Pre assembly is more expensive; because there is more labor cost, packaging and shipping cost.

I am very interested in alternative building concepts like Earth Bags, and (especially) shipping containers. 

Get to know some of the department managers and find out when their inventory is each year, and when the new models are shipped. 

Made in Mexico, he ships them in and out from TExas.

All fright is shipped VIA barge from Seattle and things get banged around sometimes.

Instead they have moved to gas rewards which is pretty useless to us as there are too many restrictions on using it and the gas price isn't that competitive.We can get a decent discount and free shipping when the orders are big enough by going through the pro desk but for small orders it makes more sense just to go to Lowe's as they give you the discount automatically.

Look at deals that make you go "ship, I wish I would have bought that"then call and find out if it may fall out, lettnem know you are interested if it does, see if they will give you an idea when contingencies are up and keep following up.

Just starting out...What are the advantages and dis-advantages of having a relationship with a Realtor?

If you are talking about spending around 50k in materials, most stores will ship anything free for a minimum of 2k order.

As my decamillionaire friend says "Partnerships are sinking ships".