Every month since June, The Brief undertakes a survey to assess a basket of similar hardware items that customers would probably purchase in a month. The survey is carried out across four hardware stores, namely: Build It, BUCO, Pupkewitz Megabuild and Ark Trading.
The aim of the survey is to provide shoppers with guidance on which hardware wholesaler offers the cheapest basket of building materials for that particular month.
Moreover, an analysis of changes in the basket is carried out in order to provide overall basket and item variations month on month.
The Following items are in the basket:
- Roofing Galvanised IBR
- Copper Tube 460 Class 0
- Aluminium Window (Bronze)
- Aluminium Sliding Door (Bronze)
- Brick 7MPA
- Brickforce 150 MM 15M ROLL
- Brickforce 75MM 15M ROLL
- Lintol concrete 1200X110X75MM
- Lintol concrete 1800X110X75MM
- Lintol concrete 900X110X75MM
- Ceiling Board 1200X3000X6.4MM
- Door Frame Steel 813X2032X115X1MM
- Lockset 2 lever
- Door Hardboard Interior 813X2032MM
- 32.5 Cement Ohorongo
- 42.5 Cement Ohorongo
- Paint 20 litres
After analysing the data for the month of August, BUCO’s overall hardware basket surfaced as the cheapest at N$7,056.59.
For the third month running, Ark Trading’s total basket, which was deemed to be highly expensive in July’s analysis, is still highly expensive, costing N$9,149.58.
We found that BUCO and Ark Trading’s basket difference increased from N$1,410.11 to N$2,092.99 month on month.
BUCO’s overall basket for August exhibited a decrease of 0.64% month on month. With its decrease noticeably coming from its Door Hardboard price from N$277.39 to N$346.96.
Ark Trading’s overall basket, on the other hand, exhibited a 7.9% increase from the month of July to August. A noticeable change can be seen in its white paint from N$2,322.76 to N$2,671.16, Sliding door from N$2,448.45 to N$2,560.41, Door frame from N$715.25 to N$822.47, and the 32.5kg Cement Ohorongo from N$90.38 to N$104.00.
Both Build It and Pupkewitz overall basket increased month on month by 11.07% and 6.22%, respectively.
The price of paint for BUCO remained the same at N$999.13 for the third month running. Whereas, the price of paint from Build It increased from N$1,396.30 to N$1,733.00 month on month. We found it to be the second most economical to BUCO.
*Note: The list of products we collect is limited and not intended to be an absolute measure of affordability. We aim for products to be broadly comparable. The basket also does not factor in overall VAT.
In most cases, it is possible to find any of these products at a cheaper price or to find cheaper alternatives, depending on location or time of month. Our sample is intended to simply reflect the total price of the cart in a single visit on a particular day.
