New Vs. Used
What Are You Really Paying?
By Ted Reiff
Customers always get great deals at The ReUse Bazaar, our warehouse in Alameda. While they appreciate the savings, some have asked for precise cost comparison information. I am often asked, “How much would I pay for this if I bought it new?”
While answering this question for a specific item is as easy as a price check at Home Depot, a general answer is more difficult to formulate. We aim for an average price point of 50 percent of what you would pay for the same item new. However, "average" means that many items represent considerably greater savings.
For example, the least expensive new bathtub costs about $200. Our least expensive bathtub is $40. At The ReUse Bazaar, a Jacuzzi bathtub with pump and motor is priced from $200 to $300, which is $700 to $1000 below the price of new. The least expensive new toilet at Home Depot is $49—ours is $10.00. For a standard base kitchen cabinet without a countertop we are asking $40 to $60, far less than fifty percent below new.
Windows are generally less than 50 percent of new. Doors are 50 to 60 percent of new. Used bricks are about 75 percent of new. Block yards and home centers also sell used brick, but even when you compare like stuff, we're offering a much better deal. Not bad, huh?
Recently, Graham Thiel and Ryan Borman of the DMZ design group worked through the numbers for used lumber they purchased from us for a 500 square-foot addition in Grass Valley.
Their calculations accounted for the price of the lumber as well as material lost in cleaning, sorting and trimming damaged ends and edges. They concluded that they paid about 65 percent of the cost of new lumber.
It is difficult to compare prices on materials that are no longer available in large quantities. I'm thinking of old growth, straight grained Douglas fir, or 100-year-old barn siding. How about bowling alley lanes? Try pricing those at your local Lowe's or Home Depot.
Then we get into antique leaded and stained glass windows, pedestal sinks from the 1930s, custom redwood shutters, hand carved corbels, antique light fixtures, handmade roof tiles, etc. We've had all these items at one time or another, but they are hard to find.
Bottom line: I’d like to think that our prices are the best in town, but I’m a little biased so I rely on our customers to tell me.
Remember, our mission is “to reduce the solid waste stream and change the way the built environment is renewed by salvaging building materials and distributing them for reuse.” “Distributing them for reuse” is a key phrase—simply warehousing them and hoping for a higher price is not putting them to reuse. Besides, we keep running out of space and need to make room for the houses we're taking down in the next thirty days |
