Whoever signs the delivery ticket should count and inspect the load against the purchase order at the tailgate. Any shortage or damage gets written on the ticket in plain words, and only then does the ticket get signed. A clean signature is a receipt. Once it is on the driver's copy, the supplier holds a document saying everything arrived in good order. From then on a missing box of joist hangers or a cracked sheet of glass is the builder's problem to prove, not the supplier's to fix.

That is the whole rule. A search for receiving material deliveries construction site checklists turns up long lists of things to check, and most of them are fine. What they tend to bury is the order of operations: count, note, sign, in that order, before the truck leaves.

What a signature on the delivery ticket says

The driver hands over a ticket and asks for a signature. It may be called a packing slip, a bill of lading or a delivery receipt. On the job it feels like a formality. On paper it acknowledges that the listed quantities arrived and were accepted. Many tickets say so in the printed terms along the bottom, often with a line about reporting shortages or damage within a set window. Read the fine print on tickets from the three suppliers used most. The terms vary, and the window is rarely generous.

When a dispute comes up later, the supplier's first move is to produce the signed ticket. If it is clean, the conversation is over before it starts. The builder now has to show that 40 sheets arrived instead of 48, with no record made at the time and a signature from their own crew saying otherwise. Sometimes the supplier credits it anyway to keep the account. That is goodwill, not an obligation, and it runs out.

A ticket with 'short 8 sheets 5/8 Type X — J.M.' written above the signature is a different document. It is a dated record of the shortage, made at delivery by the receiving party and seen by the driver. The credit request that follows is routine.

Count against the purchase order, not the ticket

The ticket describes what the supplier says it loaded. The purchase order describes what was ordered. Checking the load against the ticket only confirms that the supplier's paperwork agrees with itself. A ticket can match the truck exactly and still be wrong for the job. The common misses are the wrong gauge, the wrong door swing, 10-foot studs where 9-foot was ordered, or a substitution nobody approved.

The person receiving needs the PO line items at the truck. A phone, a printout in the cab or a materials list attached to the day's log all work. If there is no PO, the estimate's material lines are the next best reference. If there is nothing at all, the problem starts before the tailgate. The fix is a purchase order that records committed cost before the invoice arrives.

In BuilderSolve, purchase orders are in development and have not shipped. Today a field lead has the estimate's line items and the daily log on hand at delivery. We'd rather say that plainly than imply a receiving module that does not exist yet.

The tailgate sequence

Receiving a delivery takes about ten minutes at the truck, in this order:

  1. Stop the driver before unloading starts where possible. Once a forklift has mixed the load with yesterday's delivery, counting the pile is guesswork.
  2. Match the ticket to the PO by supplier, job name, delivery address and PO number. Wrong-job deliveries happen, and signing for another builder's lumber creates its own mess.
  3. Count every line by bundle, box and piece. Open sealed boxes where the count can't be seen, such as fasteners, fixtures and tile.
  4. Check each product against its PO line for size, gauge, grade, finish, color, swing and model number. Flag substitutions even when they look equivalent.
  5. Inspect for damage. Look for crushed corners, wet drywall, chipped cabinet faces, bent flashing, cracked glass and broken pallets.
  6. Write every exception on the ticket, on both copies, before signing.
  7. Photograph the load, the damage and the annotated ticket with the truck still in frame.
  8. Sign, then print the name and write the date and time.
  9. Get the ticket and the photos to the office the same day.

Shrink-wrapped and banded loads hide shortages and damage. If a pallet cannot be opened and counted before the driver leaves, do not sign it clean. Write 'received subject to count and inspection — pallet not opened' above the signature. That phrase does not override the supplier's terms, and some drivers push back on it. It is still a far stronger record than a clean signature. Open the pallet and count it the same day, then report anything wrong to the supplier in writing immediately. A clean signature on a load nobody looked at gives away the best record the builder had.

How to write the exception so it gets credited

Vague notes are close to worthless. 'Some damage' tells the supplier nothing and invites an argument about what 'some' meant. Write the exception so an estimator could price it from the note alone:

  • Shortage: 'Short 6 pcs 2x10x16 SPF — ticket shows 60, received 54.'
  • Damage: '3 sheets 1/2 drywall wet and crumbled at edge — refused.'
  • Wrong product: 'Received 36-inch LH prehung, PO line 4 is 36-inch RH — refused.'
  • Substitution: 'Ticket shows substitute for PO line 7 — not approved, held pending PM.'
  • Unverified: 'Pallet not opened — received subject to count.'

