• Home Depot and Lowe's are the top two home improvement retailers in the US.
• Both chains serve a mix of pro customers and do-it-yourself weekend warriors.
• I visited both stores and could see why Home Depot has the edge with contractors.

On paper, the world's top two home improvement retailers, Home Depot and Lowe's, are remarkably similar.

Each operates roughly 2,000 US stores. Both sell a similar range of merchandise from similarly sized warehouses, serving a similar customer base of professional contractors and do-it-yourself weekend warriors.

One key difference, however, is the ratio of DIYers to pros that each company serves: Home Depot serves a roughly equal mix, while DIYers outnumber pros at Lowe's by about a three-to-one.

To get a better sense of what differentiates these otherwise similar companies, I visited locations for each in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

For starters, Lowe’s has less of a presence in the Midwest than Home Depot.

As of their most recent annual reports, the companies had eight and 27 locations in Wisconsin, respectively, and in some markets, the two brands have locations within a few miles of one another.

Arriving at Lowe’s, I was surprised to see less merchandise displayed in front of the store than I’m used to seeing at this kind of store.

I've never been to this location, so I wasn't sure whether it was a seasonal thing, or a response to shoplifting, but CEO Marvin Ellison has said Lowe's anti-theft strategy has been effective.

In the vestibule, I noticed a large bay of lockers for online order pickup.

Lowe's doesn't break out its e-commerce revenue separately in its financial statements, but the company says it's very much pushing an omnichannel retail strategy.

Inside the store, I was greeted with a blizzard of holiday merchandise.

My colleague Amanda Krause concluded that Lowe's had the more exciting holiday assortment than Home Depot.

The merchandise seemed to skew more toward “buy it and use it” than “buy it and build it.”

Small appliances and other finished products struck me as more consumer oriented than a contractor would be looking for.

Appliances were available from national brands like Maytag, GE, and LG.

Black Friday deals were very much in effect on Cyber Monday, as was Lowe's price-matching policy.

Some building materials were packaged and presented in quantities that seemed to cater more to a DIYer than a pro.

This display of flooring planks had me wondering how hard it would be to install them myself in my laundry room.

Indoor lumber yards are a common feature of both brands.

The wood seemed solid and high quality.

The front area of the store was devoted to power tools.

DeWalt is a highly regarded brand among pros, but more prefer Milwaukee tools according to some informal polls, and for those, you'll have to go to Home Depot.

The highlight of the visit was definitely the driver testing display.

I've not seen a similar setup at Home Depot, but this was a neat (and fun) opportunity to try out a product before purchase. I hadn't heard of the Flex brand before, but this driver delivered plenty of power.

There were also bathroom-in-a-box projects.

The gray vanity on the left looks remarkably similar to one my wife and I got from Home Depot a couple years ago — it was an easy weekend warrior project.

My sense was that Lowe’s skewed more toward project kits and finished products than a massive selection of tools and building materials.

At Lowe's, you could get started on just about any DIY project around the home.

There are more Home Depot locations in the Milwaukee area than Lowe's.

The nearest was about a mile and a half away, and I got there in five minutes.

It also had a lot less stuff for sale in the parking lot than I typically see.

The similarity to Lowe's led me to believe it might be an anti-theft decision, given the stores' proximity to one another.

In the vestibule, there were also lockers for online order pickup.

This location seemed to be more heavily used than Lowe's.

Like Lowe’s, there was holiday merchandise right at the front entrance — just less of it.

As my colleague Amanda Krause also observed, the selection wasn't as large, but the essentials (lights, bows, etc.) were well covered.

The aisles generally felt busier and more chaotic in terms of merchandise.

In contrast to Lowe's, the emphasis at Home Depot seemed to be more on building and project materials than finished products.

Many of the same appliance brands were available, but the display was more barebones.

Where Lowe's had distinct fixtures and signage dividing its appliance displays, Home Depot arranged units more tightly on the warehouse floor.

This display of working metals seemed emblematic of the difference between the brands.

Lowe's also sells these materials, but Home Depot had the variety and quantity on-hand in the store that a contractor would likely need. Still, does a regular homeowner need it? Probably not.

Home Depot also has an indoor lumber yard.

I didn't inspect the wood super closely, but Lowe's might have had an ever-so-slight slight edge in terms of quality.

The company’s price-match policy is pretty aggressive too.

A 10% discount after a price match is pretty bold, but given how different retailers often carry distinct brands or unique products, it can be harder than it seems to find the same item elsewhere, much less at a lower price.

Home Depot is also big in tool rentals.

Tool rentals are great for DIYers, but they're essential for pros. Lowe's does have a rental service too, but the nearest location offering it is near St. Louis, Missouri, more than 300 miles away.

Here’s where pros (and weekend warriors, too) can load up on Milwaukee tools.

The only thing missing was a 4x4 block to test out the drivers.

Walking out of the store, I noticed several white contractor vans parked under the carport.

Even as a relatively handy guy, I know Home Depot sells far more stuff than I could ever hope to have the skill to use correctly.

But the simple presence of a gajillion hyper-specific nuts and bolts gives me the same kind of unearned confidence that weekend warriors get out of driving a full-size pickup truck to their office jobs.

It's there if you need it, even if you don't know how to fully use it.

For most folks, Home Depot or Lowe’s — even your neighborhood Ace Hardware — will have what you need to start a project.

But for pros and the advanced DIYer, finishing the job just might require a trip to Home Depot.

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