How do you retest materials when a Puntland supplier changes source?

A supplier who changes quarry, batching plant or mill has delivered a new material, even when the invoice, the brand and the price look unchanged. Treat the load as untested until the batch record ties it to its source and the engineer has accepted a retest against the project specification. Do not let it into a pour on the strength of the last delivery.

What counts as a change of source?

Any change in where the material was dug, crushed, mixed or bagged counts as a change of source. So does a switch of supplier, a new import lot, or a delivery that arrives without the paperwork the previous loads carried. The invoice is not the record; the batch or delivery document is.

A change can be quiet. A blockmaker may switch sand pits because one is flooded after the Gu rains. A supplier may top up a cement load from a second mill. A steel trader may bring in a different mill's bars under the same size label. None of these announces itself, so the site has to ask.

The local check is a short question at every delivery: where was this made or dug, and which document shows it? If the answer differs from the approved source list, stop and treat the load as new. Keep the list with the project's specification so the question is easy to answer.

What record should the supplier give you?

Ask for the delivery note or batch certificate that names the source, the date of manufacture or extraction, the quantity and the product grade. For bagged cement, ask for the mill and the production date printed on the bag. For steel, ask for the mill name and the heat or cast reference on the tag.

If the supplier cannot produce the record, the material can still be used, but only after testing at the site's cost arrangement. Agree in the contract who pays for tests on material that arrives without paperwork, and check what your contract allows before you refuse a load.

Write the record number into the site diary next to the delivery. The materials acceptance file is the place this belongs, so a later dispute has one place to look. A file that lists sources and dates answers the question faster than memory.

How do you retest and hold the work?

Retest against the same criteria the specification sets for the first approval. That may mean cube tests for concrete, sieve and silt checks for sand, dimensional and strength checks for blocks, or a sample of bar for yield and bend. Ask the laboratory for its rate and turnaround in writing before you send the sample.

While the sample is out, keep the new material in a separate bay from the approved stock. Label it, cover it, and do not let a labourer carry it to the mixer by mistake. Use the concrete calculator to see how much of the pour depends on that one load, and the construction material calculator for block and steel quantities, so the size of the hold is clear to the client.

When the engineer accepts the result, record the acceptance, the source and the date. When it fails, record that too, and agree with the supplier in writing what happens to the rejected stock. The materials pages carry the same principle for other products.

What to do next

This week, write a source list for every material on site: cement mill, sand pit, aggregate quarry, block yard, steel mill. Add one line to the delivery check that asks the driver to name the source and show the batch document. Give a copy to the storekeeper and the engineer, and keep it with the acceptance file.