Tracking Fittings and Valves on Plumbing Trucks

Start with the invoice ghosts

Pull twenty recent jobs. List every fitting that should have been there. Compare to what was billed. The ghosts are your first SKUs: 1/2" ball valves, supply lines, wax rings, shutoffs, common PEX fittings.

Do not start with the rare 2" flange you use twice a year. Start with the parts that should have been money last month.

Bags can be SKUs

A labeled bag of ten identical drop-ear elbows can be one SKU with quantity 10. The tech scans once and enters qty 3. You do not need ten barcodes to get 80% of the value.

When the bag is empty, restock is obvious. When the bag is a mixed junk pouch, you are back to folklore. One SKU per bag.

Valves deserve photos

A 1/2" ball valve is not a 3/4" ball valve, and the boxes look the same when wet. A catalog photo plus large type on the bin lip saves the wrong-valve drive-back.

Put sell price on the part so the office bills the valve that left, not a generic “misc fittings $8” that has not been true since 2019.

Return the extras

Techs grab a handful. That is correct behavior in a crawlspace. Returning the unused handful is the behavior you have to build. Make return a first-class button next to use.

If return takes a search through settings, it will not happen. FleetStock keeps it on the scan screen.

Weekly dollars, not weekly shame

Show the shop the dollar value of fittings scanned vs fittings billed. Celebrate the week the gap shrinks. The goal is a tighter job, not a courtroom.

After a month you can set min stock from real use. That is when supply-house emergency valve runs start to look silly.

FAQ