We got a card at Home Depot. We were our own GC so we bought everything ourselves directly so ran up HUGE amounts on the card.

We actually didn't buy a whole lot of materials at HD but used the credits generated by the card to get equipment there. For example we bought the lumber package at another yard to the tune of about $25k and got A LOT of points on the HD card. Same with the window and door package which ran up another $30K on the credit card.

Over the course of the build some of the major stuff I bought was a portable generator, Paslode cordless finish nailer, chop saw, power tile cutter, lawn mower, compressor and power washer as well as a couple of thousand bucks in smaller stuff from anything like nails to paint brushes to grass seed, etc. I think it totaled over 5K for the build.

We use our credit card the same way a lot of people use a debit card. I pay all of our bills I can with it (car payments, utilities, food, etc.) but only charge as much as I can pay off at the end of the billing cycle. I never run a balance on my card. The first week of December we're taking an overdue family vacation and I will have accumulated enough points to pay for 3 of our 4 airline tickets with points. I of course will charge the hotel and 4th airline ticket to the card. This was how we could afford the trip in the first place. Different cards offer different redemption plans and different bonus plans so you have to decide what you wish to use your points for before you start charging. I've heard Barclays offers a really great card for airline tickets but it's very difficult to get. I like that card because you're not tied to a specific airline.

I don't recommend using a credit card for points though if you think you will end up running up a balance. The amount you get in points won't be worth what you will pay in fees or interest.

Yes. Not so much for the new house,though I have spent quite a bit, but I basically flipped our old house before putting it on the market and the majority of the charges went on the card.

I have a Citi card that pays 3% on online shopping so I used that the most.

The only way this makes sense is if you pay your balance in full each month.

Yep, we did it for our build and earned cash back. The total we got back after the build was enough for me to buy a good area rug for the LR.

We're using our for hotel and airline points. We moved away from our kids(well, they moved away from where we were building) and it enables us to see them more often. Cabinets, flooring and window treatments have gone on the card-which we pay off each month.

Our house is almost done, and we did earn about $500 using our State Farm card towards our insurance bill (boring), but if I had it to do over again, I'd use a Southwest Airlines visa. I just checked into it and just for opening it, you get 25,000 points which looks to be enough for two tickets round trip from Detroit to Tampa. So, pushing the crazy amount of $$ through that building a house can, I'm sure an entire family could fly for free.

Previously used only 1 card as I pay my balance every month. Was surprised at how the points have added up and it was only a 1% card. Decided for the next year I will pay attention and try to maximize points and see if it is worth it. Use PenFed for gas (5%); AmEx Cash for groceries (3%); Chase Sapphire for restaurants & travel (2%); pay attention to rotating 5% from Discover, Amazon & home improvement this quarter; and Citi double cash (2%) for everything else. Paying for everything I can with a card. Car insurance today went a card (vs bank transfer I used to do).

@ tcufrog, thanks great idea car payment, I'd not thought of that. Wonder if I could pay my mortgage with a card? :-) I have the Barclay card and not seeing good travel rewards. Am I missing something?

We use cards the same way as TCU does, except for our build we applied for ones with 0% interest for the first year. I'm also using my card to pay for an out building we're putting up this next week.. Can't wait to see the rewards for that. ;)

@mdln

I think there's more than one Barclay's card. Maybe it depends on which one you get. I really rack up the points paying for utilities (phones, water, gas, electricity) and insurance with my credit card. Some companies allow you to pay for car payments with a credit card but some do not. It really varies.

Suppliers have wised up in the last few years. (At least, here in the 51st state to be soon declared by executive order.)

At first, our commercial lumber supplier accepted credit cards. Then no. The best we're able to get is a 1% discount.

Others allow credit cards...but for a 2.5% fee.

For those who do accept cards, the biggest problem has been trying to increase credit card limits.

To get around that, we tried making large payments to the card company when nothing was due. But, then, card companies refuse the payments in excess of our credit limit (!) and credit the funds back to our bank account.