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I have been having a hard time finding a place that has both the quantity (1000ft) and the price that we need to build our dome. Unfortunately, 1000 ft seems to be too small for any of the wholesalers I've found to give us the time of day, but home depot does not typically stock that much, and their prices are not really ideal for the quantity we need. I did have someone also suggest structural steel, saying it would be cheaper, but I've researched domes built with structural steel, and while the "orbbject" is quite cool, he said that using angle beams took a lot longer than was necessary to adapt them to fit together, and weakened the structural integrity of the dome.
right now what we're looking at is 1" conduit. Home depot is still the best price I've found, but it'll probably be about $700 for the materials after tax which is a lot more than I'd like to pay. I found salvaged conduit at urban ore for 20 cents a foot, which is amazing, but of course they only have about 100 or so feet at a time, and are rather inconsistent with respect to what materials they get in.
I also tried "Mr Lee" at the oakland flea market, on the recommendation of someone around the burning man tribe scene who seems to know him, but I found that his prices were actually worse than a lot of other places I've been, and he also didn't seem to be interested in supplying us with a quantity as large as 1000 feet.
At this point, I've probably been researching a supplier for about two months without a whole lot of luck. Are steel building materials currently a high-priced comodity? It seems like a lot of people have managed to get their materials for a LOT cheaper than anywhere I've found, as in like half the cost.
A little help would be great, because as soon as I find a solution, I'm ready to buy this stuff so we can get this project off the ground. The last thing I want is for this to not get started until a couple months before BM and then be rushing to get it done in time. We all know how that story goes, and this year I'd rather not be sitting out in the sun.
right now what we're looking at is 1" conduit. Home depot is still the best price I've found, but it'll probably be about $700 for the materials after tax which is a lot more than I'd like to pay. I found salvaged conduit at urban ore for 20 cents a foot, which is amazing, but of course they only have about 100 or so feet at a time, and are rather inconsistent with respect to what materials they get in.
I also tried "Mr Lee" at the oakland flea market, on the recommendation of someone around the burning man tribe scene who seems to know him, but I found that his prices were actually worse than a lot of other places I've been, and he also didn't seem to be interested in supplying us with a quantity as large as 1000 feet.
At this point, I've probably been researching a supplier for about two months without a whole lot of luck. Are steel building materials currently a high-priced comodity? It seems like a lot of people have managed to get their materials for a LOT cheaper than anywhere I've found, as in like half the cost.
A little help would be great, because as soon as I find a solution, I'm ready to buy this stuff so we can get this project off the ground. The last thing I want is for this to not get started until a couple months before BM and then be rushing to get it done in time. We all know how that story goes, and this year I'd rather not be sitting out in the sun.
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SF Bay Area
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Re: Where the hell do you buy your materials?
Wed, March 28, 2007 - 10:27 AMThere is probably so much demand from china for srcap metal that there is no standing supply of used conduit. -
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Re: Where the hell do you buy your materials?
Wed, March 28, 2007 - 2:30 PMyeah no shit.
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Re: Where the hell do you buy your materials?
Sat, March 31, 2007 - 4:16 PMUsed conduit:
An electrical contractor doing a remodel job will not attempt to salvage as useable pieces any removed conduit. When they are paying electricians about $25.00/hour and field labor rates at about $70.00/hour, a sparky has about no time to sort it out. It all goes into the scrap dumpster and they get the same scrap price, bent or straight. Also most installs rarely use much in the way of straight runs of conduit. It has to be bent around beams and such.
New remnants:
Most of what might be found as "used" is leftovers from an install, and most contractors hang on to it as retained "profit". I have asked a few contractors about salvage and leftovers, and that is what I have been told.
I used to know a guy that worked both at an electrical wholesaler, and at Home Despot. He told me that HD had lower pricing than the wholesaler!! by a couple percent.
Just pony up the bucks, do your sawing and smashing while it's raining. Fit the cover in the summer sun, mark the ends, bag the bolts, kick back and relax. Spend your energy over a long period and don't get stressed b4 a deadline like BurningMan. -
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Re: Where the hell do you buy your materials?
Sun, April 1, 2007 - 2:49 PMYeah. We worked it out and are basically getting what intact pieces both Urban Ore and The Reuse People have, and then buying the rest from home depot. We decided to go with 3/8" instead of 1", so that saves us a lot of money. I just want to get this conduit buying stage out of the way and start actually doing something. -
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BUY NOW!!!!
Tue, April 3, 2007 - 7:03 PMJust bought a bunch of aluminum today for an art project. A month ago alum. remnants at scrap yard were $2.00 a pound ( had been that for 2 years) Last week it went to $2.50. Worst part is I had looked at the same pieces a month ago....would have been $200, today was $265.00!!!
My boss says all metal is going up like crazy. People are not honoring quotes for steel, stainless steel and aluminum that they made a week ago....Non ferrous metals are the worst.
If you have the $ I think it would be wise to buy now
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