Home Depot is better than Lowe's

[EdwinWillers]

Well I'm sorry, it just is.

Discuss

 

[disneydude]

Its basically the same store with a different name.

 

[MMC]

Well I'm sorry, it just is.

Discuss

Heya EW. :2wave: I agree.....but what happened to Handy Andy and Builder's Square. :lol:

Don't forget Connie said.....Ace is the place with your helpful Hardware man. :2razz:

 

[lizzie]

Locally, I would tend to agree- now.
Five years ago, I would have said differently.
Our local Lowe's has gotten to the point that customer service is lousy- you can't find someone to help if you need it. I don't very often need help in a building supply, but last weekend, I did, and it took me about 30 minutes to find someone working in the dept I was looking in, and after all the trouble, I found that I knew more than he did, about what I was asking. Pretty sad.

 

[JumpinJack]

Well I'm sorry, it just is.

Discuss

It depends. Each store focuses on different things.

HD focuses more on products for home DIYers, so I suspect that's what you are? So am I. But Lowe's has better choices for carpeting, flooring, appliances, air conditioners, window coverings, doors, and other things. Lowe's focuses more on home decor, but also has products for DIYers.

I do like HD better for a lot of things, but over the years, I noticed that when I shopped for certain things, and started out at Home Depot, a number of times I ended up buying from Lowe's, even though I was biased toward HD. That was because Lowe's had what I needed and at a better price.

Things I got from Lowe's: carpet (Lowe's has a certain kind of carpet that HD doesn't carry, and which I wanted), pricey gas stove, bookshelf products for DIY bookshelves, energy efficient front door (HD didn't carry what I wanted, and had no contract with a vendor to order what I wanted, but Lowe's did), installation services for the things I bought. Lowe's has excellent customer service and first rate installers. What I will be buying from Lowe's: some window coverings like blinds, possibly new fridge (special ordered; or maybe through Best Buy).

Things I bought from HD over the years: Sawzall and other tools for home projects, drywall, all sorts of hardware, sprinkler heads, caulking, paint (Behr is awesome), heavy duty high quality storm door, standard carpet years ago, drawer pulls and knobs. HD also has excellent customer service and super installers.

They're both good. It depends on what you are looking for. Appliances at HD are not priced as good as at Lowe's and other places, and their selection is limited. It was impossible to find a high quality energy efficient front door at HD, without glass in it, for a reasonable price (whether in stock or special order). I had one choice only, and it was a rustic style that I wasn't looking for, as well as being pricey. I bought a new front door by special order through Lowe's for a reasonable price, with an outstanding installer. It's a cottage style, no glass in it, with planking.

I am going to buy some products this week: filler for rotten wood, molding, more paint. I'll get all those things at HD, since HD is a tad closer and specializes in home project products AND has Behr paint.

I love both!

 

[Lutherf]

Heya EW. :2wave: I agree.....but what happened to Handy Andy and Builder's Square. :lol:

Don't forget Connie said.....Ace is the place with your helpful Hardware man. :2razz:

I LOVE my local ACE stores. I can get in and out in no time and the employees tend to be incredibly helpful.

 

[Dittohead not!]

I LOVE my local ACE stores. I can get in and out in no time and the employees tend to be incredibly helpful.

Me too. Plus, they know their product and can help decide which widget will do the job.

Now, as for Home Depot, ours sucks. No one seems to be working there, and the few who do don the orange vests don't seem to know anything. We've been known to drive to the next town to a Lowes for that reason.

However, we went to one in Washington State, and found them nearly as knowledgeable and helpful as the folks at Ace. I suppose it depends on the individual store.

 

[MMC]

I LOVE my local ACE stores. I can get in and out in no time and the employees tend to be incredibly helpful.

We have two women that work the aisles at our Ace Store. So I take a little more time. Have them Demo some tool I wont buy. Just sayin. :mrgreen:

 

[polgara]

Locally, I would tend to agree- now.
Five years ago, I would have said differently.
Our local Lowe's has gotten to the point that customer service is lousy- you can't find someone to help if you need it. I don't very often need help in a building supply, but last weekend, I did, and it took me about 30 minutes to find someone working in the dept I was looking in, and after all the trouble, I found that I knew more than he did, about what I was asking. Pretty sad.

