Who it's for: project managers and site managers who order materials, and foremen and contractors who report what's missing on site.
What you'll do: set up your company's purchasing catalogue, plan materials on schedule tasks, place an order with a supplier and receive the delivery in a site journal entry.
Before you start
- The full Purchases module (catalogue, orders, deliveries, stock on site) is available from the Company plan. On the Start plan you have requisitions raised on site and investor purchases.
- A purchase in Buildinio is an order with a supplier. Its value goes into the budget as a commitment before the invoice arrives. See How to control a construction budget.
Steps
1. Fill in the catalogue
- Go to Purchases → Catalog and add an item: a material, a subcontracted service or a rental.
- Set the unit and the cost category. The category sends the cost of the purchase to the right budget pool.
- An item added in a project is visible only there. To use it on all jobs, click Share on all jobs.
2. Plan materials on tasks
- In the schedule, open a task and add materials with quantity and price. The last price from this job and from the whole company is suggested.
- Materials on tasks make up the Requisitions: what to order, for which task and by when. The deadline is calculated from the product's lead time.
- The crew adds what ran out on site: Quick actions → Raise a requisition. Those items are in the Raised on site section.
3. Place an order
- Click Add purchase, or order items straight from the requisitions.
- Choose the supplier. You can add a new one on the spot by typing its name.
- Add items from the catalogue, the order date and the Planned delivery date.
- A purchase can start as planned. Orders to place and deliveries due in the next few days appear on the project dashboard.
4. Receive the delivery in the journal
- When the material arrives, open the day's entry in the Site journal and choose the order from the list of open ones.
- Receive the delivery in full or in part. You can see how much is still to come. Receiving more than was ordered is clearly flagged.
- The partial and full delivery status updates itself from the receipts.
What happens next
- Buildinio calculates stock on site: what was there at the start, plus deliveries, minus material from closed tasks, with stocktake corrections.
- Material missing for planned work shows up on the dashboard as a matter to decide.
- When the invoice arrives, add it as a cost. See How to add a cost.
Troubleshooting
- I can't see a catalogue item in another project. The item belongs only to the project where it was added. Share it on all jobs.
- I'm deleting a purchase and the app warns about deliveries. Receipts in the journal are attached to it. Check the list of entries in the warning before you confirm.
- The investor raised a requisition. For an item “to be decided”, choose: investor purchase or project budget. See Guide for the client.