OT:Rant on how good Menards is.

Most of the Rant I've read here is how bad something is. I just want to say how Great I think Menards is. Just got my annual 2% rebate check form Menards credit card, HSBC, for $67. Down from the previous year's 2% check, $235. Last year I put on a 26x26 room addition. Sure you have to spend the rebate check at Menards, but I'm there all the time. Menards is the only place I call a true lumber yard plus a hardware, electrical, plumbing, windows, doors and paint department. If you have a contractor's card, they will deliver building materials for free, 20 miles and a minimum $1000 order. Or is you know a contractor, all you have to do is put $1 of your order on his card and the delivery is free too. I call Menards a real lumber yard, because you pull your truck or trailer in their yard and they will load you with a forklift. When I go to Lowes have to wheel things out their front door. If you are lucky to find someone, they may put it on a forklift and take it to their front door.

I will give Lowes credit for having a good tool department, Dewalt and Delta tools. A good lawn mower selection, plus the cheapest place to buy mower blades and belts. They also have a good appliance department that has free delivery and set up.

Guess you could say I have the best of both worlds, Menards and Lowes just a few miles away.
George

Walmart with lumber

When They first opened a Menard's in my area my daughter and I went to look around. The cheap stuff in the ads to lure you in were not in stock. They only get very few before the ad comes out. We didn't see anything we needed so went to leave. Well you can't get out ! We had to go over a barricade to escape ! That's our new family joke.

Well we did go buy some stuff later and found many things different then what Lowes or Home depot offer and at better prices. Never have bought any lumber there. Home Depot is closest to me. It sure is a pain to have to wander around the store and find and haul it all out the doors and to your truck !

I'm on the other side of the fence on that one George.
I dislike Menards a lot.
I'm a small contractor.
Of the Big Three - Home Depot, Menards and Lowes I give about 80% of my business to HD, 15% to Lowes and only about 5% to Menards.
I just have had too many bad experiences at Menards. Like the time I go out the door and start putting the items in my PU and the Manager and three big goons demand to see my reciept like I stole the stuff.
Like the times I bought something and paid with a check only to find it damaged. So when I return it I have to wait two weeks till my check clears to get my money back via the mail.
Like the times you get those creepy guards pawing through my tool boxes to see if I have stolen anything coming out of the yard.
Too many times I would buy a sink basket or waste and overflow for a tub and the item was so cheap as to be unuseable. Or sheetrock screws that are so oily that you leave oily hand prints on the fresh sheetrock.
Once in a while if I'm working close by and I need a quick item I will go there. But I always try to plan my day so I can pick up the items on my way to or from work.
The one think I do like about Menards is they have a pretty good selection of grade 8 bolts.
You have to buy about 6 in a package but those 6 are still cheaper than 2 bolts at the hardware store.

I buy most of my stuff at Menards. I get a 10% military discount at the Home Depot next door to Menards, but somehow Menards seems more "user friendly".

When we built our house 12 years ago, I watched Menards ads the previous winter, and whenever anything I knew we were going to need was on sale, I went to the store and prepaid it for later delivery. Saved a good chunk of money that way.

Oh and as for lumber, go there and try to pick a dozen good studs. At HD if the pile has been picked through you can get an employee to open a new cube. At menards they wont open a cube till all the twisted, warped and cracked studs are sold. Menards lumber is usually 2nds and 3rds.
HD sells 1sts and 2nds.

Gosh George, I feel the same way you do about Menards. I dunno where these other guys are from, but it don't sound like too friendly a place. Our Home Depot keeps it's lumber indoors where it becomes airplane propellers and helicopter rotors pretty quick. Plu, the exact same item from Menards is about 20% less than Home Depot. We take big advantage of their rebates, where you can actually get some stuff FREE. Their rebate system is as good a setup as I've ever seen, too. Never had the guard go pawing thru my personal stuff to see what I had. Here's an example of how great Menards is: Went to get 400' of #2 Copper for wiring to a shed. On the reel, it was priced at $1.20 per ft. When we went inside, it rang up at $1.39 per ft. Asked what's going on. Clerk went with us to be sure he had the right SKU number. Came about that the price had risen, but he let us have it for the lower price.

