In this guide 6 sections
Money tends to leak in five places. Extra boxes come from a different shade lot, breakage goes unrecorded, and returns are never added back. Quotations use old rates, and builder dues spread across sites. Each shows up once lots, deliveries and accounts sit together. GullySystem’s Tile and Sanitaryware Showroom Software holds them in one place.
Extra boxes from the wrong shade lot
Two lots of the same vitrified tile can differ in shade and calibre. When a site runs short and the godown sends whatever is on top, the second lot can show in daylight. The customer will not pay for a relay. The remake is yours.
The fix starts at receiving. Note the lot and calibre on every truckload, then reserve an order’s boxes from one lot wherever enough remain. When extra boxes are asked for, the picker is told which lot that site took.
No record judges shade. Matching is still done by eye, box against box.
Breakage and returns that never reach the register
Boxes crack in loading, on the road and on site. Unused boxes come back weeks later for a partial refund. If neither is written down, the count drifts and the credit is argued at the counter.
Each broken or returned box should point back to the delivery it left on. That one link settles who bears the loss and which lot the box goes back into.
- Broken in loading, in transit or on site
- Returned unused, against the original challan
- Lot the returned box goes back into
- Credit raised, refused or still pending
Quotations built on an old rate or a wrong count
A room-wise quotation turns square feet into boxes with a wastage allowance. Done by hand, that step is where a site runs short or long. Revisions rebuilt from scratch make it worse.
Check two things on every open quotation. Was the rate current on the day it was sent? Was the area converted at the coverage printed on that box? A quotation copied from an older one often fails both.
Builder dues and referral payouts spread across sites
Builders, contractors and designers buy on account for several sites at once. A single running balance hides which site has paid and which is behind. Collection rests on memory.
Referral arrangements with architects leak in a quieter way. A share paid before the customer settles is money out against money not yet in. Link each referral to its order and pay on what has been collected.
- Outstanding by account and by site
- Age of each unpaid bill
- Credit limit checked before the next quotation
- Referral share and the date it was paid
A monthly page that shows the leaks
Owners rarely need more than one page to see all five, provided the same figures are pulled the same way and read on the same day each month. Trends matter most.
Watch small leftover lots too. A few boxes of an old lot cannot complete a room, so they sit unsold.
- Breakage written off this month
- Returned boxes received and credited
- Quotations lost, with the reason noted
- Deliveries still part loaded
- Small leftover lots by series
Showroom leak check
A monthly sheet with five rows: shade lot complaints, breakage, returns, stale quotations and builder dues. Note the count and the value for each. Compare it with last month before deciding what to fix.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
Can software tell us whether two lots will match?
No. Shade matching is still done by eye at the godown. A record only tells the picker which lot went to which site.
Is a general retail billing app enough for a tile counter?
For fittings and bath accessories sold by the piece, often yes. It struggles with square feet to boxes, lot tracking and part returns.
Where should we start if our item codes are a mess?
Start with the item master. List each series with size, finish, pieces per box and the area a box covers. That clean-up happens once and every later count depends on it.
Does a small cash-only counter need this?
Possibly not yet. A showroom carrying a few series and selling only for cash can keep a register and check it monthly.