7 Steps to Better Procurement for Specialty Contractors

During the Planning step, contractors try their best to assess what they’re going to need to purchase to complete the job. In this chapter, learn how to:

• Use past job insights to write estimates
• Create a purchasing strategy
• Release material throughout the project

Sourcing involves gathering relevant information to make good purchasing decisions. Discover effective strategies for sourcing materials, such as: 

• Identify what, when, and from whom to buy
• Automate RFQs to reduce costs 
• Streamline and simplify procurement

The Purchasing step ensures that purchase orders (POs) are created, sent to vendors, and acknowledged in an efficient manner. Learn how to streamline purchasing through: 

• Order creation through bill of materials and quick orders
• Maintaining up-to-date purchasing data to minimize overhead costs and material expenses

The fourth step in the 7 Step Procurement Process is Requesting, which maximizes field productivity by:

• Implementing efficient material requisition practices
• Ensuring timely delivery of the correct materials
• Minimizing on-site material management time

Receiving involves accurately logging deliveries to the jobsite and warehouse with essential information to track inventory. Discover best practices for:

• Tracking deliveries to the field and warehouse
• Warehouse inventory management processes 
• Access proof of delivery records from the field

Invoice matching is essential to establish a dependable and efficient invoice reconciliation to avoid costly errors with 3-way matching. Learn how to:

• Prevent overpaying by implementing an efficient invoice matching system that catches billing errors
• Discover how to automate the process of matching invoices with POs and delivery receipts

Payments encompass optimizing pre-payment workflows and approval processes. Learn how to: 

• Effectively manage payments by optimizing pre-payment workflows and approval processes
• Selecting appropriate payment methods
• Ensuring the security of payment data when paying invoices