I hate to bump posts, but I am really curious about these guys. They have an ebay store, and the price seems to good to be true...is it?

http://www.buildersdepotdirect.com/Carrara-Statuary-3x6-Subway-Marble-Tile/M/B001E3JLFC.htm

I have bought from them. I am a contractor and use them for their marble and glass. The product is exactly as stated and they have 5 Star ratings from Amazon, Ebay, Nextag (all the online police type places). I just ordered 200SF of 3x6" Carrara Marble with matching 2" Octagon and chair rail. I buy it from them for $7.00SF (the 3x6") and sell it for $22.95 installed. As a contractor companies like BuildersDepotDirect.Com keep me in business, so please buy from them without fear - I want these guys to stay around forever.

Here is a link that might be useful: BuildersDepotDirect

I was looking at their website, and some of the quantities sounded very high for DIY kitchen remodel. I'm sure the quantities are great for pro-contractors!

There are no minimum quantities on Builders Depot Direct. Now if you look at BuildDirect - then they have pallet minimums and are designed for contractors. Builders Depot Direct you can buy 1SF at a time. I finished my 200SF job and the tile look great - then the home owner wanted me to do a 12SF kitchen backsplash in 1x2 Stainless Steel Metal Brick Mosaic- so I emailed them and will recieve my 12SF on Tuesday. You can order 1SF or 1 piece at a time. Make sure you get the correct website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Metal Mosaic Direct

I awnted to follow up and say that I went ahead and ordered from buildersdepotdirect.com.

When I received order confirmation in my email account, it said Floorzbuzz.com

I guess they are a subdivision of floorz buzz, whihc I know many people on this board have used for tile.

The tile I ordered came in perfect condition, and it's beautiful!!!!

I ordered my products from the BuildersDepotDirect website and also BuildersDepotDirect is linked with Amazon.Com and the two companies are totally seperate.

You must have made your purchase on Ebay through one of there items. I have made over 10 purchases from Builders Depot and all the confirmations ever mention is Builders Depot and all the tranasctions go through Amazon, unless you do a large order then I talk to James his email is james@buildersdepotdirect.com - he will work out lower freight rates than Amazon.Com can come up with.

What samples did you order from Flooring Buzz?

Here is a link that might be useful: BuildersDepotDirect

Actually I think I have been spelling it wrong it is www.floorsbuzz.com with an (s).

That may have been the issue.

Here is a link that might be useful: Floorsbuzz.com

pebbles81,

Do you have pictures of the tiles? Are they installed yet? Did the tiles have a lot of variation, or were they just white? I just ordered a sample today and hope the tiles look great.

I only ordered 1 sq foot of http://www.buildersdepotdirect.com/CARRARA-STATUARY-3x6-SUBWAY-MARBLE-TILE/M/B001E3JLFC.htm
as a sample.

I like how they look very much. My cabinets are being installed this week. Countertops next week. After that we will dothe backsplash. So we're not at that stage yet.

Hi Pebbles81 - I'm curious about the veining in the carrara statuary tile. Is it basically a white tile with all gray veining, or other colors as well in the sample you received? I've seen many different variations with the statuary and am searching for a marble tile with different colors of veining rather than just gray. I got a sample of calacatta gold from another company and it was basically solid white! Did you get the tile that they stated was "medium vein"? Thanks!

Warren Tile-

Thanks I was going to Build Direct

Hi Traci29,

I ordered 2 sq of tiles from this vendor yesterday. They are supposed to be delivered day after tomorrow. I will take pictures and post them so that you can check them out. I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Ni_2006 - thanks, it would be great to see a photo of the actual tiles!! I've ordered so many samples with so many bad results now that I'm "tile-shy" and just ready to give up! After many samples of glass tile, I decided maybe I wanted marble instead. I thought I really wanted calacatta gold, but both samples I've ordered have been really bad (almost solid white). Maybe that's just a fluke, but I'm afraid to take a chance now! I've seen many finished kitchen photos of either calacatta, statuary carrara or arabescato carrara that are all gorgeous, but can't seem to find any to buy based on what the samples look like!

