Material is often the largest cost a contractor buys directly, and the jobsite is a hard place to receive it. Tickets get lost in trucks, crews sign without counting, and the invoice arrives a month later. The three-way match is old accounting practice; the hard part is doing it on a jobsite.
What are the three documents?
| Document | Created by | Answers |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase order | Your buyer or PM | What did we order, at what price, for which job and cost code? |
| Delivery ticket | Supplier, signed by your crew | What actually arrived, when, and in what condition? |
| Invoice | Supplier | What are we being asked to pay? |
How do you receive material properly?
- Know what is coming. The field needs the PO, or at least the items and quantities, before the truck arrives.
- Count and inspect before signing. Check item, size, quantity and visible damage.
- Write exceptions on the ticket: short, damaged, wrong item, substitution. Under the Uniform Commercial Code a buyer has a right to inspect goods before accepting them (UCC 2-513), and accepting without noting problems weakens later rejection (UCC 2-606).
- Photograph the load and the ticket.
- Send the ticket to the office the same day, and note the delivery in the daily report.
How do you match and approve?
- Match each invoice line to the PO line and the ticket line.
- Approve only what was received; hold the rest.
- Flag price differences from the PO.
- Request credits for shortages and returns in writing.
- Code the cost to the right job and cost code so the budget stays true.
What goes wrong most often?
- Tickets signed by whoever was nearest, without counting.
- Partial deliveries billed as complete.
- Substitutions nobody approved, which can also break the approved submittal.
- Tickets that never reach the office, so the invoice is paid on trust.
How does Dario help?
Dario, BAU AI's procurement and logistics agent, reads the delivery ticket photo, matches it to the purchase order line by line, flags shortages, substitutions and price differences, and holds the invoice until they are resolved. A person on your team approves every payment. Dario is offered to the founding cohort and is not part of the published plans.
If your yard is full of tickets nobody matched, join our US founding cohort and test Dario on one of your jobs.
Tushar Adsul, Founder and CEO, BAU AI
Frequently asked questions
What is a three-way match? Checking the purchase order, the receiving document and the invoice against each other before paying.
Who should sign a delivery ticket? Someone who counted and inspected the delivery, usually the foreman or a designated receiver.
What if material arrives damaged? Note it on the ticket before signing, photograph it, and notify the supplier in writing.
Sources
- Uniform Commercial Code, Article 2, Sections 2-513 (buyer's right to inspect) and 2-606 (what constitutes acceptance).