How a contractor or builder chooses a cement, tiles or steel supplier

A builder who rings a supplier asks about time and trust long before brand. Will the load reach the site on the day? What credit will I get? Who do I call when it does not come? Brand matters most where an architect or client has named it. For everything else the supplier who is reliable and reachable gets the repeat order. You can measure how you score on those points from paper you already have, using a scorecard like the one below.

Build the scorecard from your delivery slips

Gather one month of delivery slips for your two or three biggest builders, along with your phone's call log for those sites. Rule up a sheet with these columns and fill them in with your own figures:

Be honest in the "called first" row, because it often decides which supplier a builder keeps. A late truck that was announced from the road costs the builder a few hours' rearranging. A late truck nobody mentioned costs the builder a mason gang sitting idle, and that is what is remembered.

What each row tells a builder

The first row is plain reliability. If many loads were late, find the reason, not the excuse: a truck allocated too late, a yard that opens after the site starts, a queue at loading, a missing gate pass. Then give the builder a cut-off to plan around, set from your own yard and trucks.

The second row is about trust. The same lateness costs far less when you call first. If you fail here, name one person per route whose job is to ring the site when a load runs more than an hour past the promise.

The third row matters most for tiles. A block needs the same shade and batch from first floor to last, and a mismatch is a reason to refuse a delivery. For steel, the equivalent is the grade and size agreed, and for cement, the make specified. Record the batch on the slip and tell the builder when a reorder will come from a different one.

The fourth row is your credit, and it should be a limit per site, written, and sent by message so the builder holds it too. Take a signed copy of each delivery. Review the limit after the first few deliveries and after each payment. Do not extend credit to chase a large builder known to be slow with other suppliers; ask around in the trade first.

The fifth row is the one many dealers do not count. A builder on a site rings from a noisy floor and wants a human answer.

Where the rate comes in

Rate often comes after these in a builder's mind, and it shifts with the item. That is a reading of how trade buying tends to work, not a measured ranking. When steel is moving, the day's rate can dominate the call. For tiles, one shade across a whole block can outrank everything. State your rate with what it includes, such as unloading, so it can be compared fairly.

The same scorecard for cement and steel

The columns stay the same, and only the third row changes. For cement, "missing shade or batch" becomes the make and grade on the slip against the make specified, plus the bag count and condition at the gate. For steel, it becomes the grade and diameter against the order, the weight on the weighbridge slip against your invoice, and the mill test certificate or heat number where the builder asks for it. Credit and call-first rows work the same way for all three.

A worked case: a tiles and sanitaryware dealer in Shimoga

The case is invented. A dealer in Shimoga supplies vitrified tiles and bathroom fittings to small builders putting up apartment blocks. A regular contractor moves some orders to a rival whose tiles cost slightly more. The dealer assumes rate and sends a discount by message. Nothing changes.

The dealer then fills in the scorecard, which had never been done. Loads on time looked acceptable. But the scorecard showed two deliveries in the month where the tile shade on the slip differed from the approved lot, noted by the site supervisor in pencil, and four late loads with no call. The contractor had left over lost days and mismatched boxes, not over price.

Three things changed. Each box now carried the approved batch number on the slip, which the driver read out at the gate. One dispatcher rang the site whenever a load ran more than an hour late. And the contractor was sent a credit limit and payment cycle by message. The contractor returned for the next block. Not every order came back, though: the next two small ones still went to the rival, which was nearer a second site, and the dealer decided to accept that. A rejected shade had already cost about ₹38,000 in replacement boxes. The dealer, the contractor and the figures are invented.

When brand is the lever

When the architect or the project consultant has named a make, your job is to be the dealer the brand points to. Why architects specify one material over another covers that stage. If you are a manufacturer rather than a dealer, put your effort into the dealer who serves the builder. The post on credit terms for business buyers goes deeper on limits.

Skip all of this for a one-off buyer who wants forty bags once, since there is no relationship to protect.

Ring the builders with the sheet in hand

Once the scorecard is filled in, ring your three biggest builders and ask what one thing you got wrong in the last two months. Write down what they say and do not defend yourself. Compare it with your own sheet, and the gaps between the two show where your habits differ from what they see. Where this fits in the rest of selling to builders is on the construction materials page. If you want help turning the answers into a delivery and credit routine, with a dealer and distributor programme if you sell through dealers, tell us what you need.