I know EXACTLY what you mean! I have so many tile samples that DH said that he is going to ban me from getting more tile samples!

Looking at multiple tiles from the vendor will give us an idea of what to expect. I am hoping that these tiles are not solid white...

Hi Traci,

I just received the tiles (gosh, I've been tracking the shipment since yesterday!!!)

Anyway, I laid out the tiles on my wall and took pictures. I did not really know what to expect, but they look nice. They are definitely not white! What do you think?

By the way, each and every tile was individually bubble wrapped. I wonder if the tiles come like that if you order 50 sq feet.

I have ordered samples from these guys as well - this looks like the Calacutta 3x6" they sell for a ridiculously low $7.25SF (not even sure how they get someone to wrap each tile for that let alone cut and bevel the product). The also have a Carrara Venato Light to Medium range of 3x6" and it has slightly less veining.

Here is the really good thing about Builders Depot Direct - they also sell for $7.00SF 3x6" Subway plain white marble tile. So they have all the different types. That is what gave me the confidence to buy 110SF becuase, they are not just selling one type and calling it Carrara they know the difference and have it set up so you can order the different grades of veining.

Really perfect and really have with my order of 110SF. Final tip always buy 1SF for a sample only costs $15.00 with shipping, you can give someone 1 good tile, more difficult to give them 8 good tiles.

If a company does not sell or offer low cost samples on mosaics (Buidlers Depot Sells Hexagon Mosaic for $1.00) - it is becuase they do not want you to see the product.

If they are selling the samples at the lowest price - it is becuase they are proud of their inventory and products and want you to see it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Builders Depot Direct

Oh - just to add, they have also created a video where you can see the products displayed in 2 mins - really good way of showing the Carrera Vevato without having to click around a website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Builders Depot Video of Carrara Products

traci29 sorry i am so late in seeing this. my kitchen has been in the works for hte past week and a half or so, so i have not been online much.

the pics nj posted are exactly what the tiles i ordered look like. the veining is different shades of grey, but not different color veining, if you know what i mean.

it's stunning, and i am definitely going with the carrera statuary that nj posted and that i ordered a sample of.

i am really happy with the product, and i am ordering the tile for the backsplash this week. :)

i am also in the market for marble, trying, on a budget that is, to put marble in 6 bathrooms. Another good sources is www.basketweavemosaics.com...they too have great deals and I think their carerra which is very clean and top quality too may be a hair cheaper than buildersdirect. Anyway just recieved samples of their basketweave and subways which I really liked so am going forward with an order, the basketweave with premium carerra and gray dots is 11.00 a sq foot and the subway honed is 6.95, so its another great source.
Thank God for the internet!!

The Builder Depot is offering free shipping on Carrara Hexagon for $10.95SF. I cannot find a better deal. The subway tile is $7.00SF. Here is a picture of Carrara Venato from Builders Depot Direct it shows their Hexagon and Carrara Subway Tile. I think the Subway Tile is great - but the Hexagon is fantastic.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Builder Depot

I just re-did two full baths with tile from buildersdepotdirect.com. I was ULTRA cautious because I've never ordered tile online before and because the prices were so good (note that the shipping probably adds about $2/sft depending on the size of the order, but there's no tax either). I thoroughly researched them, ordered lots of samples, and communicated with them a lot (via email) before pulling the trigger. In the end, I ordered about 500 sq ft of honed carrara (venato) tile for both bathrooms in a mix of sizes (3x6 subway tile, 6x12 tile, crown molding, chair rail, basketweave mosaic, herringbone mosaic, and hexagon). The tile is amazing! I couldn't be happier with the quality, and of course I love that I saved literally thousands of dollars. I mixed in a mosaic border from Ann Sacks, and it all looks great together.

The shipping of the tile was faster than I could get from the local tile shop too. I had to order some extra mosaic tile and crown pieces later, and it was on my doorstep within a day or two, so my project wasn't delayed at all (although you want to make sure you order extra field tile (3x6, 6x12, etc.) in your large order -- the shipping cost of small quantities of field tile is high because of the way they have to ship it to prevent breakage). I highly, highly recommend this company. If you're interested, I'm happy to email pictures if you contact me.

