The discounts are out there, you just have to know what, when and where to ask for them. You will have to work for your discounts and it may take a couple of weeks to get your prices right. Think of it this way, How many weeks will you have to work to generate $750? That’s your potential savings. So if you are not willing to give up, keep on reading. Get ready to SCORE YOUR DISCOUNTS!

When possible let the big box store know you buy full pack quantities to minimize everyones labor. This is good for you because the full bundles have not been picked thru. Good for the store because they will not have employee labor tied up in picking individual pieces. This way you will have extra material that you can pick thru and then return when the fence is finished.

BUY BULK!

Common Misconception You don’t have to be a contractor to use the bid room! Home Depot has what is called a bid room for large purchases where they will sharpen their pencils. Lowes and Menards have similar operations so check in for their large purchases discounting. Just take your filled out privacy fence materials worksheet for a current best pricing quote. Make it easy on them by adding their code #’s (SKU’s) next to product quantities. This will likely get you the best discounted pricing, but don’t stop there. Check out all of the other discount ideas below to achieve your best pricing.

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A CONTRACTOR TO GET CONTRACTOR PRICING IN THE BID ROOM!

How many times will you build a privacy fence? How do you know what materials you are going to need?

Use this FREE DOWNLOADABLE Privacy Wood Fence Material Breakdown worksheet to establish specific quantities of materials you need for your project.

By having specific quantities and code numbers you make it easy for them to get you better pricing!

Using your natural wood privacy fence worksheet to generate a job specific materials list, get bids from your THREE vendors of choice. BUT…let them know you are getting 3 bids for this project so they need to be competitive (best pricing).

LET THEM KNOW THERE ARE MORE BIDDERS!

High volume lumber stores will always have some product to markdown to get rid of. It may be a higher priced product that just didn’t sell so they reduce the price and move it out. It could be they are buying from a new vendor and need to flush out the remaining inventory. They could slowly sell off the inventory or for a reduced price sell it all to you for a WIN-WIN!

MARKDOWNS WIN-WIN SITUATION

Ask for deals on damaged or blemished product on top of your best pricing. Large volume stores have large volume damages and need to flush them out. How does that work? Who gets the damaged products? ASK FOR THEM!

You are going to need lots of concrete, ask for discounted price on all of the broken bags of concrete. You can even make a deal to have them save all the broken bags for the next 2 weeks on a pallet for you.

Ask for any forklift damaged fence boards at a reduced price. We would buy 1 to 2 tractor trailer loads of fence boards per week from the wholesale house and there was always damage in almost every bundle from forklifts hitting and chipping a board. Offer to buy all of these at 50% of retail. Most of these board can be used as is, and some will need the damage cut out. Use these boards on the back side of the yard.

DAMAGED PRODUCT DISCOUNTS

Wiggle room in the Bid Room! Review your 3 specific competitive bids, choose the vendor you like the best and see if they will match or even go lower on the pricing.

BID ROOM HAS WIGGLE ROOM!

Once the box store has reached the bottom dollar they can offer you, ask them to “SWEETEN THE DEAL” Box stores have lots of promotional items from time to time ranging from t-shirts, utility knives, and small hand tools with their logo.

They may also have vendor promos like free tool with 10 cases of nails purchased.

ALWAYS ASK… TO SWEETEN THE DEAL!

You will definitely want the store to deliver your materials. 300′ of privacy wood fence materials is a lot of product! By having the store deliver it they can place the materials in the back yard so you will not have to hand carry.

Stores usually charge for this service, but you can ask for and usually get free delivery on competitive bids.

BE SURE TO ASK FOR FREE DELIVERY!

Be sure to follow up with local school fundraisers.

A few years ago the local box stores got involved in the school savings coupon books where I live. You know these fundraiser events for local schools sponsored by businesses. Well in our case the box store had a 10% OFF COUPON up to $2000 purchase. Books were sold for $10, so for $20 you could get two coupons, break up the order in two and take $400 off your final best pricing! Here is the best part…every lumber yard started honoring the coupon so you could shop at multiple stores.

SCHOOL FUNDRAISING COUPONS FOR BOX STORES!

Internet coupons are super popular right now! These coupons are available online for download and some are able to be used right off  of your cell phone.

Where to find these coupons and offers?

The Krazy Coupon Lady: 37 Home Depot Hacks You’ll Regret Not Knowing

Struggleville – Home Depot Deals

Struggleville – Menards Deals

INTERNET BOX STORE COUPONS!

That’s right! Most box lumber stores have their OWN credit card and they WANT YOUR BUSINESS. Using THEIR CARD it will make it easier for you to make more purchases at THEIR STORE over and over again. They are betting once you get their card you will keep coming back.

What’s that? You don’t want their card? Apply and use their card for your purchase with the 10% discount, then after the project is finished and you do returns, pay it off and cancel the card!

The final quote you get from the contractors desk has nothing to do with how you pay for your fence project (the credit card discount). So you CAN double down and grab this discount too!

DOUBLE DOWN WITH BOX STORE CREDIT CARD COUPON

Home Depot credit card has initial discounts that vary when opening credit card accounts up to 10% max out at $1000. You also have the option for no cash down 6/12/

Coupon received January 2020

even 24 months financing, and some same as cash offers. I have a personal Home Depot card and receive Home Depot offers on regular basis in the mail and online for 10% off one purchase with max discount of $200.

Check out these two great online sources for upcoming big discounts at box stores:

The Krazy Coupon Lady: 37 Home Depot Hacks You’ll Regret Not Knowing

Struggleville – Home Depot Deals

Menard’s BIG CARD has 2% rebates on all purchases. That is 2% off even on their 11% off rebate sales.

If you purchase product the week before the sale you can still get the 11% off rebate, ask the front desk for an adjustment rebate form.

Tracking Menards sales last year (2019) showed about 6 weeks that was not available for 11% off everything rebates or 11% off adjustment rebates. And by the way, Menards prices are better than competitive with other box stores in 2019, but the other big box stores are catching on and matching their prices when stores are close to another.

Lowes Credit Card offers 5% off every purchase everyday.

Krazy Coupon Lady and Lowes

Most big box stores have some kind of active military or retired military discounts up to 10%. So if your store doesn’t have this program, see if the competition has the discount and if your store will honor the competitive coupon.

Don’t forget to ask for any discounts you can think of. Many discounts are available thru AARP, AAA, and trade organizations. So if in doubt, ask your store what discounts they honor.

Most big box stores will honor competitor coupons up to 10% off and they will usually have a max limit of total purchase. How to get around this? Break it into 2 separate purchases by yourself and a family member with coupons. You can usually find and print these online coupons.

You will have to work all the angles but you can actually get huge discounts of 15% to 25% on your backyard fencing materials.

Let us know in the comments if this helped you, and if you have any more great discount ideas.