Getting The Right Materials May Take Some Effort

            After finishing the grout and polishing the grout on the newly tiled bathroom walls I like to grout the corners in. To do so I went to the local DIY centers. Yes, I went to both of them to look for grey grout for my corners. Not finding the gray kitchen and bath gray calk I desired I asked the employees in each location for help and each one tried handing me a tube of gray window and door calking. I told them I was looking for calling for the bathroom and they each assured me that those would work. They would have worked for a much shorter period of time.

Each time I left frustrated. Employees who only push for the sale who are not knowledgeable to the trades or their products. We use to go to small brick and mortar locations to buy product with sale staffs who offer great tips, but increasingly those shops are closing their doors because people go to the DIY center which encourage them to purchase the products, they sale and many times have clue as to how to do the job they are advising on.

Often while in these locations it is hard to find someone who can give directions to where they have a certain and they have no problem directing you through out the super-center. Sales people use to walk you to the products and possibly show you a variety of methods to perform your tasks. Now the DIY locations are so understaffed they have buzzers for you to push to have a message come over the intercom that help is needed in the department and then they ask you to wait claiming someone would be there shortly to assist you. Fifteen minutes to wait for their more budget friendly, ignorant staff is not worth the barging of being miss directed to me.

Yes, I left without the grout both times. I then drove my weary bones to an old brick and mortar establishment I knew of in a close city. I walked in and was greeted by a person who knew my name, and politely asked what brought me in, knowing they were a place which only fold tile and laminate flooring. AS she walked with me to the location of the calking, I was amazed at the color selection they had. She asked which color of grout I had chosen and who the manufacture was. This was asked because they had this wide array of colors for each of the two major manufactures of calking. We went to the Calking for the grout I had chosen where the friendly salesperson asked if I wanted the calking to be pure calking or would I prefer the calking to have sand in it to make it s appearance to be closer to the look of grout.

Yes, it did take a little more effort on my part to go to the right store. Yes, I did pay roughly 15 cent more for the calking I’d chosen. Yes, the project came out much nicer and will last longer without requiring to be overly maintained. Yes, the material clean easier. Yes, I will return to that establishment.

The reason those large DIY center stay open is because the general public allows them to mistreat them and are willing to suffer through all their efforts to save a penny while providing you with A “pro” who has never worked in the trade they advise you on. They are a pro at selling the establishments products. But as long as people are willing to suffer the effects of having purchased there, they are more than willing to continue their misdirects and mistreatment of the public. It seems to be buyer beware in those large DIY centers.

Note: Images on this blog site are from a free source or taken by the author. No image or group of photos is intended to represent the people the author serves. The author does not care about Race (that is a politically correct term that he does not like because we are all of the same Race, the Human Race. He prefers the term ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender, marital status, disability, genetic information, national origin, source of income, Veteran or military status, ancestry, citizenship, primary language or immigration status.) He is a service provider for all people. We will all rise together when we band together and help one another. Joseph Erwin is a Real Estate Broker, DRE # O2131799, and a CA general contractor # B 696662. He’s a member of the CRMLS and The East Valley Association of Realtors located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California.