Benchmarking Material Procurement in the Sheet Metal and HVAC Trade

Field Materials, a SMACNA Silver Associate Member has partnered with New Horizons Foundation to develop a first of its kind benchmarking survey focused on material procurement and equipment rental practices within the SMACNA contractor community across North America.

The survey results will provide a clear and insightful view into various markets, shed light on key trends, and offer actionable insights for enhancing material procurement strategies. The collected data will serve as a valuable resource for informed decision-making and process optimization in the realm of material procurement.

Aggregated survey results will be shared with members and leadership later this year.

1) How many people does your company employ? *

1000+

100-1000

50-100

Less than 50

2) What is your role? (please select only one) *

3) What areas does your comany focus on? (please check all that apply) *

4) What accounting/ERP software do you use? (please select only one) *

5) How many AP invoices for material orders / equipment rentals does your organization receive each month? *

6) Who at your organization places material and equipment orders with vendors? *

We have a dedicated purchasing department. All purchase orders are set up and communicated to vendors by the purchasers.

Orders are communicated to PMs and PMs place orders with vendors.

Orders are requested and communicated to the vendors directly by the field staff or shop staff (in case of prefabrication).

Some orders are directly requested from vendors by the field staff. Some orders are placed by PMs.

7) How do you handle packing slips for received materials? (please select only one) *

Packing slips are collected at the job site / shop (in case of prefabrication) and are physically sent to the office.

Foremen take a picture of the packing slip and send it via email to office staff.

We have an app for capturing packing slips that correlates them with the right purchase order.

We don’t collect packing slips

8) Do you set up a separate PO for each material delivery? (please check all that apply) *

Yes, we set up a separate PO every time we request specific materials from a vendor

No, we have a blanket PO for the job and use that PO number for all materials for that job

Sometimes we set up separate POs and sometimes we have a blanket PO for the job

Sometimes we set up a separate PO and sometimes just bill materials directly to the job

9) What percentage of your material and equipment AP invoices are received electronically (via email) versus via snail mail? *

10) What’s your process for handling invoices for materials and equipment? *

AP staff enters the invoices into accounting software; PMs review and approve

Purchasing staff reviews invoices and enters them into accounting software

AP staff enters and pays invoices; PMs don’t review

Other (please provide details below) Other (please provide details below)

11) How do you track credits with a particular vendor of materials or equipment? *

In a separate Excel spreadsheet

In our accounting software

Rely on Project Managers to track our credits

Rely on vendors to track our credits

We don't do a very good job of tracking credits

12) What percentage of orders have issues (e.g., missing items, damaged items, wrong quantities, etc.)? *

13) Which are the top 3 vendors by total number of monthly orders? *

14) For orders above $500, how many vendors do you get quotes from before deciding on a buyout (committed quote)? *

15) What percentage of your total number of material orders/equipment rentals are placed without a pre-authorization from the office (e.g., foreman uses a corporate card to buy something for the job and does not inform the office about the purchase)? *

16) What payment method(s) do you use to pay vendors? (please check all that apply) *

17) What would you like to see automated in material and equipment procurement? (please check all that apply) *

Purchase order entry

AP Invoice entry and verification

Packing slip scanning (and its verification against the order)

Receipt scanning for rogue purchases

Quote scanning: creating an order from a submitted quote

Analysis of quotes from alternative vendors/suppliers

1-10
11-50
51-100
101-250
251-500
500-2500
2500+
Don’t know