Greetings, lizzie. :2wave:

We go to Home Depot for that very same reason! Lowes acts like it doesn't much care if you shop there or not, but Home Depot employees at least try to be helpful, and they smile, too!

 

[Redress]

I LOVE my local ACE stores. I can get in and out in no time and the employees tend to be incredibly helpful.

Menards > Ace > *

 

[HowardBThiname]

Well I'm sorry, it just is.

Discuss

If you don't already know what you're doing - neither one are any good. John Deere, Hustler, Anderson and other quality manufacturers sell a "cheaper" line of products at both big-box do-it-type stores.

Neither offer engineering of laminated beams and if you're impressed by all the little lights and tiles, well, what can I say? You'll get better quality and customer service if you buy from a real lumberyard.

 

[Superfly]

I never shop at Home Depot. I only shop at Lowe's.

Home Depot and Lowe's both used to give 10% military discounts. Then Home Depot limited the amount you could use a discount for to a $400 cap. Then when we went in last month to look at flooring, they've lowered it again. Now the 10% is only good for the first $50. Everything else above $50 is full price.

Lowe's gives the discount no matter how much you spend. That's why all our home improvement purchases are made there.

 

[Dayton3]

I worked for Lowe's for 4 years.

Some points:

1) They do not consider themselves a full service store. They consider it self service. In other words, store customers are expected to come in and find what they need on their own. The bulk of the in store employees are supposed to do things the customers can't do. Mix paint, cut glass, cut boards, rekey locks, et cetera.

2) The most profitable areas for Lowes are installed sales. That is a customer comes in and decides they want to buy a bathroom set and have it installed. Lowe's charges them for the bathroom set and schedules the installer. So this is their focus.

3) Lowe's treats their management team very harshly.

 

[Winchester]

Well I'm sorry, it just is.

Discuss

Blindfold me and drop me in the middle of either one and I couldn't tell one from the other, other than the color of the aisle signs.

 

[Dayton3]

Blindfold me and drop me in the middle of either one and I couldn't tell one from the other, other than the color of the aisle signs.

Lowe's employees used to snidely refer to Home Depot as "Agent Orange".

 

[Gaius46]

I like HD better only because I find it easier to find the stuff I'm looking for there for some reason.

 

[faithful_servant]

Its basically the same store with a different name.

Not really.... Lowes is more home owner focused, HD is more contractor focused. While there's a lot of overlap, in the two, their primary focus is different.

 

[disneydude]

Not really.... Lowes is more home owner focused, HD is more contractor focused. While there's a lot of overlap, in the two, their primary focus is different.

Coulda fooled me. I go to both interchangeably and there is no noticeable difference.

 

[Gina]

I LOVE my local ACE stores. I can get in and out in no time and the employees tend to be incredibly helpful.

My local ACE was a nightmare. While renovating my home the first time, I needed loads of paint and every time I came back, it was a 30 minute wait to start the mixing, and not just because they were busy. Many times I had to find someone to come to the paint counter which often meant tracking down the store manager.

On three occasions, I was treated so rudely that if I hadn't absolutely needed what I was buying, I would have left. I had to literally run after the store manager who was chuffed that I couldn't find the planting mix under the half dozen pallets covering it. He then turned on his heel and ran off leaving me to uncover and load the filthy, wet bags in my cart. On another occasion, the employee sent to help me yelled, "what do you want" when he finally arrived after a 10 minute wait. And lastly, two employees refused to help me find deck screws when the display from which I had found them the first time, was relocated and they couldn't find it either. They were the only game in town, but I never shopped there again (I traveled 30 minutes to the nearest HD) and thankfully, Home Depot came to town. They were out of business in 5 months.

I find there is a big difference between the Lowes and HD. Lowes has a bigger and nicer selection of finishes and fixtures and the prices on those items are better. So in that area, they seem to cater to the homeowner more than the home contractor, who is just filling in the blanks and not considering aesthetics as much as a person working on their own home. But even then, in some other areas, I find more to choose from or higher grade items.

