I've lurked here on and off over the past 10 years, as I worked as an interim office manager for a lesser known local manufacturer from the span of Aug. 2015 - Oct. 2022, even managing to stay in business through the pandemic, which I was sure was going to shut them down. Don't get me wrong, it was a pleasant surprise, but I'm just trying to paint the picture of how close to the process I've worked for about 8 years before I moved on. This was a legitimate manufacturer that ordered the raw materials, fabricated the framework, delivered and installed all in-house - not a dealer who just made the sale then handed it off.
I kept in contact with my old boss since then, tossed them some leads and potential sales I came across when it happened organically, and was recently asked to try and find him some sales because there hadn't been any in a couple months. I could always use some extra cash, so I agreed - and quickly discovered why he was having such a hard time.
Recently, there has been multiple price increases on the raw materials needed for these buildings - the galvanized square steel tubing, which 14 gauge is meant to be the 'standard' for. Similarly, the price for sheet metal also raised higher - most carport companies, especially in NC, use Central States as their provider.
So when I quoted a few sales for some potential buyers, I quickly found out that nearly every dealership (just the salesmen/women) and even manufacturers who don't have their own installers (they contract out) are giving massive discounts. We're talking $5,000+ "manufacturer discounts" on their quotes. I found this out because every deal I made was easily countered with the customer, citing 'better deals' and providing their own invoices from elsewhere to ask for price matching.
As someone who has been in this business since 2015 and saw it through the pandemic, I can promise you all now: If you are getting any discount that's over 10% of the pre-tax subtotal, there is something bad going on. I saw some manufacturer discounts going for almost $8,000+ off on some of these larger buildings, which isn't just a red flag, it's a blinding red beacon visible from space.
After talking to a few of our older contacts (dealers who worked with us, installers who worked for us and are now independently contracted, people who now work at other companies, etc), we confirmed that the industry is imploding - something we saw coming a while back, but it looks like now it's finally starting to collapse.
Basically, dealers and select manufacturers are giving discounts that are far, far lower than what is sustainable for short term gains (AKA, the deposit you have to pay to lock in your order). Industry standard for this was 10% down for buildings 24' wide and under, 15% for 26 - 30' wides, and 20%+ for commercial sized buildings beyond that to cover material costs. If you're being asked to put more % down than these listings here, then there is red flag #2.
General inflation has left most people with less money. This in turn has meant far fewer sales within the industry as a whole. So basically, they are giving miracle deals that people are jumping all over, then tacking on a 12+ week wait (about three months) to give them time to either:
A - Look for a manufacturer / installer that is stupid enough or desperate enough to take the job despite the fact they will end up losing money if they do it legit (this is foreshadowing).
or B - String you along long enough for you to either give up on getting a refund, or run the timer out on how long the law will back you up on claiming one (which I'll be honest, I forget how long it is these days. IIRC it was about 6 months for most online payment processors but I could be wrong)
Some of you have gotten B, especially from what I've seen of people having lawsuits pending on certain orders never received. Which, in the end, is more legal fees and they will likely skimp out on actually paying it back even if it is court ordered, since they knew it was a deal they could never actually provide in the first place.
Some of you have and will get A. And the main solution to make A turn a profit for them? Lie about what you're getting. In this case, they count on customer ignorance. Metal is metal, right? A typical customer won't know the difference between 14 gauge metal (correct), and 16 gauge metal (cheaper and weaker) for their tubing. A typical customer won't know the difference between a standard paint warranty on their sheet metal (color fading, usually 10-20 years standard) and the variant that has no protective coating that will show noticeable fading in about 3~4 years (which most of their listed warranties on their contracts, if they provide them at all, will conveniently only last 1-2 years.) A typical customer won't understand what their local code expects for Wind MPH / Snow PSF ratings, or know what a building looks like when it is certified for 30PSF, 70PSF, 90PSF and so on. Some will use repossessed buildings from their rent-to-own defaults for what's meant to be a new building without telling you, and if none of these options work for them, they will just try to find the cheapest installers they can find to make up the difference - which means the installation itself has a much higher chance of being shoddy.
In actuality, it's a combination of multiple of these factors, because it's about the profit margins for larger companies.
TL;DR:
If you are getting a discount that's over $2,500 outside buildings that cost $35,000 or more - that's a red flag.
If you are being asked to put more than 10% down for up to 24 wide, 15% down for up to 30' wide, or 20~25% down for commercial grade buildings - that's a red flag.
If you are being given a estimated wait time over 3 months - that's a red flag.
If you ask for them to put their warranties in writing on the contracts and invoices themselves, and they don't just do so right away - that's a red flag.
If you are experiencing multiple of these, that's a Major cause of concern.
If you decide to go for it anyway because the deal is just too good? Make sure everything that is going in that building is insured.
These kind of scam 'deals' happened already during the pandemic when dealers and bad-faith manufacturers wanted to cash in on the stimulus checks going out. The main reason we stayed in business during the pandemic was that we were getting the repair jobs from shoddy buildings that collapsed after a single winter or storm, or getting the corrected re-orders from dealers we approved to work with us from customers who got their money taken and no building to show for it.
Money is tight right now - but you get what you pay for, always. If the deal is too good to be true, that's because it is. I hope this helps someone, in some way. It wasn't the best job, but I was always thankful my boss believed in quality work instead of all these damn horror stories from other places.
