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Lowe's vs. Home Depot for home updates
DH and I are looking to do some updates to the bathroom and kitchen (small/medium projects in both). Right now we are looking at Lowe's and Home Depot to coordinate the projects, because they will most likely be more cost effective and have more affordable options....right?
Which do you prefer, and why:
Lowe's
Home Depot
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Lowe's vs. Home Depot for home updates
We usually stick to Lowes for things... they're a little closer and we've found their staff to be friendlier and more helpful.
That said, I would shop around beyond the big box store because sometimes I think the mom and pop shops that do these sorts of things can be more cost effective and more focused on you because you're one of only a few projects.
We always go to both and treat them pretty interchangeably. However, my in-laws just redid a whole slew of stuff in their house (installed all new floors on 2nd floor, entire master bath remodel, kitchen countertops, paint whole house) and they had some issues with returns, delivery, and quality of Lowes' products which really turned them off them for good. They won't go back to Lowes after their experiences the last few months.
Both places sub out their install work so I would be wary of that. We had an installer subbed out by Home Depot that sucked. We typically hire our own installers now.
And depending on the project, smaller stores or distributers might be less expensive. For example, Lowes and Home Depot are both crazy expensive for granite counters when compared to hiring your own fabricator and going to the slab yard yourself. But for carpeting, they tend to price out better than traditional flooring stores because of the $99 whole house install price. It all depends on the project, so shop around.
Jennie
Thanks for the feedback ladies! Sounds like I could probably be better off doing it with someone else, but it intimidates me because I don't know how to do so! Any suggestions for other places to coordinate this are also welcome. Here's a basic run-down of what we want done:
Bathroom:
new tub, tile walls installed in bath/shower, new fixtures in tub/shower, and possibly room painted
Kitchen:
new counters (probably granite, we also have a very small kitchen, about 18 square feet for counters), new sink, new faucet, new oven hood, and backsplash
I'd search for contractors. That bathroom project is pretty big. Going with a big box store may hold you up for a while.
As for the kitchen, I'd shop around for the countertop, but probably get the sink and faucet from Lowes or HD. Measure your sink depth; if you don't get the same depth sink you will have to redo the plumbing under the sink.
We did install a countertop/sink/faucet, and we bought a laminate countertop that was in stock at Lowe's ("labrador granite"). We hired a carpenter to install it, and my FIL helped us install the sink and faucet. That said, he did have to redo our plumbing as I got a much deeper sink than the previous one. The other thing is when you do go to remove the old one and install the new one, you want to have it done in 1-2 day... when you change the countertop you face losing your kitchen for several days.
Jennie
Every granite fabricator I know does sinks and faucets as well. And they typically have pretty good quality sinks. (18 gauge stainless at least) so you can get it straight through them provided you like the ones they use. We got our sink through our fabricator.
Angies List is a great place to learn about different contractors.
As for the tile jobs, if I were you I would hire a single tile guy to do the bathroom work and the kitchen backsplash. The more projects they do in one bid, the better the pricing typically. It will price out more if you hire one guy to do the bathroom tile work and another guy to do the kitchen backsplash. Also more if you have the same guy come out and treat it as two different jobs. The bathroom job you're talking about is a big job. And you want to ensure the tile work in the bath is done right. Don't skimp or use someone's crappy sub on that. If you get water under your bathroom tile you have the potential for big problems so make sure the guy you're using is quality and doing it himself (not subbing out).