Construction
Inventory software for contractors and site stores
Cement arrives by the truckload, steel by the tonne and tiles by the box, and all of it disappears into the building. Knowing what is left at each site is half the margin on a job.
In short
SimpleERP is inventory software for contractors. Each site and the main store yard is a warehouse, supplier bills bring cement and rebar into the right one, transfers move surplus, and the monthly count records what went into the work.
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
An inventory day at Al Noor Contracting
The store yard in Dubai Investments Park holds cement, rebar, binding wire and the shuttering plates between jobs. The Al Barsha site keeps about two days of cement on its own, under a cover next to the mixer, and the Mirdif site keeps less because its store room is small.
Every morning the Al Barsha supervisor phones the office with a number of bags. Some days the number is wrong, and a slab pour stops for two hours while a truck comes from the yard. At the end of the Mirdif job, nobody could say whether 3 tonnes of 12 mm rebar went into the building or onto someone else's truck.
SimpleERP treats the yard and each site as a warehouse. Material comes in on the supplier bill to the place it was delivered, moves between them on a transfer, and the month-end count at each site writes down what was used.
Which site materials are worth tracking, and how do they reorder?
Track what is expensive, what moves between sites and what stops work when it runs out. Bulk items used the day they arrive can go straight to expense.
- Units you add, such as cubic metres, beside the seeded bags and kilograms.
- Low-stock list per warehouse from the reorder levels you set.
| Material | Unit | Where held | Reorder pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cement, general purpose | Bags | Each site, plus the store yard | Reorder level of 150 bags per site |
| rebar, 8 to 25 mm | Kilograms | Store yard, cut at site | Bought per slab against a purchase order |
| Tiles and sanitary fittings | Boxes, pieces | The site they were bought for | Bought once per site, surplus transferred |
| Binding wire and nails | Kilograms | Site | Expensed on purchase, not counted |
| Sand and aggregate | Cubic metres | Site | Track only if trucks are moved between sites |
| Shuttering plates and props | Sets | Moves with the job | Fixed asset with a location note |
How is material used in the work recorded?
Material that goes into a slab is never sold on an invoice line, since the client is billed for the work. So consumption is recorded at the site count: on the last day of the month the supervisor counts what is left, and the difference posts as a stock adjustment with the reason used in work.
- Stock count per site warehouse, with the difference valued at average cost.
- Adjustment reasons that separate use in work from damage or theft.
- Movement ledger per product and site for the question of where the steel went.
Illustration of stock on hand by warehouse at average cost, with a low-stock row highlighted and a movement ledger.
Can surplus from one site go to the next job?
Yes. When the Mirdif school is finished, the 40 boxes of floor tiles left over move to the Al Barsha warehouse on a transfer at their average cost. The finished site's warehouse drops to zero, and you can see what came from where.
- Transfers that move quantity and value together.
- Purchase orders with the site as the deliver-to warehouse.
- Stock value by warehouse checked against the inventory account in the ledger.
One system
What it connects to
Construction and contractors
Quotations and stage invoices, material per site, payroll with advances and site expense claims.
See howAccounting for contractors
Progress bills, mobilisation advances and retention held by clients kept straight in one contractor's ledger.
See howPayroll for contractors
Monthly payroll for engineers, supervisors and store keepers, advances recovered from salary, site claims on a phone, and labour gangs paid through the labour supplier's bill.
See howInventory
Stock on hand by warehouse at weighted average cost, with a movement ledger and a low-stock list.
See how
Honest limits
What SimpleERP does not do yet
- No batch, lot, serial or expiry tracking, and no barcode scanning
- Weighted average cost only; there is no FIFO
- No automatic reorder suggestions: the reorder level shows what is low, you decide what to buy
- No material issue slips against a BOQ item; consumption is recorded at the site count
Getting started
Start with inventory
Sign up with your email
Name, email and a password. No card for the seven-day trial.
Tell us about the business
Pick your country and, if you are registered, type your tax number. Accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering are seeded for that country.
Add products and opening stock
Create a warehouse for the store yard and each running site, add cement, rebar and finishing material with their units, and count what is at each site today.
Post a bill and an invoice
Stock rises on the purchase bill and falls on the invoice, at weighted average cost, with nothing to count by hand.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can we see the cement at each site from the office?
Yes. Stock on hand is shown per warehouse, so the Al Barsha and Mirdif cement balances sit side by side. They are only as right as the last bill, transfer and count, so a weekly count at a busy site keeps the figure honest.
Is steel bought in tonnes but used in kilograms a problem?
Keep steel in kilograms throughout and enter the supplier's tonnes as kilograms on the bill, for example 4.2 tonnes as 4,200 kg. Each product has one unit, so pick the smallest one you count in.
Should shuttering plates be stock or an asset?
An asset, in most contractors' books, because they are reused across jobs for years. Register them in the fixed asset register with a location note for the current site, and they depreciate monthly instead of being counted at every site.
A truck of sand went to the wrong site. How do we correct it?
Post a transfer from the site that received it to the site it was meant for. Both warehouses show the movement, and the record of the mistake stays in the history instead of being edited away.
Related
Keep reading
Construction and contractors
Quotations and stage invoices, material per site, payroll with advances and site expense claims.
Read moreAccounting for contractors
Progress bills, mobilisation advances and retention held by clients kept straight in one contractor's ledger.
Read morePayroll for contractors
Monthly payroll for engineers, supervisors and store keepers, advances recovered from salary, site claims on a phone, and labour gangs paid through the labour supplier's bill.
Read more
See how inventory works in SimpleERP for construction and contractors
Seven days free. No card. Your first invoice in minutes.