If I’m in a pinch with one of my customers, I want to know that my supplier is willing to help me out.” As a contractor, he says his company is in the business of customer service as well, so if he can get good service, he will be better able to provide good service. “We’re local — we like to support the local economy,” he adds.

Dan Estabrook, owner of AccuWest Pacific, 1520 Parker Way, Mount Vernon, says that price is usually the first consideration, but how he’s treated is a close second. “I prefer to buy locally. That’s where I live and earn a living.”

Estabrook specializes in custom construction, so he likes to buy materials separately for each job. “You don’t know what you’ll need until you bid the job, so you don’t want a lot of leftover material you can’t use.”

He buys from Concrete Nor’West, Skagit Ready Mix, Mount Vernon Building Center and Carpet One in Skagit County, plus “a host of subcontractors and vendors from Mount Vernon to Everett.” Of the products he purchases, he’s aware that cabinets from Cannon Creek in Monroe are locally made.

In business as a general contractor for 24 years, Estabrook has four employees.

Crest Inc., at 17132 Bennett Rd. in Mount Vernon, is a general contractor that does mostly commercial with some custom residential work statewide. It has been in business nine years and employs from seven to 25 persons seasonally. Brian Rutherford, chief financial officer, notes that the company tries to buy most of its materials locally if they’re available. “It’s more cost effective because of transportation costs,” he explains. “We prefer to keep our money locally.”

 

Putting it out to bid

Much of its purchases are made at Keith Brown, formerly Copeland Lumber, in Burlington. Rutherford says material for each job is put out for bid and purchased separately, because each one is different and it’s “more cost effective to let the lumberyard store and deliver it.”

Crest Inc. also buys at Builders Alliance, Simmons or Burlington Glass and Fasten-All Co. in Burlington. The ready-mix concrete the company gets is made locally.

DeLong Brothers Construction was started a year ago by Darren and Mike DeLong on Highway 9, north of Sedro-Woolley. They do both general and subcontracting, mainly in Skagit County, and purchase most of their materials at Lowe’s, formerly Eagle Hardware. Darren DeLong says his firm is contracted to do “quite a lot of finish work” for Lowe’s.

“We mainly buy per job, but we’re working toward stocking some materials for repair work,” comments Darren DeLong. “Anytime we get a chance to buy locally we do, and we at least try to buy everything U. S.-made.”

In addition to pricing, availability and on-time order delivery is important to their decision where to purchase materials.

Jeff Hansell has owned Hansell Homes, 1601 William Way in Mount Vernon, for 20 years. He specializes in general residential contracting primarily in Skagit County and employs five workers.

“I buy as much as I can locally. If I can’t find it competitively (in Skagit County), I may have to look to Bellingham or Snohomish. I like to support the local economy and it’s easier to work with people that you know, right here,” he declares.

Hansell also purchases materials separately for each job because “it’s difficult and costly to warehouse” products. He says he uses locally made I-joists that come from Pacific Woodtech Products in Burlington and believes there is a lot of fabrication of construction materials done locally. He shops at Western Forest Products, Mount Vernon Building Center and Keith Brown.

For the past 12 years, Mason and Toussint Inc. has been doing general contracting for custom residential, remodeling and light-commercial building in Skagit, Whatcom, Island and Snohomish counties. Toussint, partner with Bob Mason, has been in the construction business 25 years. They employ a base of six.

“We’re not set up to store anything,” he says, so they buy material on a job-to-job basis and shop “pretty much locally for everything.” The company purchases material primarily from Oso Lumber in Sedro-Woolley. He knows that some of the lumber they buy comes from Summit Timber out of Darrington.

Skagit Builders has been around since 1969 and Swanson has owned it since 1994. He employs two to four persons, depending on time of year, and works mainly in the Skagit County area.

 

Service is consideration

Much of his material is purchased at Keith Brown. “We do a lot of work around Burlington, and we like to go with someone who gives us good service. Copeland and now Keith Brown are fairly large companies with good buying power for competitive prices.”

Swanson purchases for each job separately because he doesn’t want a lot of money tied up in inventory.

Marco Soto of Soto McNett Construction Inc. of Burlington, also buys for each job locally, mostly from Oso Lumber. “They provide good service and quality and have the best prices,” he says. The materials made locally that he is aware of come for TG Floors, engineered floors, and Gluelams, laminated beams.

Soto McNett is a general residential contractor in business 20 years and employs eight persons.

Welch Brothers Construction has been in Anacortes for 30 years. Owned by Bill Welch and his sons, Mike and Randy, the company does mainly subcontracting and some general excavating, utility and grading work — “everything from clearing trees to pavement,” Randy Welch points out.

They employ five to 15 persons, depending on time of year and work on projects in Skagit, Whatcom, Snohomish and King counties.

Welch states they like to buy locally because “it’s nice to put a face to whom you’re dealing with. Service is also the important thing. When you need something at the last minute, you don’t want to have to shop it around.”Welch Brothers does have 10 acres for storage and will buy in bulk if the price is right, but they normally purchase just what they need for each project. They buy from U.S. Filter in Bellingham, Dependable Construction Supply in Seattle, Granite Pre-Cast in Bellingham and Cascade Concrete in Burlington. Locally produced material comes from Lakeside Paving in Anacortes and Monroe and Granite Concrete in Bellingham.

 

No economic worries

Skagit-area contractors are optimistic about the economy, most saying reports of a recession have not really hit our part of the country.

“I don’t think it’ll be a real big problem,” comments Welch. “It’s just the election-year thing until everybody gets used to the new administration.”

While business has been a little bit slower because of stock market fluctuations, Toussint also doesn’t see “a huge recession on the horizon. The economy in this area is still pretty strong,” he says.

“I hate hearing the ‘R’ word,” declares Hansell. “It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people think there will be one, they start reining in and then it does happen.” But because the Skagit area “lags a little behind the larger areas, we usually only start to feel it if it hits somebody big, like Boeing.”