Understand their strengths and weakness, DON'T ORDER ANYTHING FROM THEM- a weakness they can't do a freakin order I've tried about 6 times and they are 0 & 6, it doesn't come in, it's discontinued, what comes is damaged OR the wrong stuff comes in. The only exception is a drop ship order for hardware or parts. Our local Menard's specializes in stocking empty shelves I can go there and find the space for what I want but it's empty. The bottom line I live in the sticks, it's Menards 6 miles away or 45 miles to Green Bay for HD, Fleet Farm or Lowes. The worse part about getting a Menard's in town, we don't have an Ace hardware anymore.

Never even heard of Menards until today. I went to their website and store locator. The closest one is three hours away. Interesting thread though. Thanks

I'm about 35 miles north of a Menards and 30 east of HD. The Menards employees are clueless and most of the time you have to rumage through the store yourself to find what you need. The HD has great help and if an employee isn't sure they will ask for help right now. THey also lode stuff for me.

Quality is another issue for me. The lumber at HD is of a higher quality by far.

I think as far as the employees go that it's the store management that makes it or breaks it.

Rick

I believe you. Home depot sucks compared to Lowes, I have never been in a Menards.
Anyone remember Builders square? That was the worst of all of them.....I renamed it Builders Trapezoid. It was owned by Kmart I think for a long time so what do you expect.

Ya, I could write a book on Menard's.. One word of caution to the folks who do shop there: Inspect the goods before you leave the property.. If delivered, inspect the goods when they are delivered.... I know of one fellow who had kitchen cabinets delivered.. It was several weeks before the time came to install them.. That is when he found one that had been speared with a forklift.... "Sorry, you have 72 hours to report a damage claim".. They would do nothing for him..

I had the same great expetience with some rafters that I ended up reinforcing...

The real winner was the 14x16 garage door with an order of steel gutters piled on top... The palletized door was not placed in the cleared area in front of my garage.. Instead, it was bridged on two hard snow banks where it ended up bowed..AND, everything was covered with road salt splash to boot. When I cut the steel bands, the pallet dropped about four inches..... The Manager at Menard's sarcastically told me to pile some bricks on the door!! I asked him what the warranty was on the door??? He said ten years.. "OK sir; If I didn't bow that door, and your delivery guy didn't bridge that snow bank; then that door must have been defective from the FACTORY!!! I read the riot act about customer service; and a few hours later, I received an e-mail that a new door was on the way.. They DO have some good folks working for them, but There are a few that can sure ruin whatever they touch... I watched them unloading window units on a couple occasions.. Every other unit ended up with a cracked or broken mounting flange..Bang!! just jerk them off the cart and let them hit the floor, and then drag them across the floor..

Menard's definetly has it's good side and it's bad side. We have one in town and that's good. They are the lowest cost amoung lumber yards and hardware stores, but the product quality and service levels are lower too.

I think of Menards as the K-Mart of lumber yards and hardware stores. Sometimes that fits the need perfectly, when it doesn't I go some place else.

I shop at all three of them and where I was building a new house I had a Menards and HD within the same distance. I think the bottom line is that you have to know what you are shopping for. I have seen good prices but poor quality at Menards at times but then on other items I've seen great prices with better quality than the other stores.

Jim

I do buy at Menards more than the others but Saturday I was going to pick up a yellow pine 2" X 12" X 8'. There was only about six on the rack and had been sorted to the point I wouldn't want to stand in the center of any of those. I was also going to get two sheets of 1/2" plywood. Someone had stacked several sheets of 1/4" on top of the 1/2" and I could see that at least the four top 1/2" plywood sheets were warped bad. I sort also but always put the culls back rather than place on a different product. I decided I will go back in a week or so on a week day and see if I can get at what I needed. I wasn't up to lifting all that plywood to find two sheets. It has been that way at Home Depot a few times in the past also.

Just another box store.Real lumber yards have a much larger selection of millwork and dimensional lumber,less tools and hardware.Sales people are a lot more knowledgeable also.I will only go to Deep Homo and Blowes if I am stuck for something simple.Hate wasting time roaming around those stores looking for things.I make my living as a carpenter.

Glad it worked for you

Vito

First time somebody said Menards to me I thought they were using the french word for manure.

I work at an actual lumber yard. Locally owned.

