Checking scaffold hire and supply invoices
A scaffolding business buys and hires around its own gear: components and planks bought outright, extra scaffold cross-hired when your stock is out on other jobs, and cranes, cartage and labour by the hour or the load.
Who you buy from, and how it's billed
The hire lines bill time as well as things, and a rate a few dollars over, charged every week the gear stays out, is easy to miss.
- Scaffold hire yards
- Standards, ledgers, transoms, planks and stair towers cross-hired at a rate per item per week, or per day, from delivery until you call them off hire.
- Scaffold equipment suppliers
- Components, planks, couplers and base jacks bought outright, each.
- Containment and edge protection
- Containment mesh and shade cloth by the roll, and toe boards, mesh guard panels and edge protection each or by the length.
- Cranes and cartage
- Crane trucks and cranes by the hour, sometimes with a minimum hire, and cartage by the load.
- Labour hire
- Scaffolders and labourers by the hour, with overtime at its own rate.
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
The same invoice twice, GST over ten per cent, or no ABN on a tax invoice.
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.
Cross-hire above the agreed weekly rate
CheckedA hire line that prints the number of items, the weeks and a rate per week is read as items × weeks × rate when exactly one reading comes to the line's total, and the rate is checked against the weekly rate you agreed for that item. When none does, or more than one could, the line goes to a person rather than a guess.Days billed against a weekly rate
Asks you firstDays and weeks are both time, and CostCode won't guess what your weekly rate comes to per day, so the line shows as Unverified, asking what the rate is per.Components bought above the agreed price
CheckedEach line against the price list in force on the invoice date, and held when it's at least $25 and 3% over.Containment mesh billed per square metre when you agreed per roll
CheckedHeld as billed in a different unit, with both shown. CostCode doesn't work out how many square metres are on a roll.Labour hire above the agreed hourly rate
CheckedAn hour billed against an hourly rate is checked like any line, and hours billed against a day rate show as Unverified, asking what the rate is per. CostCode doesn't read timesheets, so the hours themselves are yours to check.Cartage and waiting time above what you agreed
CheckedChecked against the charge you agreed. With nothing agreed, the line shows as Unverified, with the reason.
A worked example, made up
Sample Scaffold Hire (made up)
SAMPLE-7215
Held$54.00
| Item | Amount | Your prices |
|---|---|---|
| Aluminium stair access tower 6.0m, weekly hire6 WK × $254.00 | $1,524.00 | Above the agreed rate$54.00 over |
| Above the agreed rate. Agreed $245.00 per week on the price list from 1 Jul 2026 | ||
6 weeks at $254.00 against an agreed $245.00 per week is $54.00 over (3.67%). That's at least $25 and 3%, the default floors, so the invoice is held.
A few dollars a week over the agreed rate stays under the dollar floor on a short hire, and passes it on a longer one: the gap is charged every week the gear stays out.
At the same price on 2 weeks, the line would be $18.00 over (3.67%): more than 3% but under $25, so it wouldn't be held.
What CostCode doesn't check
- Hire kept on after you called it off. CostCode doesn't know your off-hire dates, so the weeks billed are yours to check against your off-hire numbers.
- The same weeks on two hire invoices. CostCode doesn't compare one invoice's hire period with the next one's. Check each period starts the day after the last one ended.
- Lost and damaged gear billed at replacement prices, unless those prices are on your price list as items of their own.
- Labour hours against your timesheets.
Questions
Our cross-hire is billed per item per week. Can CostCode check it?
Yes, against the weekly rate you agreed for each item. A line printing the number of items, the weeks and the rate is read as items × weeks × rate when exactly one reading comes to the line's total. With no agreed hire rate on file, the line shows as Unverified, with the reason: an earlier price isn't a rate per week.
Does CostCode know when our gear went off hire?
No. It doesn't read off-hire numbers or dockets, so the weeks billed are yours to check. Get an off-hire number every time and keep it with the job's records.
Will it query the hire yard for us?
Not by itself. Supplier email starts off, so CostCode writes the query, quoting only your agreed rates, for you to copy into your own email. Nothing reaches a supplier unless someone in your team sends it.
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