Trade account materials that never reach the invoice

Unbilled materials are rarely the hot water unit or the tapware. Those were quoted, so they get charged. What slips through is the second trip to the counter for the fitting that was the wrong size, the extra flexi hose, the length of copper picked up for a blocked drain that turned out to be a burst pipe. The docket goes on the trade account, the job is invoiced from memory, and the two never meet.

It surfaces when the account statement arrives, as a line from three weeks ago with a surname on it that nobody can place. By then the customer has paid the invoice.

Where the missing lines come from

Almost every one traces back to one of four gaps.

A purchase with no job reference

"Smith" on a docket is not a reference when there are three Smiths on the books this month. Neither is a street name, or the apprentice's first name. If somebody who was not there cannot match the docket to a job, it has no reference.

The job invoiced before the paperwork exists

A service call that finishes at two gets invoiced from the van at quarter past. The part bought at eleven on the way there is on the account, but the supplier's invoice for it may not have come through yet. There is nothing to check the invoice against, so nobody does.

Van stock with no record of use

A fitting taken from the van's own shelves creates no docket at all. The restock order next week has no job on it, because it was never bought for one. Unless the fitting was written onto the job when it came off the shelf, it is gone.

A return visit on a job already closed

The first visit is invoiced. The second visit, to fit the part that had to be ordered in, sits on the same job, and its materials land on the account after the job was marked complete.

Give every purchase a job number

One rule does most of the work: nothing goes on the account without a job number. Not a name, not an address. A number short enough to read out at the counter or over the phone.

The rule matters more, not less, if your job software connects to your supplier, because the job number is what the connection runs on. FieldPulse's documentation for its Reece maX connection says the job number can be given in store, over the phone or in the maX app, and that a supplier invoice is linked to the job when that number was given at purchase. It also says only the first purchase order on a job links automatically. Any later ones are linked by hand. A connection makes the check shorter. It does not remove it.

Put the number where the tech is standing

A job number that lives in an app nobody opens at the counter will not get used. Put it in the booking confirmation text, on the job sheet, or on the whiteboard in the van. The apprentice sent for a bag of elbows needs it too.

Photograph the docket before driving off

Where materials were bought for a job, take a photo of the docket at the counter and attach it to the job straight away. The invoice is then written from the docket, not from memory, and it does not have to wait for the supplier's invoice.

For a job with a return visit, do not mark it complete when the last visit ends. Mark it complete when every visit's materials have been checked against it.

Charge van stock from a price list

Do not try to match restock orders to jobs. Keep a priced list of the fittings the van carries, and add what came off the shelf to the job the same way you add labour. The restock order then goes to overheads, and each job pays for what it used.

The list does not need every size of every fitting. The items you reach for on most service calls cover most of the value.

Check the account for unbilled materials every month

When the trade account statement arrives, give every line one of four labels:

1. Job: the docket has a job number, and its materials are on that job's invoice.
2. Van stock: a restock order, charged to jobs through the price list.
3. Overhead: consumables and tools no single job pays for, such as thread tape, silicone and drill bits.
4. Unmatched: everything else.

The unmatched lines are the work. Chase each one this week, while the person who bought it still remembers the job. Where it belongs to a job already invoiced, send a follow-up invoice with a copy of the docket, so the customer can see exactly what the charge is for.

Then look at the unmatched lines as a group. If most come from one van or one kind of job, that is where the job number rule is not being followed, and a conversation with that person saves chasing the same dockets next month.

If your jobs are kept in Diract, its Import a supplier invoice tool reads a supplier's PDF invoice and shows each line with its amount and the record it was matched to, such as the job. You untick a line you do not want, fix a wrong match, and only then are the lines added.