When figuring on a large installation containing a great many fixtures and correspondingly large quantities of pipe fittings and brass goods, the plumber will find that he can get a much better price on the goods by making out a complete list of everything that will be required and submitting it to a couple of jobbing houses for a price. In compiling a discount sheet, the supply houses have to take into consideration the fact that most of the orders sent in will be small ones, two or three fixtures at a time, a dozen or so faucets, and other materials in proportion; consequently, the prices quoted in the discount are based on such quantities. When therefore a large order is under consideration, the supply houses can shade their prices, just as the plumbing contractor will figure a lower percentage of profit for installing the work in a ten thousand dollar contract than he would in an ordinary dwelling where the contract price did not run over three hundred dollars. Further, when the order for certain supplies such as fixtures and specialties is an unusually large one, the jobbers will submit a list of the goods to the several manufacturers from which they purchase, and as the principle of quoting a better price on large orders than on small ones holds good all along the line, the jobbers will get a better price from the manufacturers, consequently can quote a better one to the plumber.

This principle of buying in large quantities holds true when located remote from supply houses and carrying goods in stock, by making out a list of all the goods likely to be needed in a year or six months, and ordering them at one time after first having received prices from the jobbers, the plumber who can afford to do so will save considerable in the cost, in freight, drayage and in handling. The caution might well be sounded again, though, that unless the plumber can afford to buy in large quantities, and allow his money to be tied up in stock, it is better not to do so. A well selected stock of smaller size will serve his purpose just as well, and leave him his invested capital as real working capital, when it is most needed.