I still like HD too though, because as was said above, their staff is easy to find and very helpful, more so than Lowes.

 

[nota bene]

I hardly ever go to Home Depot; it's further away than Lowe's, which came to my town first. I'm just not as familiar with HD.

Nobody has mentioned the garden areas yet, but up until this past spring, Lowe's has been much better in selection, quality, and price of plants.

 

[Lutherf]

My local ACE was a nightmare. While renovating my home the first time, I needed loads of paint and every time I came back, it was a 30 minute wait to start the mixing, and not just because they were busy. Many times I had to find someone to come to the paint counter which often meant tracking down the store manager.

On three occasions, I was treated so rudely that if I hadn't absolutely needed what I was buying, I would have left. I had to literally run after the store manager who was chuffed that I couldn't find the planting mix under the half dozen pallets covering it. He then turned on his heel and ran off leaving me to uncover and load the filthy, wet bags in my cart. On another occasion, the employee sent to help me yelled, "what do you want" when he finally arrived after a 10 minute wait. And lastly, two employees refused to help me find deck screws when the display from which I had found them the first time, was relocated and they couldn't find it either. They were the only game in town, but I never shopped there again (I traveled 30 minutes to the nearest HD) and thankfully, Home Depot came to town. They were out of business in 5 months.

I find there is a big difference between the Lowes and HD. Lowes has a bigger and nicer selection of finishes and fixtures and the prices on those items are better. So in that area, they seem to cater to the homeowner more than the home contractor, who is just filling in the blanks and not considering aesthetics as much as a person working on their own home. But even then, in some other areas, I find more to choose from or higher grade items.

I still like HD too though, because as was said above, their staff is easy to find and very helpful, more so than Lowes.

I'm surprised to hear that about ACE but understand that some stores are probably not run as well as others. The only time I go to ACE for paint is if I absolutely need Benjamin Moore. Other than that I have a Sherwin Williams store and Dunn Edwards store a few blocks away.

While I like Home Depot and Lowes for more major purchases I just love the hometown feel of small hardware stores. Part of it, I'm sure, is just nostalgia on my part.

 

[Gina]

I'm surprised to hear that about ACE but understand that some stores are probably not run as well as others. The only time I go to ACE for paint is if I absolutely need Benjamin Moore. Other than that I have a Sherwin Williams store and Dunn Edwards store a few blocks away.

While I like Home Depot and Lowes for more major purchases I just love the hometown feel of small hardware stores. Part of it, I'm sure, is just nostalgia on my part.

I don't think they are corporately owned, so I always thought the local/regional owner was probably in over their head. It seemed like a terribly run store, overall. Which was a shame since they were the only big hardware store in town and always had lots of business going on.

There was another store, in the old downtown area, in a historic building, that reminded me of my grandpa's plumbing store, but of course the floor space limited them to being strictly a hardware and plumbing retailer. I would have gone there more, if they had what I needed. It was very nostalgic in there.

 

[Cephus]

I hardly ever go to Home Depot; it's further away than Lowe's, which came to my town first. I'm just not as familiar with HD.

Nobody has mentioned the garden areas yet, but up until this past spring, Lowe's has been much better in selection, quality, and price of plants.

That's the difference for me too. At least at my local stores, HD might be slightly cheaper on some items, but Lowes has a much bigger selection on anything I happen to care about. It's also closer so I almost always go to Lowes.

 

[PIPEWRENCH]

While I like Home Depot and Lowes for more major purchases I just love the hometown feel of small hardware stores. Part of it, I'm sure, is just nostalgia on my part.

I agree, and it is more than just nostalgia. I work in construction and while Home Depot or Lowes are a great one stop shop the specialty stores will save you a lot of grief with their specialized knowledge.

 

[beerftw]

Well I'm sorry, it just is.

Discuss

home depot tends to have much more reasonably priced tools,while lowes is more expensive,but tends to have a much bigger selection.

outside tools i have not seen much difference in pricing or inventory.