Yup, we're a little more expensive than the big boxes, but we stay in business because:

1. Free delivery on EVERYTHING, be it a $5 bag of bird seed or a $50,000 home package.

2. No Questions Asked returns on EVERYTHING. If you've got the receipt (or we can find it in our system) bring it back and we'll replace it or give you your money back. Only restrictions are that if you paid for it with a card, the money goes back on the card, and if the refund is over $100 we cut you a check. Otherwise, it's cash money on the counter right then and there.

3. Our Project Managers have been in the business for years and know what they're talking about. They have the contacts, the training and the references to find what you want.

4. We stock quality materials and back them up with full service. Doors, for instance. I'll get a customer call up wanting to price an entry door. I'll take some info and give them a price, usually around $250-$300. Often, I'll get a response like "Heck, I can get one at Deep Homo for half of that!"

That's true, you CAN get a door for half of that at HD. Two problems tho: A) it ain't the same door we're selling, not nearly the quality in materials or workmanship, and; B) when you walk out of HD with that door, you own it. You might get a one-year warranty, if that. With our door, it's a lifetime warranty. If it rots out, we'll replace it. If it leaks, we'll fix it. If you don't quite know what you need, we'll come to your house and measure it.

Bottom line: Ya get's what ya pays for.

Never been to a Menards, and they may well be better than HD or Lowes, but they still ain't an actual lumber yard.

We only have HD & Lowes here. All the lumberyards went toes up years ago.

there not even that good

Bought a LOT of things at Menards over the years - and have had ZERO problems. They ALWAYS are willing to open new pallets of lumber and let you dig through. Everything I've had delivered has come in good condition, and was unloaded where I told them to put it.
As for doors and windows - We've installed hundreds of high quality doors and windows through Menards and HD. The warranty on said items is also a LOT longer than you'd think - it comes from the manufacturer, not where you bought it.

I give Menard's a high grade for dealing with various shipping damage on a Midwest building order.
Straight truck from local store & semi from the factory.
Both loads had issues. All sub-contracted haulers.
They replaced & delivered (multiple trips) all damaged items.
Frustrating and time consuming, but they did their best.

Dach, Have Found the same as yourself over the years. Dad's smaller family company put in over 100 k in windows alone, Always Anderson and never a prob. 40% cheaper then local yard. Bought framing lumber by the unit and got um to dig out lower, less miscolored stud units frequently Potlatch, or Plum Creek. Everything looked great. Pretty decent millwork in regard to moldings, ect. Wouldn't touch their cabinets.
I'm all for local yard support but 30% in my pocket or the yard owners, easy answer to that question!

George,still glad you ranted about Menards? I am glad you found a place that treats you right.Let the others go to their own favorites. Bill

I wish Fawtween ran the lumber yard in our town. I am a do-my-self type. We have 2 yards in a town of 1800 people. One was opened in the 30's and still looks that way. Pretty high prices for ok service. Other place opened in 2006. Looks like a Menards but not near the staff. Always gotta wait for someone and they charge premium prices. I priced a pole shed package once for $28,000. A friend of mine who is a 2-man show contractor priced my package 2 weeks later for $25,700. I priced it at Menards for 23,800 and they gave me 1-year interst free financing. Local guy said Menards stuff was crap. So I told him to give me some samples so I could compare. He couldn't give me nothing. He said. " just trust me". I asked about financing. He stared at me like I was from another planet and said paid in full at the end of the month or its 18%. I work from 8am-6pm at my job. Every time I pull up at either place in town they are closed. I drive 40 minutes to Menards and pull up at 6:40pm and guess what, they are open.

Yes, Menards doors are crap. I have bought 5 and aint happy with none of them. But other than that I got no complaints.

40 years ago we had 84 lumber, Carters, and the Mom and Pop's. I disliked going to those places. You had to wait for the person to wait on you. I always had a person in front of me looking for a light fixture or kitchen cabinets. She could never make up her mind. All I wanted was some nails, screws, 2x4, but I couldn't pick them up and pay for them. No, I had to wait to be waited on. I'm glad those days are over with. Sorry if that put someone out of work. Furrows came to town about 30 years ago and put the hurts to the old way of doing business, including the hardware stores. No longer did you have to waste time for someone to write up a ticket for you to buy something. Then Lowes came to town and finished off the 84's, Carter and Furrows. Menards came last and has put the hurts to Lowes. People vote with their feet. I would say on any given day you will find 5 times more cars in the Menards parking lot than at Lowes. As for the quality it is as good or better than Lowes. Never had an issue with having someone cutting open a new bundle to get lumber that hasn't been picked over. Never had an issue returning an item. Wish other stores would take a lesson from Menards. As soon an you enter Menards there are 2 computers. Put your credit card in the computer and you can retrieve a duplicate receipt. If you want someone to wait on you, go to the contractor's desk, they will put together any package you need to build a pole barn, garage or house and deliver it for free with a contractor's card. Unlike the old days, you won't find a person there who can't make up her mind what she wants to buy.

