Economy Lumber Company

As a new homeowner, I over estimated the amount of merchandise I needed, thinking I could just return the unused/​good as new product. Over the two month period between buying the product and wanting to return it, I inadvertently misplaced my receipt. In my experience with making returns at places such as Home Depot, all you have to do is show them the credit card used to make the purchase, they look it up, and the return is completed. Piece of cake. NOT HERE.
When I mentioned the above listed process to the older white male with a white/​gray goatee and thick framed glasses working the counter, his response was something similar to this: «We do too much volume to look things up.» REALLY??? More than HOME DEPOT?
I think his name is Jim, but am not sure. Either way, he was much more interested in telling me he could not help me than try to figure out a way I could return the good as new merchandise that was sitting in the back of my pick up truck. I left the store very frustrated, to say the least.
During my drive home, I decided to call and speak with a manager, who was extremely nice. His name was Brian. He told me to bring the merchandise back to the store at my convenience, let the clerk at the counter know he said it was OK to return it without a receipt, and to contact him if needed regarding the return. I’m talking about less than $ 100 worth of product…
I brought the products back to the store and saw Jim at the sales counter. I purposely spoke with a different counter person regarding the plan discussed with Brian. Jim poked his nose in when he saw me, and came over. He told me how he spoke with another manager besides Brian about my dilemma, and said without a receipt, he could not return the merchandise.
Jim seems to have a personal problem with me or is just a dick, I cannot be certain. Nonetheless, he is a completely negative jerk who has no business working the front counter.
Another sales person overheard Jim’s dickish behavior and stepped in to help. I do not know his name, but he was amazing. He could not have been more helpful and polite. He assisted me in the return process, and I left the business feeling satisfied. But ultimately, I still had a bad taste in my mouth due to Jim. I will not return to the business for any reason going forward. (Thanks to Jim)
I would give one star if it wasn’t for the excellent customer service I received from the last salesperson who helped me with the return.
Hopefully a decision maker with Economy Lumber reads this and deals with Jim appropriately. I would bet this is not the first complaint about him.
Like I said, I am a new homeowner, and have MANY construction projects planned in the near future. I will take my business elsewhere.

Much better than home cheapo. Availability of products is excellent, whereas hd is almost always out of something that I need. Prices are in line with local standards. Busy in the morning and calling sometimes takes a while to get through. Good place overall for anyone serious about the trade.

These guys are a pain to work with.
They call themselves economy lumber, but the only way to check their prices is to ask for each price, face to face or over the phone. Call up and you’re likely to get stuck on hold. Show up and you have to wait in line to even do a price check.
You have to go through a 3-​step process to get your wood: First you ask for what you want from a salesman. A second person rings you up. Then you go out back where a third person goes to pick out your wood pieces for you. There’s usually a line for the first step, and often a line for the other two, also.
Getting any cuts in your wood adds to the price, and how much depends on how much your salesman likes you. Sometimes they’ll throw them in for free. Sometimes the rates are dollars per cut.

Economy lumber is almost always short-​handed so there is a long wait at the counter to order followed by a long wait in the yard to get your lumber. On a number of occasions the yard person has simply given me whatever pieces are on the top of the pile, regardless of condition. In addition, when I phone I am simply left on hold if they are busy. No one comes back on the line. This has happened a number of a few times.
For better and faster service and a more flexible policy about selecting particular pieces of lumber I recommend Ashby lumber. The personnel are friendlier, especially in the yard. Also, Ashby will follow through, returning phone calls. On one occasion I had a problem with a special order through Ashby (the fault of the supplier, not of Ashby). Ashby went the extra mile, sending a truck to replace the items.

This is the place to go for structural lumber and supplies. You need a 5 inch galvanized simpson screw, here you go. You need a 16 foot pressure treated 4X12, this is your place. If you are a DIYer, you may be crossing some imaginary marker.
The whole wait in line to order and pay, then wait in line by the big bullseye has to be re-​thought, though.

Pretty convenient and good products. I definitely recommend you time your visit in the mid afternoon, as that seems to be the slowest time. When it gets busy, you can wind up waiting for a long time.
My only problem with Economy is that sometimes they give me «contractor» pricing, and sometimes not. It can make like a 10% difference. I always feel a little miffed when I pay the higher price.

Was told my delivery would be between 9−12p. I called at 11am to see if they had an ETA but had to leave a message because they were «busy». At 1p I called again and was told that part of my order didn’t arrive until that moment so my delivery would be there by a new estimated time of 2.30p. It actually did show up at that time. And at 4p I received at return phone call from my 11a message. It would have been appropriate for someone to call me to let me know about the delay which is what is find so annoying. Not to mention when I have called other times I have just been left on hold indefinitely. Bad service overall.

