Just a quick question. How do you guys handle your inventory of cable, connectors, etc. (field consumables) that are typically not line items. Do you just keep track of them in general categories (i.e. cable, connectors, j-boxes...), or do you keep track of the qty of every item (i.e. RG6, RG59, RGB, RCA conn, F conn, 1 gang, 2 gang...). We are in the process of nailing down a good inventory method, and I really hate the idea of hundreds of little items to list in inventory for things that will not be listed seperately on an invoice. However it would be nice to pull up a screen and see what we need to reorder.

This is an ongoing issue with me... I've worked for comanies that inventoried EVERYTHING, and ones that "Let the parts slide".... All those parts add up quick.... In my mind, EVERYTHING should be billed for ona job. If your not inventorying it.... How does it get billed? 50 cents for an end doesnt seem like much... but how many end up ina job? 100 sometimes? Now multiply that by how many jobs you do a year..... Adds up to a very nice vacation at the end of the year....

I dont think you need to line item every thing, but it should be counted and builled for..... We now do a "Prewire kit" that includes a basic materials needed to get a prewire done.... X amount of Zip ties, P-rings, D-Rings, Stabples, etc etc etc.... and we detail out all the Ends used in trim/finish. Those Compression fittings add up REAL quick.....

On our proposals and invoices we include a Misc. Materials item. This is a cost for zip ties, wall boxes, misc coverplaters, screws, nails, staples, etc. As for the inventory, I leave that up to the person in the truck. I have a sheet of local and non local venders. Whenever someone is close to or out of something, they put it on the order pad. If i happen to use someone truck and they don't have the proper equipment, BOOM!! Time to clean the van. Same goes for if they have to make a trip to the store to pick up something they should have had with them. We charge for everything that we put in a customer's house. I am not worried about inventory shrinkage because we only have 7 people installing for us, and three outside contractors who you their own equipment.

Mike

As Impaqt indicates, all those cables and ends add up. We have worked it down to a parts list that is common to a particular install item. For instance, when we add the elite structured wiring package on our proposal, it includes the price for the necessary parts to complete that package. When we include a particular subwoofer, all the necessary connectors are included in the pricing.

We do not, however, inventory all of these parts and pieces individually. That means our truck inventory has to be intelligently managed by our installers. When they check out parts from the warehouse location to add to their truck inventory, they are deducted from the actual inventory of the warehouse and replacement parts are ordered. If they cannot finish a job due to out of stock parts, the installer team is fined. They learn fast when it affects their paycheck. They are also allowed only a certain level of parts in their trucks and we inspect on a regular basis. Remember, they sign these parts out of inventory, and we hold them responsible.

I inventory all patch chords, F connectors, J-Boxes, etc. but bill ties, staples, etc as misc. inventory supplies.

There aer two separate issues being discussed as the same. There is inventory which is what and how many items are in stock and where they may reside and then there is what the accounts call accounts and what we working folk call bills-either payables for purchasing them or receivables for which we receive payment. How you track supplies and equipment is one matter. If you have lots of trucks and your truck supplies are disappearing at an alarming rate might be important information. Then there is pilling for those miscelaneous truck supplies.

I am too undisciplined to invintory the former and like AHEM I have a line item for miscelaneous supplies in proposals to pay for them. However, if you have lots of trucks or wish to follow good, sound business practices you should come of with a system for invintorying truck supplies --- which is what I call these miscelaneous items. A certain amount of loss and pilforage is inevitable but you would want to know how much.

Alan

I think that it's also very important to provide your installers with premade sheets that they can use to list off all parts used and each job.

I know that I've been lazy before when working on a job and used a handful of connectors here and there while telling myself that I'll be able to remember everything.

Has anyone used any of the all encompassing inventory/supply/linked to D-Tools(or the like) systems that are advertised??

You would be better off creating a new thread rather than bringing up an EIGHT YEAR OLD thread on the same topic.

Can I get a post in before this thread is locked??

:)

It's the old song: Daniel's got this site so well-tuned that a search for any topic we've dealt with brings us right up at the top, then a newbie doesn't realize how old the thread is. This time we noticed, at least. We often then don't notice, join in, then get irritated that we've been taken in by a newb bringing up and oldie.

I have advocated that Daniel change the default search to sorted by “newest post date”, which is always more useful anyway.

Also default search by “thread title” rather than all text.  I’d rather start with titles, and I use that 95% of the time.  Drilling down to “all text” is rare.

That's close to what I'd like to see:
The top box is great.
I think the defaults for the more detailed... uh... details would be

Show results as Posts, not threads. I don't want to have to scroll through entire posts, which can sometimes be quite long-winded (Thanks a lot, Ernie!) to find the particular post that has what I was hoping for.

Sort by Last Post Date, in descending order. Relevance is a bit baffling, as... just what is relevant to all of us? And how do you decide the ascending or descending order of relevance? Last Post Date gives me the most recent info, which is usually what I want.

I'm just sayin.'

I just realized that you're concentrating on searches done on remote central. I think, instead, that newbies are brought to old threads by google searches. I've mentioned Daniel seems to have his SEO pretty well O'ed, but I think that implies search engine searches such as with bing (joke), not searches while already on a site.