How to Negotiate Discounts on Materials & Bulk Orders?

[Arseni Zaitsev]

Builders and Remodelers of Bigger Pockets!  

When buying sizeable or large quantities, I'm curious what your strategy is for negotiating discounts with your material vendors and distributors. 

Do you make similar vendors compete on price? Do you negotiate based on if you have an account or pay upfront? How do you negotiate with repeat distributors? 

I've tried different methods over the years and haven't pinned one that consistently works. Sometimes I've found that just asking "is this best you can do" is enough to get a few points off. Other times, I have to send competing quotes to vendors for a price match on the items that are more. Last resort, I sometimes piecemeal, but that's very time-consuming. I've also found that some distributors offer discounts for paying off accounts "earlier".

Please share your stories and strategies.