Painters and Flooring Installers: Tracking Materials Bought for Multiple Jobs

What painter and flooring books need to track

A paint or flooring crew runs more than one job at a time. A morning might be a whole house repaint. An afternoon might be a single room of planks. The supply run before the day starts often covers both. The paint, primer, glue, underlayment and trim for both jobs sit on one receipt.

When you book the whole receipt to one flat supplies line, the cost stops telling you anything about the jobs. Job one looks cheap because it carried no cost. Job two looks expensive because it carried the whole bill. The profit per job is a guess.

The question your books need to answer is simple. Did the cost match the work? When one buy covers three jobs, the cost should split across the three jobs that used it, not land in one pile the day the card was charged.

Here is what a clean shared buy looks like.

When the cost follows the material to the job, the margin per job is real. When it sits in one pile, every job looks the same.

How a supply run covers more than one job

A supply run is not one job. It is the paint, the planks, the glue and the trim for the whole week, bought at once because the price is better by the case or the pallet. The crew loads the van and heads to the first job. Some of the load goes on job one. Some stays in the van. Some goes on job two the next day.

The clean way is to book the full run to a supplies account when you pay for it. The cost sits on the shelf. As the crew opens the paint or lays the planks on a job, the cost moves from the supplies account to that job. The supplies account goes down and the job cost goes up by the same amount.

The messy way is to charge the whole run to the first job. Now job one carries the cost for the whole week, and jobs two and three look free. The margin per job is wrong from the start.

You can read more about how we keep the cost tied to the work on our bookkeeping page.

How to hold a bulk buy until the jobs use it

Paint and flooring materials are the reason a painter or flooring installer needs a supplies account. You buy a case of paint because the price drops by the case. You buy a bundle of planks because you do not want to run out mid job. Each buy is bigger than one job.

The clean way is to hold the full buy in a supplies account when you pay for it. The cost sits on the shelf. When the crew uses half the case on job one and half on job two, the cost moves to each job in the amount they used. The supplies account goes down and the job costs go up by the same amount.

When the supplies account matches the shelf, your books tell the truth. When you charge the whole case to one job, that job looks expensive and the next job looks cheap, even though the work was the same.

Here is how to keep a bulk buy clean.

• **Hold bulk paint and planks in a supplies account: ** not on the first job.
• - **Move the cost to the job when the crew uses it: ** not at month end from memory.
• - **Count the shelf now and then: ** so the supplies account matches what is left.
• - **Watch for price changes: ** a higher paint cost changes your margin per job.
• - **Tag each move to a job name or class: ** so the cost lands on the right line.

When the supplies line matches the shelf, the books stay clean month to month.

How to split one buy across the jobs that used it

The hard part is not buying the materials. The hard part is splitting one buy across the jobs that used it. This is where most paint and flooring books get messy.

The clean way is to log the use the day it happens. The crew opens two gallons on job one and one gallon on job two. You move the cost from the supplies account to job one for two gallons and to job two for one gallon. The supplies account goes down by three gallons. The job costs go up by three gallons. The total does not change.

The messy way is to wait until month end and guess. The crew does not remember how much paint went on which job. You split the case evenly across the jobs. Now the cost per job is a guess, and the supplies account does not match the shelf.

Here is how to keep the split clean.

• **Log the use the day it happens: ** not from memory at month end.
• - **Move the cost by the amount used: ** not by an even split.
• - **Keep a simple use sheet: ** the crew writes down what they opened and where.
• - **Tie the move to a job name or class: ** so the cost lands on the right job.
• - **Check the shelf against the supplies account now and then: ** so the two match.

When the cost moves the day the material is used, the margin per job is real. When it moves at month end from a guess, the margin is a story you told yourself.

You can read more about how we compare the estimate to the real costs on our job costing for painters and flooring installers post.

How paint and flooring materials differ

Paint and flooring materials do not move the same way. Paint gets opened and used up. Planks sit in the box until the crew lays them. The way you book each one is a little different.

