> loading up a construction site with more materials than are needed shouldn't automatically be assumed to be good

It is almost universally recognized as good to do exactly that. It's better to have one planned extra trip to return excess materials (if they can't be used on the next job) than to have multiple unplanned trips when you unexpectedly run out of this or that.

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systemsweird a day ago | parent | next [-]

You mean my DIY projects that result in a dozen trips to Home Depot aren’t optimal :)

	▲	torstenvl 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Ha. Yeah. Plumbing is the worst for this. I'll buy like twice what I think I need, including some coupling to one size larger and smaller and some larger and smaller pipe. I learned after fixing a well took SIX TRIPS. (Turns out the line to the gauge was borked, so it never turned off the pump, so the pressure built until it busted my pipes.)

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quickthrowman a day ago | parent | prev [-]

Definitely. I ordered material to replace the balusters on our shared family cabin with horizontal stainless steel cable deck rails and ordered 5-10% extra for all of the various fittings, cable, as well as a backup swage tool.

One of my uncles asked why I’m budgeting for an extra $150 of material we won’t need. I asked him how much it would cost to get us all up here for another weekend to finish if we needed extra parts. The answer was “more than $150” and he understood.

It’s even more crucial to keep enough material on the jobsite when you’re running a project and paying $140 an hour for an electrician.