Kfroddy

I purchased 120SF of the 2" Carrara Hexagon honed and perfect. Free shipping and no sales tax.

Comment back to jquandary above. You signed up for Gardenweb on Jan 3rd and only made two comments - both only about Builders Depot Direct. I would hate to say it but you sound like you are a competitor. You have bought nothing just a weird attempt to discredit.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg0815452131469.html

I personally do not believe much here, as it is not verified. I did however take a close look at Builders Depot reviews from Amazon and EBay. I also bought samples.

Amazon Reviews: http://thebuilderdepot.wordpress.com/testimonials/
EBay Reviews: http://thebuilderdepot.wordpress.com/ebay-testimonials/

I think it is brave this day and age to put themselves on EBay & Amazon - competitors use it as a platform to attack companies. I know I have a small EBay business.

I also saw them on HGTV.

So in summary:

1. Free Shipping
2. Verified reviews on Amazon
3. Verified reviews on EBay
4. Samples
5. Been on HGTV

Yes this company is really fishy!

And no I do not work for them. They just worked hard for me getting me a nice product.

Here is a link that might be useful: HGTV Network Install from Builders Depot

For what it's worth, The Builder Depot was horrible to work with. Here are the exact facts; you be the judge. I placed an order for samples of carrara subway tiles. When the samples arrived, I picked out one I liked. The invoice with the samples had a warning on it: "50 square foot minimum order" in bold orange type. I needed 35 square feet, but I went on the site and ordered 50 square feet. I placed the order two weeks before Thanksgiving because the work was being done in early December.

When the work was being performed, I had six different construction crews coming in a span of five days. The logistical arrangements were very complex because materials were coming from around the United States. There were no mistakes, except Builder Depot.

About a week before the work, I e-mailed Builder Depot to inquire as to the subway tiles. They responded that the order was not processed because the minimum order was 85 square feet (not 50 square feet). I e-mailed back saying that the web site, and the order invoice with the samples, said 50 square feet. They responded that it wasn't possible that it said 50 feet, implying that I was a liar (while I'm looking at this bright orange "50 square feet" warning in my hand). And, worse, instead of offering to correct the error, they were very nasty about it and made no attempt whatsoever to correct their mistake. There was still plenty of time to get the materials on time. They refused, and continued to claim that it was impossible that it said 50 feet, even though I had a piece of paper warning me that it was a 50 square foot minimum. It was a huge mistake because I have crews coming that are pre-paid and expensive. Builder Depot cost me what I thought was $ 1,000, but it ended up being $ 1,700 in labor costs wasted. The other thing Builder Depot didn't do was warn me. They said they sent a notice e-mail that the order was not processed. That never happened. Then they said my e-mail has a problem. (Riiiggght - my e-mail has been good for 15 years without problems).

Anyway, I don't have the time to waste to go to Georgia to file a small claim and get them to pay the labor costs. And, obviously, I'll never order anything from them. Maybe my experience was an isolated thing, I don't know. But if you do business with them, you should be very careful because they will mislead you with pricing, fail to inform you, refuse to acknowledge let alone correct their errors, and generally engage in deceptive business practices.

In summary, I'd say caveat emptor (buyer beware).

Respectfully,

West

They could have done

West, did you order from buildersdepotdirect.com or builderdepot.com. There is also Thebuilderdepot.com and buildersdepot.com. Which one gave you the rotten service?

I have ordered 30SF of bianco carrera marble ( 1X2" herringbone) from http://www.thebuilderdepot.com It was a great price and the tile looks awesome! Not installed yet tho.

They were having a free shipping deal on the venato carrera if you ordered at least 40 SF. It is whiter and less grey veining than the bianco carrera and I didn't like it as well (had ordered a sample of each ealier) and since I didn't need that much, I just stuck with what I liked and paid the shipping. which was almost $80! but still good price.

