With the threat of tariffs looming over every multifamily and custom home-building project’s finish line, the role of appliance vendor has never been more crucial.
Design teams, builders and developers rely on vendors to help navigate near-term challenges and ensure on-time delivery of kitchen appliances. Having weathered the supply chain disruptions faced by the industry during COVID, Appliance Distributors Unlimited (ADU) has proven its ability to think strategically about delivering appliances to its clients regardless of external conditions. We spoke with the ADU’s leadership about the systems they have in place to ensure clients can close their projects on schedule.
Supply chain déjà vu
For the second time in a decade, builders are scrambling to account for major supply chain disruptions.
“We’re getting two to three calls a week,” says Wally Hines III, Vice President of Business Development at ADU. “Folks who have signed contracts now have a project that’s gone sideways and they’re looking for our help.”
Some of the same core business practices that ADU relied on during the COVID-supply chain disruption are coming back into play in the current environment. During COVID, pricing shot up by 10-30%, and many fear that tariffs will repeat this process. ADU was able to avoid many of those increases and keep its contract pricing locked in because of its proactive approach to negotiating with manufacturers.
“We went out early and renegotiated at least an extra year for every project we thought we could participate in with that builder,” says ADU President Chris Kozimor.
The company’s proactive approach means that, when a client calls in distress, they already have a contingency plan in place. ADU’s dedicated project team is able to move quickly to understand drawings, dissect what is needed and then shift quickly to execute a contract for product purchase along with turnkey delivery and install capabilities.
Deeper understanding means more reliability
ADU works with manufacturers to ensure that its team has the necessary insights into the sustainability of the brands and models on spec sheets; for example, knowing the production capacity and geographic origin of specific models.
Those insights help the ADU team provide guidance for clients when selecting models for their projects. If a builder had pre-selected brand A or brand B and it looks like there could be pinch points ahead in the supply or lead times, the sales team can advise them to shift to a comparable brand or model C or D because of their visibility into manufacturing pipelines.
“We can keep our clients in the models that manufacturers are building the most of, even if it may not be the model that was originally specified by the architects,” says Kozimor. “Then we sign the contracts as early as possible, we inform the manufacturer, and they can build those extra 400 or 500 units for that project into their forecast, which will keep that model being produced at a high level.”
ADU also takes local assembly and local components into account, expanding the scope of visibility on potential supply chain disruptions beyond finished products.
“That’s not just supply chain, it’s also future supply chain in terms of what components are being brought in or not manufactured in the U.S. that could have a future supply chain effect,” explains Kozimor. “We’re getting really down into the weeds to help our client partners.”
Partnering with manufacturers
ADU has established key relationships with manufacturers like BSH, one of the leading global manufacturers in the sector that produces top brands such as Bosch and Thermador.
“Both Bosch and Thermador are great brands for us,” says Hines. “We do a lot of business with them, and they’re retooling a lot of their opportunities back here in North America, which is allowing for more success within the brand.”
BSH has manufacturing facilities in North Carolina, and that existing presence in the U.S. has meant that the manufacturer has not had to pivot at the last minute as other international manufacturers have had to do.
Among some of the largest manufacturers that ADU works with, the vast majority of what its builder clients in the Mid-Atlantic need is manufactured in the U.S., even down to the components. For example, one manufacturer partner has a designated product list with ADU that features 250 different appliance SKUs, 95% of which are manufactured in the U.S.
“That’s where we’re seeing less stress and more opportunity to give a stable selection sheet, price sheet and supply chain availability sheet to our builders,” says Kozimor.
ADU has been serving customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic for more than 40 years. The business was built on the simple vision of providing unparalleled expertise to builders, remodelers, designers, and kitchen dealers. As the company has grown, it has stayed true to that vision.
“We continue to succeed by just being very human – building relationships and working with individuals,” says Hines. “Whereas a lot of folks have turned away from that, we have thrived in that environment of connecting with people and building long-term relationships.”