The clean way for paint is to hold the case in a supplies account and move the cost by the gallon as the crew opens it. The clean way for planks is to hold the bundle in a supplies account and move the cost by the box as the crew lays it. The leftover planks stay on the shelf until the next job. The leftover paint stays on the shelf too, but an open gallon does not last as long.

The messy way is to book the case and the bundle to the first job and move nothing. Now the first job carries the cost for the whole week, and the shelf and the books drift apart.

Here is how to keep the two clean.

• **Hold paint by the case and move it by the gallon: ** as the crew opens it.
• - **Hold planks by the bundle and move them by the box: ** as the crew lays them.
• - **Keep leftover planks in the supplies account: ** until the next job uses them.
• - **Count the paint shelf and the plank shelf separately: ** so the two do not blur.
• - **Tag each move to a job name or class: ** so the cost lands on the right line.

When paint and planks sit in their own lines, the books stay clean and the two costs do not blur together.

How the month end close works for shared materials

At month end, the supplies account needs a check. The account should match the shelf. If the two do not match, something was used and not logged, or something was bought and not booked.

We start with the bank. We match each supply run to the payment that cleared. We count the shelf and match it to the supplies account. We move any costs that were used but not logged. Then we add up the month by job and by class. The income and the costs sit side by side, and the margin per job shows.

Here is a simple month end check for shared materials.

• **Match each supply run to the bank: ** every payment cleared.
• - **Count the paint shelf: ** match it to the paint supplies account.
• - **Count the plank shelf: ** match it to the plank supplies account.
• - **Move any costs used but not logged: ** so the jobs carry the right cost.
• - **Run the profit and loss by class: ** so the jobs show side by side.

When the close runs every month, the supplies account stays clean. When it skips a month, the shelf and the books drift apart, and the next month is harder to close.

A situation we clean up

The supply run that landed on one job

A painter runs three jobs in a week. One trip to the supplier covers all three. The whole receipt goes to job one. Jobs two and three show no material cost. At month end, the owner knows the week was busy but can not tell which job paid. The shelf has leftover paint and planks, and the supplies account is empty because every buy went straight to a job.

Here is how we handle it. We set up a supplies account in QuickBooks Online for paint and one for planks. We move the bulk buys from the job lines into the supplies accounts. We count the shelves and match them to the accounts. We start a simple use sheet so the crew writes down what they opened and where. We move the costs to the jobs by the amounts used. We close each open month one at a time, from the oldest forward. Then the routine runs every month, so the shelf and the books stay in sync.

Mistakes we fix

• Every supply run booked to the first job on the receipt
• A case of paint charged to one job and used on three
• A bundle of planks booked to a job that used none of it
• No supplies account, so the shelf and the books never match
• No use sheet, so the costs move at month end from a guess
• Leftover paint and planks on the shelf with no account to hold them
• No job name or class on any material cost
• A price change that ate the margin and no one saw it
• No profit and loss by class run at month end

Common questions

How do I split one supply run across several jobs? Hold the full run in a supplies account when you pay for it. As the crew uses the material on each job, move the cost to that job by the amount used. The supplies account goes down and the job costs go up by the same amount.

When do I hold materials as supplies and when do I expense them? Hold bulk buys in a supplies account and move the cost to the job as the crew uses it. Expense a small same day buy on the spot. When the big buys go to supplies and the small buys go to the expense line, your month to month cost stays steady.

How do I keep leftover planks and paint in the books? Keep the leftovers in the supplies account until the next job uses them. Count the shelf now and then and match it to the supplies account. When the next job uses a leftover, move the cost to that job the day it goes out.

How does the month end close work for shared materials? Match each supply run to the bank. Count the shelves and match them to the supplies accounts. Move any costs used but not logged. Run the profit and loss by class so the jobs show side by side. When the close runs every month, the shelf and the books stay in sync.