Invoicing & Payments

Purchase orders raised against the job they belong to

Materials bought without a PO are materials nobody costed. Gaffer raises a numbered purchase order against a job and a supplier, emails it, and tracks it from sent to received — so what you committed to spend is attached to the work it was spent on.

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How purchase orders work in Gaffer

A PO per supplier order, linked to the job, so committed cost is visible before the invoice arrives.

Attached to the job

Every PO carries a job, so materials cost lands against the work rather than in a general overhead nobody can allocate at year end.

Sent and received

Sent and received timestamps are recorded, so an order placed three weeks ago and never delivered is visible instead of being discovered when the engineer turns up.

Line items and totals

POs carry their own line items and total, so what you ordered can be checked against what was delivered and what was invoiced.

What you get

Purchase orders sit with your suppliers, delivery notes, expenses and job costing in one platform.

  • PO number generated and held against the order
  • Supplier name and email, with orders sent by email from Gaffer
  • Linked to the job the materials are for
  • Line items with a calculated total
  • Status tracked with sent and received timestamps
  • Notes carried on the order for delivery instructions
  • Feeds job costing so committed spend shows against the job

Common questions about purchase orders

Why raise a PO at all for a small trade business?

Because it is the only reliable way to know what you have committed to spend before the invoice lands. Without one, material cost appears a month later on a supplier statement and by then the job has been invoiced at the wrong margin.

Can I email the PO to the supplier?

Yes. POs are sent by email from Gaffer to the supplier address on the order, and the sent timestamp is recorded so you know when it went.

How do I know what has arrived?

Delivery notes are recorded against the purchase order, including whether everything was received and whether the condition was satisfactory, so part-deliveries and damage are captured rather than assumed.

Does this affect job profitability?

Yes. Because POs carry a job reference, ordered materials show against that job's costs, so margin is calculated on what the job actually consumed.

Know what you have committed to spend

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