Electrical, Hardware & Paints

For a hardware, electrical, plumbing or paint shop. Goods are bought in one unit and sold in another (a box of 100, sold by the piece; a coil, sold by the metre), contractors buy on account with their own rates, and quotations turn into invoices.

Set up before your first contractor

The owner does these once. The preset has turned on multiple units per item, three sale rates, rates before tax, part numbers, brands and reorder levels, and seeded units (Pcs, Meter, Feet, Coil, Roll, Box, Kg, Litre) and groups (Pipes, Fittings, Wires & Cables, Paints, Hand Tools...).

1. Fill in the business Tools > Settings > Business Info: name, address and GSTIN.
2. Add brands under Master > Item Setup > Item Brand, and rack codes under Item Location if the store is big.
3. Add each item with its units under Master > Products: the base unit you count stock in, and the other units with their factor (1 Box = 100 Pcs, 1 Coil = 90 Meter). Put the retail, contractor and dealer prices in the three sale rates.
4. Check the freight charges Tools > Settings > Transaction > General > Extra Charges: the preset added Freight Charge, Loading / Unloading and Insurance.
5. Add contractors and plumbers under Master > Customers with GSTIN, due days and a credit limit.
6. Add suppliers and book stock: suppliers under Master > Suppliers, current stock on a Purchase Invoice or Master > Bulk Changes > Stock Update.
7. Create a login for each person (see Who signs in), then quote, invoice and cancel one test job.

How the work flows

Walk-ins buy by the piece at the counter; contractors go quotation to invoice on account. Each step says who does it and what prints.

The whole journey on one page:

flowchart TD
    P[Purchase Invoice: buy by box / coil] --> U[Unit conversion on the item
1 box = 100 pcs]
    U --> ST[(Stock in base unit)]
    Q[Sales Quotation to contractor] --> O[Sales Order]
    O --> I[Tax Invoice: sell by piece / metre
contractor rate]
    ST --> I
    I --> T[(Bill lines with the unit sold in)]
    T --> A[Contractor account · due days · credit limit]
    A --> PI[Payment In · Receivables Ageing]
    T --> G[GST Reports · e-Way Bill on large deliveries]

Who signs in

Give every person their own login. There is no seat picker: you choose a role, then tick switches. A User is only offered the counter switches. Changing a rate on the bill, discounts, purchase, stock and reports are offered to a Manager alone.

1. Open the users list Tools > Settings > Users, then add a user.
2. Set the login: User Name and Password (on a cloud business, the person's email address).
3. Pick the Role Type and link the person's Staff contact.
4. Tick the switches and save. The change reaches them at their next sign-in.

Typical logins:

The full switch list is in Users, Roles & Permissions.

Where it is in the app

The POS main page (see Supermarket & Grocery). Multiple units per item are on under Settings > Product; Sales Quotation and Sales Order are the front end for contractor work.

What matters for this trade

• Units - each item has a base unit and alternative units with a factor; the counter shows the unit picker on the line. See Products.
• Contractor rates - three sale rates per item (retail, contractor, dealer), chosen on the bill by a login with Rate Type Selection. Which rate a contractor gets is picked on the bill; per-customer price rules are not offered for this trade.
• Quotation to invoice - a quotation becomes an order, an order becomes an invoice, keeping the reference. See Sales.
• Credit control - due days and credit limit on the customer; the counter warns when a limit is crossed.
• Freight - Freight Charge, Loading / Unloading and Insurance are seeded as extra charges, and transport details go on the bill for lorry deliveries.
• Paint shades and brands - Item Brand and Product Group masters, variants per shade and pack size.
• Item location - a rack / shelf code on the variant for a big store.

The contractor credit cycle

flowchart TD
    A[Quotation to a contractor] --> B[Supply against it, on account]
    B --> C[Running balance on their ledger]
    C --> D{Within the credit limit?}
    D -->|no| E[Counter warns before the next supply]
    D -->|yes| B
    C --> F[Statement at month end]
    F --> G{Paid?}
    G -->|full| H[Balance cleared]
    G -->|part| I[Receivables Ageing: 30 · 60 · 90]
    I --> J[Follow up · hold further supply]
    J --> G
    H --> A

Reports

Sales Register, Purchase Register, Purchase by Product, Stock List, Stock Value, Reorder Stock, Receivable Parties, Receivables Ageing, Customer Statement, GST Reports, Price List, Profit.