Checking plumbing supply invoices
A plumbing supply invoice mixes dozens of small fittings with a few expensive items, and the price you pay is often a trade discount off the merchant's list.
Who you buy from, and how it's billed
Two things are easy to miss: a discount that wasn't applied, and a unit that changed between the price list and the invoice.
- Plumbing merchants
- Most lines, at a trade price that's a discount off their list, or a net price agreed for your account.
- Pipe
- PVC, copper and poly by the length (often 6 m) or by the metre, and poly in coils.
- Fittings and valves
- Elbows, tees, couplings and valves each, or by the bag or box.
- Hot water and fixtures
- Hot water units, tapware, basins and toilets: few lines, big prices, often with a delivery fee.
- Drainage
- Stormwater pipe, pits and grates, and the fittings that go with them.
What CostCode checks, and from when
Anything it can't check yet shows as Unverified, with the reason. It's never marked as fine. Why a line is unverified
From your first invoice
GST over ten per cent or no ABN on a tax invoice.
The same invoice sent twice
CheckedThe same file again, or the same merchant and invoice number, holds the invoice before you pay it twice.
Once a supplier has billed you a few times
A price up on what you've paid before, once there are three earlier prices. Kept between you and CostCode.
Once your prices are in
Import each supplier's price list from a spreadsheet or a PDF, or let CostCode suggest one from invoices you've already uploaded, for you to confirm.
Your trade discount not applied
CheckedLoad your net prices, after your discount, and each line is checked against them. A line billed at list, or at a smaller discount, is held when it's at least $25 and 3% over.Pipe billed per length when you agreed per metre
CheckedHeld as billed in a different unit. It may be the same money (a 6 m length at six times the metre price): CostCode shows both and leaves that to you, and nothing goes to the merchant unless you send it.Fittings by the box against a price each
Asks you firstA box can hold any number, so the line shows as Unverified, asking how many are in one. Billed per bag against a price each, it's compared on price, and anything over is kept for you until you confirm it's the same item.A hot water unit above the agreed price
CheckedChecked like any line. On one expensive item the 3% floor is the one that decides: see the example below.Freight and delivery fees
CheckedChecked against the fee you agreed, flat or as a share of the goods. With nothing agreed, the line shows as Unverified, with the reason.
A worked example, made up
Sample Plumbing Wholesale (made up)
SAMPLE-6021
Held$62.00
| Item | Amount | Your prices |
|---|---|---|
| 250L electric hot water unit1 EA × $1,212.00 | $1,212.00 | Above the agreed rate$62.00 over |
| Above the agreed rate. Agreed $1,150.00 per unit on the price list from 1 Jul 2026 | ||
1 unit at $1,212.00 against an agreed $1,150.00 per unit is $62.00 over (5.39%). That's at least $25 and 3%, the default floors, so the invoice is held.
The kind of gap a discount applied at the wrong percentage leaves. On one expensive item it clears the dollar floor easily, so the percentage decides.
Billed at $1,180.00 per unit instead, the line would be $30.00 over (2.61%): more than $25 but under 3%, so it wouldn't be held.
What CostCode doesn't check
- A discount taken off the whole invoice. A discount line isn't a billed item, so its percentage isn't checked, and it isn't spread back across the lines. Each line is compared on its own price, so an invoice billed at list with one discount at the bottom can be held until you release it with a reason.
- That the fittings billed are the ones delivered, or used on the job.
- A rebate the merchant pays you later.
- A list price less a percentage: CostCode checks the net prices you load, and doesn't work out a discount for you.
Questions
Our merchant gives us a discount off list. How do we load that?
Load the net prices you actually pay, after the discount, from a spreadsheet or the merchant's PDF price list. CostCode doesn't work out a percentage off a list price for you.
Will it hold an invoice over a few cents?
No. By default a line is only held when it's at least $25 and 3% over the agreed price, and you can change both in Settings.
What if there's no price list for a merchant yet?
Lines with nothing to check against show as Unverified, with the reason, never as fine. Once there are three earlier prices for an item from that merchant, a price up on them holds the invoice for you, and that comparison is never quoted to the merchant.
Got a supplier invoice handy? Check it now.
About ten seconds. No account. We don't keep the file.
Or start free: 20 invoices a month, no card