People arrive in Foshan wanting to buy everything here, because everything is cheaper here. That is roughly true and it is still the wrong way to plan a container. Some products save you half the money and arrive better than what you could buy at home. Some save you 10 percent and give it back in freight, breakage or an argument with your building inspector. This is our ranking of the ones worth the trip, in the order we would fill a container for a client who asked us to choose, then the eight we tell people to leave alone.
The percentages are rough gaps between landed cost from China and a local supply-only price for a comparable specification, as we have seen them on recent orders. They vary by country and are wider where a free-trade agreement applies. Treat them as an order of magnitude, not a promise.
The 25 worth buying in China
1. Porcelain floor tiles
Top of the list and it is not close. Foshan makes more porcelain than any other city on earth, first choice from a decent kiln is as good as anything from Europe for a residential floor, and the landed price is typically 50 to 70 percent below a local tile shop. Watch the grade and the shade: insist on first choice in writing, keep a sealed reference tile, and order the wastage now rather than a second batch later. Made in Foshan, with Zibo and Jinjiang for large repeat orders.
2. Aluminium windows and sliding doors
The biggest single saving in money on most villa packages. Thermal-break profiles with Low-E double glazing land at 40 to 60 percent below a local joinery quote, with a wider choice of systems, colours and glass. What goes wrong is measurement, profile thickness and hardware, so the specification has to be written to the millimetre and a sample corner section kept; our windows checklist covers it. Made in Foshan, mostly Nanhai and Dali, with the big extruders nearby.
3. Kitchen cabinets
A fitted kitchen with PET or lacquer doors, soft-close hardware and a quartz top lands at 50 to 70 percent below a mid-range local kitchen studio, and still well under half with Blum runners. The catch is measurement and installation: the factory builds to your drawing, so the drawing has to be right and someone at home has to fit it. Made in Shunde, the district of Foshan where cabinets and appliances share a road.
4. Toilets and basins
Chinese vitreous china is the same material as the branded item; several European names are made in Chaozhou anyway. Landed saving 50 to 70 percent on WCs, more on basins. Watch the rough-in distance, the flush valve brand and the seat, and check the glaze inside the trap, not just outside. Made in Chaozhou for volume and Foshan for design; we compare them in our note on Chaozhou and Foshan sanitary ware.
5. Faucets and showers
Brass basin mixers, thermostatic columns and concealed shower valves at 50 to 70 percent below the branded price, in finishes the brands charge a fortune for: brushed gold, gunmetal, matt black. Watch the body material and the cartridge; a zinc body with a no-name cartridge looks identical in a photograph and fails in three years. Made in Kaiping and Jiangmen, an hour and a half from Foshan, where the factories will let you weigh the tap.
6. Decorative lighting
Chandeliers, pendants and wall lights at 60 to 80 percent below home prices, with a choice no local showroom can match. The risks are driver quality, voltage, and whether the fitting carries a certification your electrician will accept; write all three into the order. Made in Guzhen, forty minutes from Foshan, which is a town of nothing but lighting.
7. Marble and granite
Chinese quarry stone is very cheap, and imported blocks cut and polished in Yunfu land at 30 to 60 percent below a local stone yard, because the cutting is where the cost sits. Stone is heavy and brittle, so the saving depends on crating and on ordering cut-to-size pieces from accurate drawings rather than slabs you will cut again at home. Made in Yunfu and in Shuitou, Fujian.
8. Interior doors
A painted solid-core door set with frame, architrave and hinges at 40 to 60 percent below a local joinery, and a WPC door that will not swell in a humid bathroom for less than a plain hollow door costs at home. Get the frame sizes right against your wall thickness, the swing direction, and the humidity at destination, which decides whether MDF is the right core. Made in Foshan and Yongkang.
9. Porcelain and sintered slabs
Large-format slabs for feature walls, worktops and bookmatched bathrooms at 40 to 60 percent below the imported brands, from the same kind of press. Watch the thickness, the edge calibration and the crating; an A-frame and timber crate are not optional. Made in Foshan.
10. SPC and vinyl flooring
Rigid-core click flooring lands at 40 to 60 percent below home prices and the better mills are consistent. Watch the wear layer, the UV coating and the climate at destination; a thin SPC in a hot, sunlit room will cup. Made around Haining and Nanxun in Zhejiang, not Foshan, though Foshan showrooms stock it.
