Guide
How to stop material going missing on a building site
On most house builds, material is a large part of the cost, and it is where money quietly leaks: short deliveries, extra bags used, items that leave the site. You don’t need a warehouse system to stop it, just a routine that every delivery and every release follows.
Where material is lost
- Short deliveries: 95 bags on a 100-bag delivery note, or steel lighter than billed.
- Wrong quality: a cheaper brand or a thinner bar than ordered.
- No record of use: bags released without anyone noting where they went.
- Waste: mortar mixed and left to set, broken blocks, badly cut tiles.
- Theft: material leaving the site after hours.
The five-step routine
1. Order in writing
Every purchase starts with a written order: item, brand, size, quantity and rate. A delivery that doesn’t match an order is questioned at the gate.
2. Receive at the gate
Count the bags, count or weigh the steel, and check the brand and size against the order. Photograph the supplier’s delivery note and the load, and note who received it.
3. Keep a proper store
Keep cement dry and off the floor, in stacks no more than about 10 bags high, and use the oldest bags first. Keep fittings and small items locked. Make one person responsible for the store.
4. Release to a named person for a named job
Material leaves the store only to a named mistri or foreman, for a named piece of work: ’20 bags to Akram for the first-floor columns’. Returns are recorded the same way.
5. Reconcile every week
Compare what was issued with what the work needed. For example, a 1:2:4 concrete mix uses roughly 6 to 7 bags of cement per cubic metre; your engineer can tell you what a pour should need. Count the store by surprise every few weeks.
What to check on common materials
| Material | At delivery | In the store |
|---|---|---|
| Cement | Count the bags; check the brand, grade and packing date | Dry, on a raised platform, about 10 bags high at most; oldest first |
| Steel bars | Check diameter and grade; count or weigh against the bill | Off the ground, covered, sorted by size |
| Bricks and blocks | Count by stacks; check the size and broken pieces | Stacked near the work, away from traffic |
| Sand and crush | Measure the loaded truck (length × width × height) against the volume billed | In a marked area on hard ground |
| Tiles | Check size, shade and batch on every box | Boxed, one batch together; keep spare boxes |
| Fittings | Check model and quantity against the order | Locked, released one by one |
Water tankers too
Where there is no mains water, water is bought by the tanker. Record each tanker’s size, time and who received it, and check the tank levels, so you pay only for water that arrived.
How Buildiary does this
Buildiary follows this routine on the phone. Goods are received against the purchase order with a photo of the delivery note, every release goes to a named person, stock is live, and low-stock alerts warn you before work stops. You can even find an item by taking its photo.
Questions people ask
How high can cement bags be stacked?
Keep stacks to about 10 bags high, on a dry raised platform away from the walls, and use the oldest bags first.
How do I check a sand or crush delivery?
Measure the truck’s loaded length, width and height, multiply them, and compare the volume with what the supplier is charging for.
Who should keep the site store?
One trusted person, usually the store keeper or supervisor. Material should leave the store only through them, to a named person for a named job.
More guides
The stages of building a house, from design to handover
The 14 stages of building a typical two-storey house in Pakistan and the Gulf, how long each takes, what depends on what, and what to check before moving on.
How to keep a construction site diary that settles arguments
What a daily site diary should record (weather, people, work done, deliveries, instructions and problems) and why it protects owners and builders alike.
How to budget your house build and keep payments under control
Split the budget by phase, keep a contingency, decide finishes early, pay against work done and keep proof of every payment. A practical guide for home owners.
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