The guys at the counter were great and friendly to work with; once I go in the yard to pick up the lumber this guy Carlos came to help and that changed the whole story. Not helpful, to say the least and root. He treated me like he was doing me a favor. We got to a place where I asked to go inside and consult the counter guys. When we got there Carlos told the counter guy Jim who helped me earlier place my order to ‘shut up’ and a man who seemed to be a manager instead of putting Carlos into his place he accommodate my request and thanked Carlos. He made no reference to the way Carlos spoke to Jim; amazing! interestingly enough I was talking to a friend who shops there and when I shared my experience with him he said he had a similar experience with the same guys Carlos.

I LOVE this place! I read the reviews here on Unilocal before I decided to go here for wood. I called and told Jim Dougherty that I only needed a little bit of wood (3 small pieces), but I’d read that it was crowded and difficult. I have an injured leg and was told no weight-​bearing for six months, so I wanted to get in and out in a hurry. He said coming in about 1 p.m. is best for individuals. He said the store is usually very crowded with carpenters and contractors in the morning, and these people knew what they wanted and were very social. So I went down about 1:30 and Jim gave me a chair and he found the small pieces of wood for me, and did NOT charge me!
If you look around, this store is a fun place! There are some neat things to check out. I was starting to get all these ideas of things I’d like to fix or build as I sat there. If my leg was in better shape, I would have spent some time in this store — just looking around.
Whenever I try to purchase wood at Home Depot, they look at me like I have two heads. Jim knew what I wanted and he got it for me and I was out of there. You can always call and ask how busy they are before you go. I highly recommend this store! I can’t wait till I can walk around again — so I can go back and shop.

Economy Lumber is a great place to buy things for any project weather you are a contractor or home owner.
Our company Pan Geo construction has been dealing with Economy Lumber for the past 11 years, the clerks know what they are doing, the yard people are polite and happy and the icing on the cake is:
Tim Frazer, head of doors and windows, he is fast in orders, knows his business and a personality that can not be matched, happy, efficient, helpful and will bend backwards and forwards to make things happen for you.
A GREAT HOME TO COME TO AND WE’LL LEAVE THE LIGHT ON FOR YOU.

If you need wood, like waiting in line or just like being treated like an asshole, then Economy Lumber Company is the spot for YOU! Now to be fair, I don’t buy a lot of lumber – I’m positive that the sales clerks could identify that as I walked in. Rather than show a little patience with me, both of them decided to treat me like the world’s biggest asshole. One of them even gave me the definition of lumbar as at least 5″ thick to make me look like an asshole for asking for a piece ½ an inch thick. The kicker? They have plywood! So he was ridiculing me for the sake of ridiculing me when he had something that perfectly fit what I needed.
The next guy wasn’t better. Told him I needed plywood and told him the dimensions. Pretended that he didn’t understand. I drew a full diagram, labled with width, length. Still pretended not to understand. Then he rang me up and the dimentions didn’t even matter as long as it didn’t exceed a full sheet. WTF?
Then there was an awesome wait outside. Dudes joking around and playing grab ass. The guy that goes to cut my wood takes a full 10 minutes to come back. I could have hand sawed it in that time.
This place is shit.

Excellent inventory. Free delivery for my descent sized order. Knowledgeable staff. Don’t go here and expect them to hold your hand if your the Home Depot DIY’er. They don’t have time for that. Definitely more for the experienced contractor who knows what he needs and needs it at a good price.

For buying just lumber, you can’t beat the prices, but for tools and hardware go to a box store, good quality lumber that beats box store prices go here. Big selection of lumber!

I’ve had to wait in somewhat of a line when I’ve been to the front store to pick up some supplies. The staff behind the counter were helpful and the wait wasn’t too long. No real problems with the front store. But, the guys in the lumber yard were another story. Yikes. They request that you ring so they know you’re there. But, you ring the bell and they grumble like you’re making a racket. Still, I get it. They’re busy with other people and feel the pressure that noisy buzzers often convey.
And then there’s the sales people at the windows and doors show room. Double yikes! Ordered a large pocket door. It arrived late and with a single lite versus the multi-​lite slab we asked for. Turns out my friend couldn’t hold back his project to correct the error and could live with the single lite door. Mistake no longer an issue — water off a duck’s back. A month later we came back and ordered a ten foot french door with two operational side-​lite assembly and a pair of Marvin french casement windows. Lady in the show room says it’d take 4 – 6 weeks. After four weeks we called numerous times to check in on the order, no one calls us back. So, we show up in person and they can’t find our order in the system. After some investigation, it turns out the sales lady who took our order never placed the order! Now we’re looking at over 8 weeks delay since our initial visit. Visibly pissed off, we canceled our order, took the specs sheet and quote and drove over to Truitt and White and gave them our business instead.
Bottom line is this: the front store was fine, but I rarely have a need to go there as there are plenty of other hardware stores closer to me. But, shame on me if I ever go back to Economy Lumber to order doors and windows. Comm’on, Economy get your act together. You’ve lost over $ 15K so far and our future business for poor follow-​through! Sigh.

