Foo - Where do contracters buy their stuff? like a hardware store?

I'm looking for North-American names of stores (don't even know if store is the sufficient name here) where contracters buy their stuff. So the level above the level where house owners buy their stuff (hardware stores). Items like: 65 wooden poles, 5 Hilti drills and 32km of cable, please :)

any names for me?

(reason: I want to research their sites)

The big box stores (similar to Gamma and Praxis in NL) have come to dominate the market for supply for many contractors. Tools, Lumber, hardware, electrical, and plumbing are commonly sourced there. Home Depot, Lowes (US), Rona (Canada), are some of the big players.
5 Hilti drills?
Are you planning a bank heist?

Home Depot and Lowe's.

Grainger, McMaster-Carr

32km of cable? I hope you are off by several orders of magnitude. That is a lot of cable!!!!

Home Depot and Lowe's.

Yup, and the supply houses for HVAC/plumbing too. Google plumbing or whatever supplies for your city/town and you should get some names. The prices may even be better too.

heh - my little dog used to travel with my ex-husband (had his own plumbing company) - and the supply houses always had treats for her. Note: the supply places were not for just contractors - us normal people could buy in there too. HOWEVER, mess up and have to call a plumber, etc to fix what you tried to fix .... I know my ex would charge more because it was more of a mess.

thx for your input, guys! It's not that i'm planning to build something, but it is desk research of a project of mine (regarding online presence of companies).

Will check all names!

@metzinger: Gamma and praxis are a level lower than what I have in mind

I've worked for a plumbing and HVAC supply house, and currently work for an electrical supply house. We could do the wire, but you're on your own with the other things. :p

those articles were examples, my friends.. examples ;)

You might get a hold of your local Anixter representative about cable.

I've worked for a plumbing and HVAC supply house, and currently work for an electrical supply house. We could do the wire, but you're on your own with the other things. :p

Are you located in NC by any chance?

I know people now forget about it, but open up that big yellow book that gets thrown at your doorstep once a year. Turn it to the section titled: Construction supplies - commercial.

As the old expression goes: Let your fingers do the walking.

Most of these companies don't have web presence because the purchases require sales expertise and two way communication to properly source and price. A phone number is usually the way to go.

Many contractors for residential and commercial construction projects do use Home Depot and the like for at least some materials.

Considering the length of cable you're looking at and if the poles you're talking about are more like telegraph poles than fence posts, you're talking about a civil engineering construction project. Most orders of that type are done via business-to-business sales. If this project were to take place on your own land in a farming area, there might be a farm supply store in the area that could order these supplies for you.

Hilti drills are readily available to consumers from many vendors, many of which have online presences.

Look in the yellow pages under "xxxxxxx supply" like "plumbing supply", "electrical supply", "Cable", "building supply".

There are a couple of websites like industrynet (http://www.industrynet.com/results.asp?headers=PO0067&state=ORMD) that can give you vendor ideas for stuff like telegraph poles.

Here is Industrynet's nationwide result for telegraph poles (http://www.industrynet.com/results.asp?headers=PO0067) Looks like eleven of them have websites.

If you buy your telephone poles, cables and drills from the same place, you're probably doing something wrong.

Grainger mostly, then home depot or lowes in a pinch.

Look in the yellow pages under "xxxxxxx supply"...But not "XXX Supply". That's a whole different can of... stuff.

Home Depot

Are you located in NC by any chance?

No, but not terribly far off: Middle TN.

I don't know about telephone poles and cabling, but there's apparently a big market for a lot of toxic "contractor grade" export material from China. Drywall, pressboard, insulation, paint...

Look in the yellow pages under "xxxxxxx supply" like "plumbing supply", "electrical supply", "Cable", "building supply".

uh, he's in the netherlands, doubt he gets your local yellow pages.

we buy lumber by the truckload from these guys http://www.nilco.net/

Castle Plumbing Supply
Grainger
Fergusons
Gorman Co
Florida Rock Industries
Southern Supply Co.

if you're talking about the contractor that you look up in the phone book, they usually do the home depot and rona route in this area. Home depot offers cheaper prices on generic tools than Rona. Rona offers the best in-city building supplies.

If you're looking for heavy machinery, you usually rent from Stephensons. This is a company that rents out heavier equipment like log splitters, 3000psi pressure washers, industrial grade sanders, etc.

otherwise you go to a specific store. for lawn equipment in this area you go to Markham Mower, where they sell Stihl and Toro products - two commerical-grade companies.

I don't do contracting jobs above the residential level, so I don't know where you'd buy telephone poles... 32km of cable, or caterpillars!

woohoo thanx for all the name dropping. One question extra:

Are you guys reading that bad or just pulling my leg?

I'm not actually planning to build something or to buy the stuff and the example products were just.. example products. So thanks for all the suggestions on those two issues, but I asked just for the names to check their websites.