Builder Depot

Damage Policy

May 11, 2012
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Please note that up to 5% of your order/tile damaged, chipped, broken or scratched, polished instead of honed, honed instead of polished (please do not make us write every possible scenario and be reasonable) is acceptable.

Not everything will be absolutely perfect (there I said it – we will do our best but we are not perfect). Chipped tiles are not a complete loss they can cut and installed where cut pieces are needed. Our quality of stone is very high, prices very low. To compensate we do cut and produce the stone tiles faster than most companies. Therefore there can be some imperfections, scratches, chips and even a few mixed up pieces. We estimate that risk to be acceptable up to 5%. If you do not agree and need perfect tiles, then please buy from a local retailer where you can pick up the tiles and examine each one for yourself.

This is 5% of the entire order. If you order multiple products totaling 1,000SF of 3×6″ (that is 8,000 tiles) and 4 tiles are damaged ...

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Why a Restocking Fee?

May 1, 2012
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I know restocking fees are frustrating. Believe us, we do not want them either. The best way to explain is by example.  Let us say you are returning 40SF of 12×24” from an order 4 weeks ago.  You ship it back on a pallet (which is the only safe way of doing it) and the boxes are in perfect condition.  Thank you!

In this example four weeks have gone by.  We are not an average retailer, we sell millions of square feet a year. That particular lot that this product went with has been sold.  You return it to us, now we have 40SF of a lot that does not match anything we have in stock.  We can try to discount and sell.  But in most cases we cannot do anything with it.  It is just a loss – particularly on an item with a 100SF min order.  Do you see the problem.

You can look at this the other way as well (every cloud has a silver lining), you are the only person with the matching lot to your bathroom (in the World).  If something goes wrong and you need to cut open and break the tile you would normally have to re-do the ...

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Earth Day 2012

April 22, 2012
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This year we like every year we look at ways to become more efficient.  Recycling as much as possible, turning off lights, neither heating nor air conditioning our warehouse – which admittedly can become a little uncomfortable and trying to find as many ways as possible to conserve and save.  Not just because it is good for the environment but because it is fiscally responsible allowing us to provide our customers better value.

Earth day is a great reminder to review ...

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Competition

March 22, 2012
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As we are in the ecommerce Carrara marble and natural stone market we often buy product from our competitors.  We pride ourselves on operating our business with the lowest possible cost.  No frills marketing campaigns and allocating all resources to quality and price.  Essentially gambling on word of mouth and referrals being the major driving force behind our business.

This strategy has worked incredibly well. Given the fact we buy full containers direct from Italy we wonder how is it possible that our competitors offer the same or even lower prices.  So like any consumer (or researcher in this case) we order samples to find out.

This is our findings.  You cannot beat our prices  genuine Italian marble subway tiles sold from $7SF-$8SF.  However this is the way our prices are beaten or matched.

Number 1.  Or option one for competitors. “Make it smaller and thinner”

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Spring is Here

March 20, 2012
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Spring is Here

SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING

(I have not independently verified these – perhaps you have to be at a certain longitude and latitude, as I am sure in Alaska it is still pretty wintery):

The first day of spring is also called the Vernal Equinox.
The days and nights are exactly the same length.
The Sun rises due East and sets due West.

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When making a Return Freight – Document!

February 14, 2012
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When making a return freight/on a pallet you want good documentation and evidence that the product was well packed and left you in excellent condition (pics are the only way to do this).  On the other end we will check it and if there is damage you will want to claim a) The product damage and b) The shipping Charge.  This is an example:

What was shippedThis product was wrapped (but should have been better secured, you can see it is not attached to the pallet, if I was the driver I would not have signed for this and asked for it to be attached to the pallet) and the driver signed for it.

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