I can't figure out how Menards gives items away after rebate, but I like it. I wanted to give a person at Menards a tip for helping me load my trailer with building materials. He said No, they can't take tips. He said that without costumers, he wouldn't have a job. He thanked me for shopping at Menards. The employees at Menards have been there for years. One told me that our store was ranked #4 or #5 for sales of all the Menards stores. Every time I go to Lowes I find a new face that has no clue what's going on.

Keep in mind, if the old MOM and POP way of doing business was so great, why did they go out of business? I for one, don't want to go back to the old ways of doing things.
George

I like menards the best but lowes is much closer and i get a 10% military discount plus if i put it on my lowes card i get 12 months 0% intrest. Menards has a better selction and service but they dont give me the discount nor 12months same as cash.
every year we remodle 1 room from studs and subfloor up we redo every thing and pay off the card balance by the end of the year and then next year do another room. we are doing the guest bathroom now and with my military discount plus other sale prices on materials they beat menards by 20% Plus 0% intrest for 12months. i vote lowes

Bet it wouldn't be free delivery to my place...

Can you buy trusses at your Lowes and HD? Menards makes their trusses about 1 mile from the store. They also make their own cement block at the same place.

We have all three of the big Box's. I still prefer the local lumber yard. The sales people know their stuff. If a problem shows up 6 months later, they do their best to get it taken care of. I had some bad siding one time and the manufacturer wasn't doing anything to warranty it. Finally the local guys told them to take care of it or they would hold the cost of new out of their next payment. We got our new siding and was paid to replace it. You won't get that kind of service from the big 3. If you got a bad level or drill, they will but not the major stuff. The last house package from the locals, the material was actually cheaper than the big 3. I do like Lowe's lumber though so I had them do a price match to the local yard. They picked up the whole unit of 16 ft. 2/6 and brought it out to my trailer and we could pick through them while we loaded. Didn't have to through to many off. I pretty much quit going to Menards and never did use HD for lumber. Menards piles are always so picked over and some of the longer stuff, they will only have a couple of crooked things. Windows and doors I only use the local guys. They bring it to the job site and unload it where I want for free. The others will charge to deliver or you haul it yourself. The big 3 are definitely geared to the homeowner types where the local guys are geared towards contractors. A call at 7 am and the stuff I need is there by 8:30 at the latest.

Menards does have good quality lumber. Everything else is crap.

Thanks George, this is a good thread.
Air our own gripes and hear a few others.
At the same time hear some good things about em and accept that none of the 3 are monsters but good old American coporations that are trying hard to win our acceptance and dollars.
Some of you like that place. You like Farmalls and John Deeres too and not so much the Fords
I guess there's nothing wrong with that.

I just bought a whole bunch of stuff yesterday from Menards for a bathroom remodel. There was a pretty fresh bundle of 2x4's open, every one I grabbed was straight. I asked for help and got it right away. By the time we left, I had 2 slips for the yard that day and 2 more for stuff that had to be ordered.

It helps that Dad has a farm tax exempt account with them, so I'm able to use that for any purchase there, doesn't matter what it is. 5% on several hundred adds up.

We also have a HD and Lowes, Lowes on the other side of the freeway, and HD about 1 1/2 miles away at the next exit. Menards has been there by far the longest, followed by HD then Lowes. I do shop HD from time to time, but rarely go to Lowes. Have never bought lumber from Lowes, just a few tools or whatever.

I like being able to drive my truck around into the yard at Menards, and give my slip to one of the forklift jockeys. They'll grab what I need on the forks, and then help me slide it in my bed. IU have never had one of the guards paw through everything. On Sunday I opened my tailgate, she counted the 2x4's under the plywood and sheetrock, and then scanned the slip. No hassle what so ever. There are a number of young faces there, but also alot of older guys that know the trades.