11. Wardrobes and fitted furniture
Built-in wardrobes, walk-in systems and TV walls from the same factories as the kitchens, at 50 to 70 percent below a local fitted-furniture shop. Same rule as kitchens: the drawing has to be right and the installer lined up. Made in Shunde and around Foshan.
12. Shower enclosures
Tempered 8 or 10 mm glass on aluminium or stainless frames at 50 to 60 percent below home prices. Look for the tempering stamp on every panel, specify the wall profile and seals, and crate them; cracked glass is a total loss. Made in Foshan and Zhongshan.
13. Quartz worktops
Engineered quartz at 40 to 60 percent below a local fabricator, cut to size with sink cut-outs and polished edges if you send the drawing. The risk is the drawing and the transport; a 3 metre top needs a crate and a forklift at the other end. Made in Guangdong and Fujian.
14. Door hardware and locks
Handles, mortise locks, hinges and smart locks at 60 to 80 percent below home prices. The trade-off is the standard: cylinder profiles and backsets differ by country, so send a sample of what your doors expect. Made around Zhongshan and Jiangmen for the good stuff, and in Yiwu for small mixed orders.
15. Bathroom vanities
Plywood or PVC vanities with basin, top and mirror at 50 to 70 percent below home prices. Ask for marine-grade plywood or full PVC for wet rooms, and check the overflow and the drawer runners. Made in Foshan and around Hangzhou.
16. Bathtubs
Freestanding acrylic tubs at 40 to 60 percent below home prices, in shapes local merchants do not stock. Acrylic thickness and the reinforcement underneath are what you pay for; a thin shell flexes and cracks at the waste. They take a lot of container space, which is why they rank here. Made in Foshan and Zhongshan.
17. Engineered wood flooring
Oak engineered boards at 30 to 50 percent below home prices, in widths and finishes that suit large rooms. Watch the moisture content at packing, the formaldehyde grade and the lacquer; get the top layer thickness in writing. Made in Changzhou in Jiangsu and around Zhejiang.
18. Laminate flooring
AC4 and AC5 laminate at 30 to 50 percent below home prices. The saving is smaller than for SPC because laminate is cheap everywhere and bulky for its value. Worth it in a mixed container; not on its own. Made in Changzhou and Zhejiang.
19. Aluminium ceilings
Clip-in panels, strip and baffle ceilings at 50 to 70 percent below home prices, and light enough to ride in the gaps of a container. Specify the sheet thickness and coating, and order the grid with it. Made in Foshan and Guangzhou.
20. Smart toilets
Integrated bidet toilets at 50 to 70 percent below the Japanese and European brands, and the better Chinese makers are now very good. Watch the voltage, the minimum water pressure and what the warranty is worth from your country. Made in Xiamen and Foshan.
21. Technical LED lighting
Downlights, panels and track lights at 50 to 70 percent below home prices in volume. The catch is certification; a commercial project needs the marks your inspector will accept, which adds a little to price and lead time. Made around Zhongshan and Shenzhen.
22. WPC decking and cladding
Co-extruded composite decking at 40 to 60 percent below home prices. Watch the capping thickness and colour fastness, and order the clips and joists with it. Made in Anhui and Zhejiang.
23. Mosaics and feature tiles
Glass, ceramic and stone mosaics at 50 to 70 percent below home prices, in thousands of designs. Small volume, high value, easy to pack; they fill the corners of a container. Made in Foshan.
24. Facade glass and curtain wall
For projects rather than houses, glass units and unitised curtain wall at 30 to 50 percent below a local facade contractor’s supply price. This is engineering, not shopping: it needs drawings, a test report and a site team. Made around Foshan and Shenzhen.
25. Plywood and boards
Last because the saving is 20 to 40 percent and the product is heavy and cheap, so freight eats most of it. It makes sense for a project that can take a container of boards on its own, or a contractor who needs film-faced formwork at volume. Made in Linyi in Shandong, a long way north.
Nearly on the list
Paint, mirrors, ceiling fans and cut-to-size glass all save money and go in a container when there is room, but none justifies the trip on its own. Paint is a fine product from the larger Chinese makers and a poor one from the small ones, and a pail of emulsion is heavy for what it is worth; we add it for a whole-villa repaint and leave it out otherwise.
The 8 to buy at home
1. Cement, sand, aggregates and blocks
Heavy, low value, and available everywhere. A container of cement would cost more in freight than in cement, and by the time it arrives the local plant has delivered three times over. The few who ask are usually thinking of tile adhesive, which is also better bought locally so the batch is fresh.