Where the supplier allows it, refuse damaged items outright and have the driver take them back on the truck. A refused item never becomes inventory, so it never turns into a credit chase. Ask the driver to initial next to the notes. If the driver declines, write 'driver declined to initial', because that is still a fact recorded at the time.

Who signs, and who does not

On many sites the ticket gets signed by whoever is standing nearest the truck. That is how a laborer on day three ends up accepting $14,000 of windows. Name the receiver for every scheduled delivery on the lookahead, the same way an inspection gets assigned.

  • Site superintendent or lead carpenter: the default receiver. Has the PO lines, knows the spec and can refuse a substitution on the spot.
  • Trade foreman: receives material on their own trade's PO. Still writes exceptions on the ticket and still sends it to the office.
  • Laborer or apprentice: can count and unload. Should not sign unless named and briefed for that specific delivery.
  • Nobody on site: a drop to an empty lot means no count at all. Either schedule someone to be there or treat every unattended drop as received subject to count, and verify it first thing the next morning.

After the truck leaves: where the ticket goes

A counted, annotated ticket that sits in a truck door pocket for three weeks does no more good than a clean one. After delivery the ticket has two jobs. It backs up the credit request, and it lets accounts payable check the invoice.

That check is a match of three documents: the PO, the delivery ticket and the invoice. Say the invoice bills 60 studs and the ticket shows 54 received. AP holds payment on the six until the credit memo arrives. Without the ticket, AP pays for 60 and the job cost report quietly absorbs the difference.

Photos carry the rest. A picture of wet drywall with the supplier's truck in the background and the timestamp intact beats any written description, as long as someone can find it later. Site photos need a job, a date and a reason attached, or they end up as one more unsorted camera roll. In BuilderSolve, the field lead attaches the ticket photo and the damage photos to that day's daily log. The delivery record then sits beside the weather, crew and work notes for the same date. The AI assistant can draft the log entry from those notes, and a person approves or rejects it before it becomes part of the record.

Builders can also hand AP to the BuilderSolve finance team. The team matches tickets to invoices, holds short-shipped lines and chases the credit memo. The bill goes into QuickBooks once it matches, and QuickBooks stays the book of record. The matching happens before the bill is paid, not after.

What to do this week

  1. Pull the last ten signed delivery tickets from active jobs and count how many carry any notation at all. That number shows how receiving actually works today.
  2. Read the terms printed on tickets from the three main suppliers and write down each one's claim window.
  3. Name a receiver for every delivery on next week's lookahead.
  4. Put the PO lines, or the estimate's material lines, where the receiver can see them at the truck.
  5. Give the crew one rule: no clean signature on anything that has not been counted.

None of this needs new software. It needs a pen, ten minutes at the tailgate and the habit of writing before signing. Start with the ten tickets. They will show exactly how much has been signed away so far.

Common questions

should I sign a delivery ticket before counting materials

No. A clean signature acknowledges that the listed quantities arrived in good order. Count and inspect against the purchase order first, then write any shortage or damage on both copies of the ticket and sign last. If the load can't be counted before the driver leaves, write 'received subject to count' above the signature. Then count the load the same day and report problems to the supplier in writing.

what to write on delivery ticket when materials are damaged

Write the item, the quantity and the specific damage, plus whether you refused it. For example: '3 sheets 1/2 drywall wet and crumbled at edge — refused.' Vague notes like 'some damage' invite an argument. Ask the driver to initial the note, and photograph the damage and the annotated ticket with the truck in frame. Send both to the office the same day so the credit request is backed by a record made at delivery.

what if the delivery driver won't wait for me to count

Do not sign the ticket clean. Write 'received subject to count and inspection' above your signature, along with the date and time. Count the load as soon as the truck leaves, photograph anything wrong and report it to the supplier in writing the same day. Check the claim window printed in the supplier's terms, because that window still applies. The notation does not guarantee a credit, but a clean signature makes one much harder to get.

who should receive material deliveries on a construction site

Name a receiver for every scheduled delivery, usually the superintendent or lead carpenter. That person has the PO lines, knows the spec and can refuse a wrong product or an unapproved substitution on the spot. Trade foremen can receive their own trade's material. Laborers can count and unload but shouldn't sign unless they have been briefed for that specific delivery. Unattended drops should be treated as unverified until someone counts them.

what is three way matching for construction materials

Three-way matching compares the purchase order, the signed delivery ticket and the supplier's invoice before the bill is paid. If the invoice charges for 60 pieces and the ticket shows 54 received, accounts payable holds payment on the difference until a credit memo arrives. The match only works if whoever received the load counted it and noted the shortage on the ticket. A clean ticket makes the short shipment invisible to AP.