I also have a really good Ace about a mile from the farm, a great True Value a mile form work, and another good hardware store that's about 7 miles from home, which is closer than going back to the farm. I ussually head to the farm though because there's more stuff I need in that direction than the other. I guess I've got it pretty good.

Did I mention I have a huge Fleet Farm within about a 1/2 hour and a TSC in either direction about the same distance? TSC isn't the best, but once in a while they're handy. I guess I've got a lot of good man stores within a good driving distance. Makes things competitive, and they wouldn't all stay in business if they weren't good.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Menards.....Home of warped lumber, and Chinese
tools and hardware. AND.. If you absolutely
need it NOW, and make a run to Menards...It will
be "Out of Stock"!

I first learned about Menards when I was refurbishing a 90 year old house. I made monthly trips to Lincoln NE for business and started driving the company truck so I could load up.

They have great prices on storm windows (white finish) and their 6 panel oak doors a pretty nice too.

About the only issue I have with them is the same issue I have with every other home supply places - their cabinets are made from particle board - even their nice ones. I con't know what the diffence is but it can't be that much more expensive to laminate an oak or maple finish to regular plywood instead of particle board that warps the first time it gets wet (imagine that a kitchen cabinet getting wet).

The big problem with local lumber yards is, they're not open when I need supplies.

They are open from 8:30AM to 4:30PM, Monday through Friday.

Well, I work from 8:00AM to 5:00PM, Monday through Friday. I have to take a vacation day to buy a 2x4.

Then, to buy that 2x4, I have to pass the lumber yard's "initiation" every time I go in. If I pass their test of patience (i.e. waiting 30 minutes for someone to help me out even though I'm the only one at the counter), they will sell me a 2x4 but they will make it plainly clear that such a small order is a tremendous inconvenience for them.

God help you if you don't have a revolving account and want to pay cash. The register hasn't been opened in months and has about an inch of dust on it. Usually empty, can't break a $20.

At a box store, I can walk right up to the pile, dig out a decent 2x4, walk back to the register, swipe my debit card, and be on my way in less than 5 minutes...

The local Lowe's the contractors are waiting at the door when they open.

All the companys will have bad help and nothing can be done to stop it but then all the companys do have good help. I am closer to this than most of you as my living comes from my wifes job at Lowe's. In my county we only have this Lowe's, next county to north has Lowe's, Menards, used to have a Home Depo after they tore down the furrow and only lasted a couple of years till out of business, they were not doing as much in sales as Lowe's wages were, I knew exactly what they were bringing in in a day. There is one local lumber yard yet but don't think they have much business. Going to the oposide side of that county there is a Carters, used to be good but only open now what I call part time. County to south only Lowes and Menards next door to each. County to the west Carter and the same, then Menards that built there because they thought that Lowe's had planes to build there but did not and that they would get a head start on Lowe's. County to the south east I think has a local yard, not sure if running any more or not, A Carters the same part time way and way less inventory. And then a Lowe's And it is suprising that Menards has not tried to build on top of Lowes there. The County to the north Lowes were first, then home depo, then Menards and when Menards came in they thought they could use Lowes parking lot to store the stuf for their building, That menards the help is nasty at. The one to the west and south both are not bad. And as I said my living comes from Lowe's but they cannot have everything so we and the other Lowes employes go where we can get what we want. And Lowes return policy is we will take everything back no mater if you have a receit or not, how many years you have had it or how much you might have dammaged it. Many a can of half used up paint that was custom mixed and got done with the job and it did not cost them anything for the paint they used. They also have taken back lots of items that people have brought in saying they lost the reciept and was damaged and the front desk allowed the return and get this the item was never carried or sold by Lowe's. My wife is fortunate enough to have some good help under her in pluming and electrical departments. Both a licenced plummer and a lady (50?) that is a licenced commercial electrican. My wife has worked in just about all the store except seasonal and lumber. And there is a story between Lowe's and Menards That most of you are unaware of as to why Menards are built where they are next to Lowe's and Mr. Menard used to be a Lowe's employe. Every place has the problem of finding qualified help and when they think they find someone they cannot pass the drug test so that is why so many incompent emplowes and they think a warm body that does nothing is better than no bodies.