2. Rebar and structural steel
Chinese steel is cheap and the mills are enormous, but a house does not use enough to fill a container, and your engineer will want mill certificates to a standard they recognise. For a tower or a warehouse the sums change and we can introduce a mill; for a villa, buy locally and spend the container on finishes.
3. Plasterboard and metal studs
Cheap in China, cheap at home, and fragile, bulky and heavy in a container. Board thicknesses and fire ratings are tied to local codes as well. No saving here survives the freight.
4. Insulation
In most markets insulation is a locally certified product with a thermal rating the inspector expects to see on the bag, and it is mostly air, so it ships badly. In a few markets with no local industry, rockwool or XPS boards are worth a look for a project; for a house, no.
5. Electrical switchgear, cable and consumer units
The one we are asked about most and refuse most. Every country has its own wiring standard, plug format, breaker certification and inspection regime, and the electrician who signs off your house will not sign off a distribution board they cannot identify. Light fittings sit at the end of the circuit, so they are fine; the circuit itself stays local, and so do socket and switch plates unless you have checked the standard carefully.
6. Timber framing
In North America, Australia and New Zealand, framing timber is graded, stamped and priced for a huge local market, and imported softwood would need treating and certifying to match. China has no cost advantage here anyway; much of its construction softwood is imported. Buy it at the timber yard.
7. Pipes and drainage fittings
PPR, PVC and PEX sizes follow national standards that differ in small ways that matter enormously at the joint. Chinese fittings are excellent and cheap, and the wrong outside diameter is still the wrong outside diameter. Unless you are also buying the tools and the plumber, leave it.
8. Fire doors, boilers and gas appliances
Anything whose sale at home depends on a safety certificate you do not already hold. Fire-rated doors need a test report from a laboratory your authority accepts; gas appliances need approval for the local gas type and pressure; pressurised water heaters need a certified relief valve and an installer willing to fit an unfamiliar unit. A large project can sometimes clear this with time and money. For a house it is not worth the argument, and the local price is not far off.
How we use this list
When a client sends us a villa plan, we go down it in this order and stop where the container is full or the money runs out. The first six items make up 70 to 80 percent of the value of a typical package and nearly all of the saving. Everything from number 7 down is worth having if it fits, and there is a point in every order, usually around the bathtubs, where the honest advice is that the space is worth more than the discount. Those calls get made on the buying trip, with the price in front of you.
Where each product is made shapes the trip. Tiles, windows, kitchens, doors, sanitary ware and ceilings are within an hour of Foshan; lighting, faucets and stone are each a day trip; flooring and boards are another province. Our map of where building materials are made in China sets it out; a mixed villa order can be done from Foshan in four or five days without a flight.
A note on prices: every figure in this guide is an indicative estimate from recent orders. Factory prices, freight rates and exchange rates move, so treat them as a planning guide and ask us for a current quote before you budget.
Frequently asked questions
Is it worth buying just one category, like tiles or windows?
Yes for tiles and windows, where the saving on one house covers freight several times over; a 20ft of either is a normal order for us. For most of the rest the saving is real but freight and fixed costs make a single small category hard to justify unless it rides in someone else’s container.
Are Chinese products lower quality than European ones?
At the top of the Chinese market, no; the same factories supply European brands. At the bottom, yes, and the bottom is where the online listings live. The difference is the specification and the inspection, which is what we do. A first choice tile from a good Foshan kiln is a first choice tile; a second choice tile sold as first is the problem, and it is avoidable.
Which items are most often damaged in transit?
Glass, stone and bathtubs, in that order, and nearly always because someone saved money on crates. Tiles break when pallets are loaded high and unstrapped; windows scratch when they travel without corner protection. Proper packing costs a few hundred dollars on a container and we do not ship without it; the mechanics are in our shipping guide.
Can I buy the electrical fittings if I bring my own standard?
Light fittings, yes, and we regularly order them with the right voltage and plug format for the destination. Switchgear, breakers and cable, no, not for a house. For a large project with an electrical engineer who can specify to a recognised standard it is possible, but it is a long conversation and not usually where the saving is.
What if my country has high import duties?
Duty of 10 to 20 percent on the CIF value still leaves most of the saving on the top ten items, because the gap starts at 40 percent. It narrows the case for the heavier, cheaper products further down the list, which is one reason plywood and laminate rank where they do. A Certificate of Origin cuts the rate in several markets, and we include one with every shipment.
Planning to buy building materials in Foshan?
Tell us what you need and when you plan to come. We aim to reply the same business day with a realistic plan, price ranges and which markets to visit.