Many years ago I built a large addition as "Owner/Builder". The electrical supply house agreed to deal with me if I would show him my permit and only submit big orders. The reality was I only had one order.
I did have a good plan.
I picked up the odds and ends at the hardware store.
Using the same strategy I even got an HVAC suppler to sell to me but again I only had one order. I still couldn't buy the actual "machine" from him but he did sell me all the other hardware. Evidently that was the rule at the time.
