At least I got a decent timber place nearby,no mind games, their timber is always the same price to everyone, yes you can get some 5-10% discount if you buy loads of it at a time but that's it.
Unfortunately our local timber merchant like that closed down a year or so ago, I'd used them for about 20 years, they had a retail and a trade price, plus machined for free and would always price match if they could. Now my nearest decent independent is about 20 miles away
That's what bugs me but it could also be said that why should an account customer getting up to 60 days credit get a better price than someone paying cash up front. The whole builders merchant thing is frustrating but to be honest I have negotiated pretty good terms at Travis so basically use them almost exclusively now as I've got a pretty good handle on what I pay for what now.Thing is even if you are putting 50k in a year, you still get quoted different prices depending who you talk to, what day it is and if it's raining.