# Forum More Stuff Owner Builders Forum  Bunnings owner builder card

## paddyjoy

Just wondering if anyone has bothered getting one of these? Are the discounts any good?

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## andy the pm

I believe it 5% I get better discounts at my local timber merchant tho Bunnings are hard to beat on somethings, like TP sleepers

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## paddyjoy

> I believe it 5% I get better discounts at my local timber merchant tho Bunnings are hard to beat on somethings, like TP sleepers

  Thanks, 5% isn't much but better than nothing I suppose. My local timber yard does free delivery and have pretty good prices so probably wouldn't save me anything there. I do have to spend about $10k on velux skylights so might be worth investigating. Probably doesn't apply to special orders.

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## melton2

not sure about the owner builder cards, but powerpass cards have discounts up to 10% on some items. 
i know that all power tool accessories are always 10% off.

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## manofaus

the discount varies on the items. some are none. I have had up to 35% on some items. Any discount is a good discount. Only problem is you it makes it hard to compare apples with apples on pricing because you need to ask at the counter what you would pay for a particular item if you bought it using the card instead of going off the sticker price.
The other way to do it is to go in, get codes for stock items, send an email with codes to their speciality counter and they will send back a quote.

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## paddyjoy

Thanks ended up getting one last week, found that its hard to know how much discount you get as the price just goes down slightly when you scan the card Unless you go back and find the original price and cross reference each item there is no easy way to know. They should give you see summary on the receipt.

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## phild01

> Thanks ended up getting one last week, found that its hard to know how much discount you get as the price just goes down slightly when you scan the card Unless you go back and find the original price and cross reference each item there is no easy way to know. They should give you see summary on the receipt.

  When I inquired I was told you need an ABN.  Did you get told this as well?

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## paddyjoy

> When I inquired I was told you need an ABN.  Did you get told this as well?

  No but I did need to give them my owner builder permit number and photocopy of the letter from fair trading. 
I didn't speak to anyone just downloaded the form, filled it out and emailed it in. Card arrived 2 weeks later.

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## andy the pm

> When I inquired I was told you need an ABN.  Did you get told this as well?

  That's for the new powerpass card they offer. You get 5-10% off and special offers emailed to you.

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## paddyjoy

> That's for the new powerpass card they offer. You get 5-10% off and special offers emailed to you.

  Mine is a power pass also so maybe they are the same thing?

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## phild01

> No but I did need to give them my owner builder permit number and photocopy of the letter from fair trading. 
> I didn't speak to anyone just downloaded the form, filled it out and emailed it in. Card arrived 2 weeks later.

  Thanks paddy, should have got one earlier, seem to have a bucketful of receipts from Bunnings :Annoyed:

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## paddyjoy

> Thanks paddy, should have got one earlier, seem to have a bucketful of receipts from Bunnings

  You need to destroy all receipts in case the finance minister finds them ;-)

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## phild01

> You need to destroy all receipts in case the finance minister finds them ;-)

  Nearly went over my head.... I live in a state of anarchy, so no ministers to worry about :Smilie:

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## Jemma

I used my ABN from a totally un renovation like business & received a Power Paws card.
HOW did I not know about this before??

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## Marc

I went to Bunnings to buy a bunch of villabord sheets for my bathroom reno and was scratching my head at the sizes. Only 1800 and 2400 ? What happened to 1.6 and 2.1? 
I can see a guy walking towards me half heartedly like he actually wants to be somewhere else...I ask him, but before I can opne my mouth,
-Hi, he said, -do you work for yourself? 
Err, hmm what's it to you I wanted to say, but I said -yes
-Do you have an ABN?
Again, what the ... but I replied -yes
-I am asking because we are offering a new discount card for the trade, come with me to the front counter and I'll give you a form to fill ...
So here I am in a hurry to load 12 villabord sheets I will never be able to load on my own, and this moron not only does not offer to help, he wants me to drop what I am doing and walk 200 meters back to the front to fill his form?
I said -I'll pick up a form on my way back at the "trade counter".
I finally found someone willing to help with the villaboard and back to the counter asked for this form only to be told they had none. 
So what do you have today the lady at the "trade" counter (yea right) tells me.
OK, 10x2.4 and 2x1.8 villaboard and 3 3x2x2.7 pine.
After repeating myself several times, and after flipping through the book she finally triumphantly declared to have found the stuff. 
Paid and pushed the trolley to my trailer with one of the workers willing to help again to offload it.
Show me your ticket he asks.
And as we load my trailer he said, they overcharged you, you paid for 4 sheet at 1.8 not 2 ... 
Bunnings is designed for the home weekend warrior and will never gain the tradesman back unless they improve on the trade counter by about 200% or more. No 5% discount will lure back the person that needs to make a living unless it is for the weekend when the commercial suppliers are closed. 
I was after a needle gun last week and the closest was Bunnings yet again. I have seen this little critters there before next to the air hammers, but not this time. I asked one of the guys working in the tool shop - Do you know if you carry needle guns? He said yes and pointed to the nail guns. I said no, an air needle gun, a scaling gun ... -What is it for, fishing? 
I think that if Bunnings gets rid of 100% of the staff and keeps only the check out people, they will save a lot of money and it will make no difference in the customer service.

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## OBBob

Lol... I think they're planning to go one step further as they've implemented self serve checkouts!

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## Marc

I agree. Even better, they could cut the middleman all together. Just have people jumping customers in the car park as they arrive, take all their money and push them out the exit. After all the hardware offer is just a pretense ...  :Doh:

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## pinger

> I went to Bunnings to buy a bunch of villabord sheets for my bathroom reno and was scratching my head at the sizes. Only 1800 and 2400 ? What happened to 1.6 and 2.1? 
> I can see a guy walking towards me half heartedly like he actually wants to be somewhere else...I ask him, but before I can opne my mouth,
> -Hi, he said, -do you work for yourself? 
> Err, hmm what's it to you I wanted to say, but I said -yes
> -Do you have an ABN?
> Again, what the ... but I replied -yes
> -I am asking because we are offering a new discount card for the trade, come with me to the front counter and I'll give you a form to fill ...
> So here I am in a hurry to load 12 villabord sheets I will never be able to load on my own, and this moron not only does not offer to help, he wants me to drop what I am doing and walk 200 meters back to the front to fill his form?
> I said -I'll pick up a form on my way back at the "trade counter".
> ...

  Couldn't agree more. As a tradie myself I loathe going there. Me and the guys in my office call them the "Supplier of Last Resort".

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## Vernonv

I have an account with a locally owned building supply company which gives me a minimum of 10% discount (sometimes more) and really great service. Best thing is that their prices are as good, if not better than anywhere else, including Bunnings. Only small downside is that they don't have the extensive range of Bunnings - but the lack of light fittings, or plants, etc, is rarely an issue. 
I'm not a tradie.

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## Marc

I have to say that the idiosyncrasy of big stores goes hand in hand with the suburb they are in. If you go to Bunnings Bankstown, next to the airport, you will hear every 1.5 minutes the PA calling for security, go to Dural and you feel much more at home. Kennards is no different. I used to go a lot to their Milperra store, some 20 years ago. They used to have a "manager" that was a real piece of work. A pom that was an absolute pain in the neck. I think he was a prison ward at heart.  They are a bit better this days but not that much. In contrast their Windsor store staff seem to bend over backwards to service the customer. 
Yes some local hardware/builder supply are making a comeback. I miss our local Hudson's a lot, however, success in hardware is not that hard really, all a matter of capital and attitude.

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