Anyone tried sourcing from China?

[UWG UnitedWoodsGroup]

Over the past decade, more and more contractors, developers, and wholesalers have been sourcing building materials and home products directly from China.
Some clear advantages: Lower prices, Massive production capacity, Customization options, A huge variety of products in one place
But let’s be honest—it’s not always smooth sailing.
We’ve heard people say things like:
– “It’s hard to trust suppliers I’ve never met.”
– “Quality control is tricky.”
– “Shipping delays and customs give me headaches.”
– “Minimum order quantities are too high.”
– “What if something goes wrong after payment?”
So What’s been your experience sourcing from China? What challenges have you run into?
Whether you’ve dealt with dozens of containers or are just thinking about your first order, your insights could really help others.
Drop a comment and let’s have an open discussion.

 

[ICE]

A word of caution to UnitedWoodsGroup. You are a commercial operation selling building materials. If you came here as a marketing ploy, your time will be brief. Edification, fun or just something to do are fine but soliciting business is not okay.

I have a brother-in-law that has imported stuff from China for decades. Coffee cups, stationary, picture frames etc. He sells wholesale to stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens etc. A few years ago he branched out with a line of floor tile. Mosaic mostly. He is an artist and the designs that he has produced are attractive.

I have had conversations regarding several of the issues that you mentioned. He explained that he travels to China every few years and has a personal relationship with the factory owners. For example, the owner of the tile factory is a man that he was a classmate with in grade school. Now that's not to say that unless you know the people, they will be risky to do business with but he did point out that his connections made a difference.

I haven't spoken to him about this in several years so the current political climate may have put a cloud over sourcing from china.

I knew an engineer (since deceased) that would send rudimentary conceptual drawings to a firm in China. Back would come a complete set of engineered plans, ready to submit for permit.

One concern might be NRTL approvals. I encountered a mansion being built with windows that were imported from Germany. They lacked any NRTL certifications. That could be a problem with some jurisdictions.

 

[TheCommish]

If needed are products properly tested, labeled, meet certifications standers and approved for use in the US?

 

[Yikes]

A few years ago I traveled to Nairobi via Dubai. At both hotels I saw the exact same hardware as I specified for my California projects. I happened to get in touch with the Nairobi hotel developer and they said that basically there are giant trade shows in China where major developers go to select everything: doors, cabinets, hardware, appliances, plumbing fixtures, etc. The developers include hotels, multifamily housing, cruise ships, etc.

I have another multifamily affordable housing client who sources all their cabinetry from Thailand. The overseas manufacturers generally follow standard modules that were previously common in the U.S.: cabinet boxes 24" deep (or 21" for bathrooms), 12" deep for uppers; and box widths from 9" up in 3" increments. This gets a bit challenging, as public housing has accessible side reach range limits of 24" and most prefab cabinets are 24" deep boxes with a 25" countertop. The developers end up paying for custom backsplashes to mount the electrical outlets and switches within a 24" reach.
Other contractors who do 22-23" deep boxes are setting up their jigs in shops in Mexico. Almost no one I know is sourcing commodity-grade cabinets in large (multifamily) quantities from the U.S.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

If needed are products properly tested, labeled, meet certifications standers and approved for use in the US?

The Chinese are famous/infamous/notorious for counterfeiting approvals such as U.L. labels. NEVER trust a label on a Chinese product -- always go to the source and verify the listing or label.

To UnitedWoodsGroup: Like ICE, I wonder about your motives in posting here. This is a forum primarily for building and code officials -- code enforcement people -- not contractors. (There are also architects and engineers here, but consider the name of the site.) As code officials and even as design professionals, we don't "source" building materials and home products. We inspect (or design and specify) construction. Not much of what we do has any bearing on the questions you ask:

We’ve heard people say things like:
– “It’s hard to trust suppliers I’ve never met.”
– “Quality control is tricky.”
– “Shipping delays and customs give me headaches.”
– “Minimum order quantities are too high.”
– “What if something goes wrong after payment?”
So What’s been your experience sourcing from China? What challenges have you run into?

The challenges I've run into (mostly for Chinese products, but also for Mexican products) is counterfeit labels. Not brand name labels (those proliferate too, of course), but fake U.L. labels.