A foundation pour, six trucks, one docket missing
Your ganger ordered concrete for the trench fill on a row of plots. Six trucks came. The pump was late, so two waited. The last truck was a part load because the ganger rang to trim the order. One docket went in the van, the others blew around the site or got wet. The invoice arrives with the concrete, a part-load charge, waiting time on three trucks and a returned concrete charge nobody remembers.
Your contracts manager can see the total is higher than the order, but has nothing to check the extras against.
Why concrete bills get paid unchecked
Pours are busy and the people managing them are thinking about the concrete, not the paperwork. The supplier's own records are timed by the plant and the driver, so they are more complete than yours. Order changes are made by phone mid-pour. The extras that come later are small individually, and nobody has time to fight each one.
- Orders and changes are made by phone with no record on your side.
- Dockets are handed to whoever is nearest and often lost.
- Arrival and discharge times are not recorded on site.
- Part-load, waiting and return charges appear only on the invoice.
- Concrete is not always charged to the right plot or job.
What unchecked concrete costs
Waiting time and part-load charges you could have questioned, or avoided with better ordering. Concrete charged to the wrong job, which distorts your view of which jobs make money. No record of the volume per plot when the main contractor or housebuilder asks about extra depth, and no easy way to see whether your gangs over-order as a habit.
The pour record we build
- Each order is logged on a phone against the job and the pour: plots or area, mix, volume ordered, pump, and requested times. Changes are logged the same way.
- The supplier gets the order in writing, by email, as well as the phone call your ganger still makes.
- Each truck is logged on arrival with a photo of the docket. Arrival and discharge times are tapped in by the ganger or banksman.
- Dockets are read for mix, volume and truck, and matched to the order.
- The supplier's invoice is read and checked against the dockets and times: volume, mix, part loads, waiting time and returns. Each extra is shown with the site record next to it.
- Extras caused by others, such as a late pump or a main contractor's delay, are tagged so they can be recovered.
- Concrete volumes are costed to the job and plot, and compared with the design volume for the pour.
| Invoice line | What the pour record shows |
|---|---|
| Concrete volume | Dockets matched to the order |
| Part-load charge | Order change logged, with who asked |
| Waiting time | Arrival and discharge times, and the cause |
| Returned concrete | Docket and ganger's note |
| Plot or area | Pour logged against plots |
What you get from every pour
Every truck has a docket and times on your side of the record, not just the supplier's. Invoice extras are checked before they are paid, and the ones caused by others can be passed on. You can see concrete per plot against design, which is useful when trench depths change and when you price the next job. Gangers still order by phone; the record just happens alongside.
The same record also shows habits. If one site regularly trims its last truck to a part load, or the pump keeps arriving late from a certain supplier, it is there to see and to fix.
Is this how your concrete gets paid for?
- Ready-mix invoices are paid without checking dockets.
- Dockets go missing on site.
- Waiting time and part-load charges are a regular surprise.
- Concrete is not costed to plots.
- You cannot evidence extra concrete from deeper foundations.