Getting your plumbing procurement right is essential to smoothly delivering your projects. Whether you’re doing an extensive commercial fitout or smaller residential repairs, understanding the procurement process and getting everything in its right place can make or break even the smallest of projects.
However, knowing how to maximise your plumbing procurement can be tricky. That’s why we’ve created our top tips for effective plumbing procurement to save you time, money, and grief from your clients.
Let’s dive in!
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Understand Your Needs
Before placing an order, take a moment to understand precisely what your project needs. Check the type of plumbing systems you require and the size of the project, and estimate the quantity of materials you require as best you can.
Also, consider the quality you must meet, regulatory standards, and the client’s expectations. The more detailed your planning at this stage, the better your chance of ordering the right amount of materials to complete the job without delays and interrupting the project delivery.
Consistent over-ordering of materials can quickly and needlessly eat into the project budget. At the same time, under-ordering can cause significant hold-ups that impact other parts of complex projects.
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Buy Early, Buy In Bulk
Buying materials as early as possible is a great idea to enable you to plan for long lead times on certain items. Getting orders in early on these products can help minimise project delays, overruns, and going over budget by having to pay more to try and shorten lead times in urgent cases.
In addition, buying in bulk can save money, as bulk buying often comes with significant discounts.
Not only does this help cover you for individual projects, but it can also help you get a head start on other projects that need essential materials, potentially saving time and money on those.
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Embrace Technology
Materials procurement no longer needs to rely on thumbing through supplier catalogues, manually comparing prices and trying to find the best deal. Procurement software is the ideal way to streamline your ordering processes.
From searching through suppliers and performing price comparisons, procurement technology tools can help you track orders, manage your inventory, and use historical data to predict future needs based on your previous usage.
This means that you can proactively gain alerts to restock essential materials, save time through efficiencies in your procurement process, and reduce the risk of human error slipping through the net and jeopardising your project needs.
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Build Strong Supplier Relationships
Once you’ve found reliable suppliers that can handle the provision and delivery of materials to site, developing strong, long-term relationships can be a game-changer for your business and relationships with end users.
Suppliers who know your business, understand your expectations, and can meet your SLAs with excellent service, fast delivery, and potential loyalty discounts can bring rich time, cost, and efficiency savings to your business.
In addition, having a trusted supplier means you can trust them to provide quality materials to site on time without compromising the work you deliver to your clients.
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Negotiate Terms, Conditions, and Prices
Once you’ve begun to build strong supplier relationships, don’t be shy about negotiating with them to secure better terms, conditions and prices. Finding trusted suppliers and making them preferred suppliers for your jobs can help you secure more favourable terms and better pricing.
If you’re placing regular large orders, suppliers will often be willing to offer some flexibility in pricing and payment terms to help secure your business in the long term. This builds reliability and cost savings into your procurement process while benefitting from trust built over the long-term relationship.
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Prioritise Quality
When running complex projects, you may be pressured by the end-user or main contractor to compromise quality for the price. However, going for the cheapest option available is often a false economy.
Quite simply, you get what you pay for and poor-quality materials can lead to early failures, material malfunctions, and higher costs later on.
Opt for reputable, well-known brands known for delivering quality and find suppliers that offer guarantees and warranties. Some materials will fail from time to time, but prioritising materials from brands that offer high quality, reliability, and longevity will help save you and your clients money and protect your hard-earned reputation.
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Sustainability
More and more prominent players in the UK construction trade are becoming increasingly aware of the need to focus on sustainable procurement. If your business prioritises sourcing eco-friendly products from reputable suppliers and employs sustainable working practices, your chances of getting big jobs increase.
Ensure you work with sustainable and responsible suppliers, use products with a low environmental impact, and dispose of materials safely. Building these sustainable practices into your procurement process could help safeguard your business in the years to come.
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Good Inventory Management
Good inventory management feeds directly into your plumbing procurement process by cutting down on unnecessary orders and ensuring your stock is effectively used. Use a real-time system that tracks your stock levels to know when to reorder.
Don’t overstock, as this wastes money on needless storage space, while understocking can bring your projects to a halt. Using the “Just-in-Time” inventory management system effectively makes your procurement process run like clockwork, cutting waste and ensuring you have the suitable materials when needed.
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Train Your Team
The ideal way to ensure smooth operation is to ensure that your entire team knows your procurement process inside out. Train them in procurement software and help them understand how your inventory management system works.
Make sure they know how to verify the quality of materials as they arrive on site. Emphasise the importance of accurate inventory management to help smooth ordering from sourcing materials to delivery.
In addition, make sure they know how to effectively manage a project. This will enable them to accurately order materials for jobs without risking over- or under-ordering. A well-trained team that knows your plumbing procurement process inside out can save time and money and minimise delays on your projects.
Building Effective Plumbing Procurement Processes
Effective plumbing procurement has several substantial benefits for you and your end clients. By understanding each project’s needs and working with reliable suppliers that prioritise sustainability and quality over cost, you will ensure the smooth running of your projects without delay and potentially save time and money in the long run. Not only does this help deliver for your end customer, but it also protects and grows your business’s hard-earned reputation.
Contact us today if you’d like to know more about how ARK Procurement can help your plumbing projects run without delay.
