Purchase order PO-8842
Purchase order
A civil contractor buys structural steel for a job that starts in three weeks. The order is written by the buyer, not the seller, and almost everything on it exists to stop a surprise arriving on the truck.
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Section by section
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- Contractor letterhead
- Buyer name, ABN, purchasing email and phone on every page, since the supplier will copy the order into its own system.
- Raised, required on site, terms, total
- The order date, the date the steel has to be standing on the slab, the payment terms and the committed value.
- Supplier, deliver to, invoice to
- Three separate addresses, because the goods, the paperwork and the payment all go to different places.
- Items ordered
- Five lines with part numbers, full section descriptions, quantities and unit prices, in the wording the supplier catalogue uses.
- Delivery and GST totals
- Goods subtotal, the freight for two loads priced separately, then GST and the committed order total.
- Delivery window
- The two dated loads, the hours, the notice call and the truck number the site expects the afternoon before.
- Access and unloading
- Which gate, and the fact that the supplier unloads with its own crane because there is no forklift on site.
- Paperwork on arrival
- Delivery docket quoting the order, plus mill certificates, with a plain statement that a load without them is turned around.
- Terms of purchase
- Six numbered clauses on acceptance, firm pricing, written variations, inspection and rejection, documentation, and invoicing.
- Unmatched invoice warning
- Explains the three way match and what happens to an invoice that cannot be tied to an order line.
- Acknowledgement blocks
- One signature for the buyer authorising the spend, one for the supplier confirming the parts, prices and both dates.
Clauses in this document
What makes this document work
The buyer sets the terms
Clause one says that anything printed on the supplier acknowledgement, docket or invoice does not form part of the contract. That sentence is the reason to raise an order rather than simply accept a quote.
Payment is tied to the paperwork
Mill test certificates are named as a condition, and payment for a load is not due until they arrive whatever the invoice date says. Steel without certificates is steel nobody can sign off.
It tells the truck exactly what to do
Two dated loads, a four hour window, one gate, unloading by the supplier's own crane because the site has no forklift, and a mobile number to ring the afternoon before.
Questions people ask
What is a purchase order?
A written offer from a buyer to a seller, listing exactly what is being bought, at what price, delivered when and where. It becomes a contract when the supplier acknowledges it or ships against it.
What is the difference between a purchase order and an invoice?
The order comes first and is written by the buyer. The invoice comes after delivery and is written by the seller. Accounts payable matches one to the other before anything is scheduled for payment.
Why do invoices get returned for a missing order number?
Because a three way match of order, delivery docket and invoice is what stops duplicate and phantom billing. An invoice with no order number cannot enter that process, so it goes back rather than into a queue.
Can a purchase order include the buyer's own conditions?
Yes, and that is most of its value. This one fixes prices to a date, refuses unnamed surcharges, rules out verbal variations, sets an inspection window and states when title and risk pass.
Why does the order set out access and unloading?
Because a construction site is not a loading dock. This order names the access route, the unloading arrangement and the delivery window in their own sections. A truck that arrives without a forklift booked, or outside the window, costs the supplier a return trip and the contractor a day of the program.
What paperwork has to arrive with the delivery?
The order lists it, so the driver is not turned away. On this one that means the delivery docket quoting the order number and the test certificates for the materials. Naming them on the purchase order puts the requirement in front of the supplier at the point they are picking the load.
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