good idea or bad (Hilo: sales, appliances, new home)

[david1952]

if i were to move over and build a new small home and bring a shipping container with minimum older household furnishings and fill the remaining room of the container with new home building items that i can buy cheaper here in calif would that be a good idea or bad??? I would want to buy and bring a toilet that has a sink next to it that when you wash your hands the water gos into the toilet bowl, or compost toilet or ceiling fans that are cheaper here than there, a larger pick of refrigerators here than there... i wish to support the locals but my variety is greater here and would like to save money too.. would i save if i bought here? in calif first??? i understand that shipping you get like 10000 pounds and most people only use about 3000 pounds, maybe room for a air conditioner .... thanks david and merry christmas

[terracore]

This question comes up a lot- in most cases it is cheaper to buy things on the mainland but it's not always a better deal after you pay to ship it. The shipping tariff on "household goods" is much higher than what the stores pay. I've been told that the prices at the Hilo Home Depot are exactly the same as what they charge in California.

As far as shipping the things you think you can't live without, if you're like most of us after you get here you eventually regret that you brought them as you haul them to the land fill. You may want to look into only shipping a pallet's worth.

The only thing I almost regret not bringing was our vehicles. I say almost because shipping them from Alaska wasn't really an option because it would have more than doubled the cost of shipping from the mainland.

As far as your toilet sink- we use one of these. It converts any toilet to a toilet with a sink in less than 5 minutes.

https://www.amazon.com/SinkPositive-...f45f9485c9dfe7

[terracore]

" or ceiling fans that are cheaper here than there"

Our ceiling fan was free. Hawaii energy rebates was offering a $100 rebate on energy star ceiling fans and Home Depot was selling a model for $99.

https://hawaiienergy.com/for-homes/rebates

Their rebates change frequently so it's best to get on their email list. Sometimes they have things that get shipped to your house and the price is always less than what just the shipping would have been. Some items have been free. We got rebates on all our appliances that brought their prices to below mainland prices.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by terracore

Hawaii energy rebates was offering a $100 rebate on energy star ceiling fans and Home Depot was selling a model for $99.

The rebates are free money for the taking - practically anything energy efficient gets a rebate including AC of which you can get hundreds of dollars back.....

I suspect a lot of people don't know or take advantage of the rebates.....

[hotzcatz]

Frequently the sales folks will mention the rebate or give the rebate application with the receipt, but frequently folks pay no attention to the papers and don't file for it.

Rebates paid for half our rooftop solar systems, although most of that was from state and federal taxes and not the manufacturers. Other than the big rooftop solar, there have been other rebates and discounts as well. There was an assortment of discounts and rebates that brought the price of a $1,400 refrigerator down to just over $500. "Over $500" put it in the "free delivery" category and giving back a non-energy star fridge was an additional $100 rebate from the power company of all people. Most of these rebates required mailing in a copy of the receipt which the sales folks gave us automatically.

As for if it's a good idea to ship over a container of building supplies, for some folks it works for others it doesn't. There's a lot of different factors to consider. An additional one as of last year is the availability of materials since a lot of them will now be headed towards the southern North American continent as well as the Caribbean islands due to the extensive hurricane damage.

If it were me, I'd not ship the container with construction materials in it until a set of plans for the house was approved (since the Building Department sometimes change required materials from the original plans) AND there was a secure and proper place to store the materials. Shipping lumber to have it stolen or rot is less then optimum.

Check with the building department to see if your composting toilet is an approved model before shipping it. Note: you'll probably want to build with a building permit, they are starting to look for unapproved structures via satellite imagery.

I'm assuming you're considering building in Puna? If so, then water will most likely be via catchment, sewage via septic tank and power will be expensive. Build with the weather in mind so the A/C won't be as necessary if possible. With A/C it's not the acquisition costs that keep folks from using them, it's the cost of electricity to run them.

Costs to factor into the acquisition of mainland materials are getting the materials to the shipping container. If storage will be required before shipping. Cost of shipping the container. Cost of moving the container once it has arrived. Storage of materials and how to secure them against theft.

Check HPM and Home DePot prices to see if there's enough difference to cover the costs and annoyances involved and then decide which way you want to go.