Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Do you accept credit cards?

A: Yes we accept Visa, Master Card, Discover, and American Express. We also accept applications for in house charge accounts for those larger projects that require accurate tracking of materials to and from the job site. We also have financing programs available offering up to 6 months same as cash.

Q: Do you sell kitchen and bath cabinets?

A: We definitely do! We specialize in fine cabinetry like;

Great Northern Cabinetry (www.greatnortherncabinetry.com)

Marsh Furniture (www.marshfurniture.com)

Merillat Cabinetry (www.merillat.com

Aristokraft Cabinetry (www.aristokraft.com)

Gregg is our on staff specialist with many years of experience, and not just selling cabinets, he has built custom cabinets as well as installation of cabinets and custom trim work. This kind of experience is invaluable when doing large custom kitchens; which is his specialty. He has been involved in the NKBA for several years and attends all their meetings. He feels that it helps him keep his finger on the pulse of the this ever changing industry.

We also do high end tops like Corian, Meganite, Hanex, and Avonite to name a few, and also handle the laminates everyone is familiar with like Formica, Wilsonart, Pionite, and Nevamar. And we provide job site measuring services to make sure no detail is overlooked.

If it has to do with the interior of your home, whether it be closet systems, stair systems, custom doors and trims, cabinets, or paint matching, etc. I could go on and on; you should come in and meet Gregg and soon you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about!

Q: Does Alden Lumber sell flooring?

A: Yes we offer flooring materials related to the building industry such as hardwood flooring like Oak, Maple, and Walnut; but we also offer exotics such as Moabi, Padouk, and Bubinga to name a few. All are available either prefinished or unfinished. When it comes to other types of flooring such as carpet or laminates usually we refer our customer to a local supplier such as Kiss Carpet in Mancelona. They have a great staff there and specialize in those products we don’t normally handle.

Q: What can you tell me about decking? It all seems a little confusing to me.

Well you aren’t the only one who gets confused, especially when you start talking about all the composite decking offered out there today. Personally, being a “LUMBER” guy I’m obviously partial to treated Southern Yellow Pine, Cedar, or Brazilian Redwood and such. But….Composites are a very real part of today’s consumer allure. Touted with such advantages as “no maintenance” and “extreme durability” the composite market has taken over a large part of the decking market.

Confusion comes into play with all the differences within the composite decking group. Some are made with anything from wood flour to rice husks, virgin vinyl or various combinations of all the above. Some have different thicknesses, widths, some are tounge and groove while others tout hidden fastening systems. Some have a smooth face some are wood grained, and others are smooth one side wood grain the other so you just put the preferred look you want on top. The prices for these composites range from as little as 99 cents a lineal foot to over $4.00 a lineal foot, so we, for instance have chosen 3 or 4 composites that we did our homework on and we try to stay well versed on every aspect of these products. If a customer has a particular composite they want, we will gladly research the product or provide information where the customer can research it.

If you’re really interested in the benefits of a composite deck top, then you should write down a few notes as to what you really expect from the product, looks, colors, durability, weight, etc. then come in and talk to our sales staff and we will direct you to a product within your requirements. Maybe you’ll see me and I’ll direct you back to a nice natural wood decking product such as treated Southern Yellow Pine which I’m still very partial to.

Q: Can you compete with the big box lumber yards?

A: Well….. That’s a subject we “Independent lumber yards” deal with all the time. It’s true they have tremendous buying power with their volume of sales but, in the same breath I have to say our affiliations with some of the largest independent buying groups such as PAL, ENAP, Do It Best, and Hardware Wholesalers, allows us a very competitive position even against the big box stores.

The big boxes seem to rely on a marketing technique called “the loss leader” where they’ll price a specific group of items at, or even below, cost just to get a customer in the door; once in the door the objective is to get you to buy all the necessary items to go with that loss leader, which is priced at full price, and that is where they pick up the difference.

We bid against the boxes regularly and usually once their delivery charges are added to the price we’re right there. And as a note, I just don’t see how a builder can justify pushing some silly cart around for hours on end to save a couple bucks, when in reality any number of service driven lumber dealers could have delivered those same materials to the job site and had an experienced driver put the materials where they are needed; which in turn keeps the builder on the job making him much more productive to himself and the homeowner.