Controlling consumables and small-tools costs
The supplier's monthly statement for the library fit-out comes to $9,400: saw blades, bits, fasteners, tape, sealant and three cordless drills. The estimate allowed $5,000 a month for consumables and small tools. Nobody can say which crew took what, and two of the drills were bought in the same week.
Consumables are supplies and materials used up during construction: fuel, welding supplies, workers' supplies and, on a fit-out, blades, bits, tape and sealant. Small tools are the hand and power tools crews use every day. In an estimate they may sit in an allowance, inside the crew rate or among the job's indirect costs rather than on a line of their own. Because no single item is expensive and nobody owns the total, the cost leaks through open accounts, duplicate orders, tools that disappear and supplies used on extra work that nobody records.
Simple controls that hold
- Turn the allowance into a monthly figure that follows the crew size, so a busy month is judged against a busy month's budget.
- Limit who can buy: name one or two people who can charge the job's supplier accounts, and require the job number and a cost code on every purchase.
- Keep fast-moving items at one locked supply point, issued by one person.
- Tag every tool with a number and keep a sign-out list by name; check it weekly and again before demobilizing.
- Match the monthly statement against purchase records within a week of receiving it, and query anything without a job number.
- Record consumables used on extra work on the time and material (T&M) ticket, so they can be priced as the contract allows.
- Review the month with the foremen: what was used, what went missing, and what to repair instead of replace.
Common mistakes
- Leaving supplier accounts open to anyone on site.
- Treating consumables as free because each item is cheap.
- Buying a new tool before looking for the last one.
- Checking the statement months later, when nobody remembers the purchases.
Action list
This week
- Turn the allowance into a monthly figure
- Name who may charge the supplier accounts
- Require a job number and cost code on every purchase
- Tag the tools and start a sign-out list
- Match last month's statement against purchases
- Add consumables to every open T&M ticket
Check your understanding
Why do consumables and small tools overrun even when every purchase is reasonable on its own?