The shipment came quickly and as far as I can tell nothing is damaged. I actually only need 24 SF but wanted to order extra in case some got broken.

I have no complaints, but make sure we are comparing apples to apples and talking about the same website.

Here is a link that might be useful: the builder depot

For those that don't know, several of the people posting to this thread saying that BuildersDepotDirect is great are obvious shills for the company, not real customers. For example, tilemarbleguy14 has only ever posted here twice - both times to boost related web vendors.

This is an interesting forum. I read from a consumer advice column that these forums are actually USELESS for judging a business. The only rating that offer any relevance today is Amazon. Amazon's entire business is based on their reviews.

You have people on here commenting about how great and how bad 4 different websites are - so this is even less relevant.

I am not even sure how West was misled with pricing. The pricing is on the website and on all websites. Pricing is at the start and upfront, so if there was an issue with the pricing you would not have bought from them at all. If everything was based on 50SF, why not use the online chat at anytime? Just ten seconds and you could have confirmed your order status at anytime. But we live in a blame culture and it could "never be my fault, not even slightly".

As for Tile Marble Guy, he is very overly positive, sounds weird to me PeterH points that out as well.

All these could be fake reviews, the competition could come on here and post awesome reviews, overly awesome then come back and discredit the company saying - fake review.

Oh my, I sound like some crazy conspiracy theorist. But who knows, companies like Enron have shocked us, Presidents are dishonest, who the heck knows anymore.

I go only by Amazon.com reviews, no Amazon reviews then I do not buy online (unless small purchase). All other reviews can quite simply be fake.

Anyway, my experience. I went online with www.thebuilderdepot.com used their online chat spoke (chatted) with them, questions answered. I wanted Calacatta 12x12" - they sent me pictures of the current lot and I ordered. Very simple. Product was great.

If I can work out how to do it I will post some of the pictures online.

Here is a link that might be useful: Where I ordered from.

So what I think we've established here is that builder depot is different than builders depot direct.

I guess I just got lucky when I ran across the builder depot. But I saw very few if any bad reviews so took my chances. I'm tickled to death I did.

Just laid these venato tiles yesterday. NOT white and not like the internet pics or samples we got. So dissatisfied. Beware.

Diane, is Builder Depot doing anything about your tiles? I agree they don’t look like the pictures on their site. I am considering ordering from them but am now worried maybe their quality has declined.

Bardzil- I would not hesitate to order from them. I called them up and they sent me a whole new shipment of beautiful marble tiles. The customer service has been absolutely phenomenal-better than anything I’ve ever seen in my entire life and I am in a customer service business. I would definitely buy from them again. Just make sure you go through everything they send you and if there any tiles you do not like you pick them out first but overall all of the shipments were excellent.

Ok thanks! If possible, could you post additional photos of the Venato marble that you like?

These were the new tiles I received- they are laid out as we have them in the master bath

This is the shower going in now
Hope this helps!

Diane McGraw-would you mind sharing the size of the tiles? I am putting together our guest bath and your photos show exactly what is in my head! Did you tile the ceiling? A photo of the end results would be great. thanks

These tiles are 4x12. I did not tile the ceiling in this bath but I did in the other bathroom and it looks great. Highly recommend this company!

Thank you!

Miansa, did you purchase from them? I had an installer say they refused to install products from them as they lack uniformity in size and quality. But it seems like all the reviews online are good??

I got same tiles from them within 2 days.

Outstanding service and product. Did 2 bathrooms with them. 5 stars

My experience: The Builder Depot can work out great if you're willing to put in a lot of time and buy a lot of extra tile (knowing it's still a good price compared to other options). There WERE significant variations in size of the 3x6 venato tiles we got (1/8" difference), and there were a lot of tiles that were yellow/brownish or otherwise not great. However, I would do it again, with a plan to 1. measure every single tile, or at the very least measure several tiles from each box and stack them to make sure there are no big/small ones, and 2. lay out the tile from all of the boxes, pick out the ones you don't like, and MIX them so the installer isn't using tile from one box at a time. It will take many hours, but the end result is worth it.