My partner and I just took on re-​siding our entire house with Certainteed fiber cement board — DIY-​style. We talked to MANY other lumber yards, (Ashby Lumber to name one in particular) where we got a bunch of –tude with a capital A. They acted like we were disturbing them when we went in to inquire about materials, and they didnt have any of the product available for us to actually look at.
Anyway, Economy Lumber was very refreshing! we had several people help us and they were all very personable, patient, friendly, and knowledgeable. Jenny L. was the rep that helped us most and she was totally RAD. She is very sharp and knows her stuff, but she never condescended us for asking beginner questions. She was thorough and got us a great deal on our materials to boot!
PROS:
1. coffee always brewing for customers tog geek out on before making large purchases.
2. BBQ Fridays
3. Staff was EXCEPTIONALLY friendly and helpful compared to everywhere else. (as a woman I get blown off by contractor types like its their job)
4. Materials we wanted were actually available in stock, we could actually see the real product (opposed to just looking at catalogues).
5. Delivery was on time
6. Left over (uncut) materials were all returnable for full refund
7. They are willing to give you a great price when buying bulk (Ashby Lumber didnt come near Econo’s price for the exact same thing)
CONS:
1. Delivery method was a bit unexpected, kind just flew off the bed of the truck — but perhaps this is how all companies off load a ½ ton of 12ft boards? Not sure it really is a con actually, just a surprise.
2. Their website SUCKS — which is truley an injustice to how great they are.
My advice — call them instead, or go in person! You will be happy you supported a cool lumber yard instead of feeding the giant, corporate-​orange, home-​depot monster.

have to wait 5 – 10 minutes in line BEFORE you get to the cashier line, and wait another 5 – 10! you have to take a number, (so if you dont know that its another 5 – 10 minutes) i ONLY come here for lumber because home depot doesnt have an even remotely acceptable lumber selection.
furthermore, because i didnt realize i needed a number, and neither did the guy in front of me, when the next number was called, be quickly looked around for the number dispenser, and cut in front, 6 positions down the line. after waiting for 6 more people to go ahead, the clerk told me i needed to take my return out to the yard, get a worker to restock and sign it off.
after that was accomplished, i returned to the counter and too another number…

When I decided to build a bunch of garden boxes in the back yard, I had to find a place that could make it super easy to do. I have never used a saw. I don’t have a truck to carry lumber. I just wanted to get the right quantities and lengths and such of red wood delivered to my house so I could build the boxes.
When I emailed the general info mailbox for Economy with my quote request, I got a quick, helpful response at a significantly lower price than another local company.
They delivered a couple of days later — all neatly stacked ready to use. I managed to get all of this done by email — no trips to the store and no phone conversations. Which is fantastic for someone who is busy on conference calls all day and just wants to dig in the dirt when she gets home.

I love this place! I don’t know why I ever spent so much time at home depot.
My boyfriend and I are first time homeowners, and went to economy lumber for some supplies to do custom closet built-​ins. We both work in construction, so we’re not total newbies with building stuff, but since we both do commercial work we are pretty inexperienced with residential stuff. And we aren’t carpenters, so we needed some guidance for working with wood.
The guy at the front desk was so helpful. We told him what we wanted to do, and had some rough sketches and measurements. He explained different wood options, told us what people usually use for each part of what we were doing, and suggested a few easier options than what we had planned. He even pointed out a few things we hadn’t thought of.
He entered our materials order into the computer, then walked around the store to help us find all the hardware we needed. For a place that is so much smaller than those big box stores, I couldn’t believe how much was in there! They really just eliminate all the stuff you really don’t want or need, and stock all the good stuff.
He told us to drive around to the back, where the guys had our wood materials cut and ready to go. They even loaded it into the truck for us.
It was a great experience, and our closet came out just like we planned. We will definitely be back.

If you’re looking for some more speciality or professional items, your best bet to find them is at this place. The main reason I continue to frequent this place is bc they have a larger selection of Simpson Hardware than Home Depot. Their staff is friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. I have gone to this place maybe 20+ times and never had a negative experience which is saying something!
PROS:
— More professional than other hardware supply stores
— A lot of in stock items
— Large simpson strongtie stock
— helpful, knowledgeable staff
— they give discounts on large quantity orders
— close to freeway
CONS:
— More expensive than Home Depot which is just a 2 minute drive away though not unreasonable
— the wait to pick up lumber/​supplies could take a while as you take you’re order to the back.

Shin at the front desk was very helpfull.
We only had a small piece of window fram wood that needed fabrication.
He took care of it and they produced what they promised.
Lots of builders in ordering and seem to know what they are doing.