I'll put Menards on the bottom of the list in quality of goods, the lowest grade stock of wood and awful customer assistance. It leads in pricing but not worth the hassles. BTW: I've done many residential housing rehabs and even though I try to avoid them, there's a convenience factor that regretfully draws me in. They seem to pull a good market share in the Midwest.
Lowe's stinks on selection, priced too high but better trained and helpful employees. If in a town where Menards competes, I'll gladly pay a little more and go for Lowes.
Of the three big box, Home Depot can sometimes balance the best of Menards pricing and Lowes service. For electrical and plumbing, selection is good and can find needs quickly. Their big thing now is gardening, plants, etc. The plant warranty is full replacement and 100% if they go bad. Some of my cordless Rigid tools have lifetime warranty on them - including batteries. Convenient. For framing, the stock selection is crappy too. Also, I believe they were caught up in the Chinese racket of inferior wallboard. Mold and other issues.
The quality of woods and stock selection is getting very bad though. Waste of my time and effort digging thru racks trying to find good flat cement board too. If you need a quick pick of drywall, good luck. They must be hiring moron 'certified' fork lift drivers. Always damaged edges in the bundles of wallboard. And what a waste of time trying to get any decent grade 2 x for framing! BS on the grading. The deal with their suppliers must be the laugh in the corporate 'board' rooms!
Best bet is always to seek a good old lumber company. The employees know their stock and terminology. For wood, price is usually on par with the big box but you can get quality stock for framing work. Selection for trim is far wider too but expect to pay more.
For specialty hardware, fasteners that I can count on having in stock is from Ace Hardware. Prices are mostly higher than the rest for just about everything, BUT can hit sales that sometimes better Menards. Pretty lucky but have 1/2 dozen Ace Hardware near me all owned by one family.
(of note: They used to be heavy in the tool rental but now leaned off 'dangerous' stuff...lol. They decided to sell off much of it. I purchased a truck load of near brand new commercial grade power tools and equipment from them. Name brands. Resold and gifted some that I really didn't have use for or multiples. Example: $2,000 floor sanders / refinshers for $100! Porter Cable coil nailers $25, Stanley floor nailers $40, used air compressors, water pumps at $50-75 apiece, a brand new Porter Cable wall / ceiling powered / vac drywall sander for $10 (what are they, $350 new??), three commercial grade Target tile saws with stands and water pump $50!)
In one particular town, there's a classic old nostalgia Tru-Value. I used to count on them but the old owners sold out and the new folks just don't have their act together. Seem to struggle when it comes to basic understanding of fasteners. Stock is very short supply. Crazy thing is, a main Tru-Value depot is only a few miles away. But how kind of them to take your order and will have it in a day or two.... no thanks pal
