How do supplier credit control gaps affect Burao builds?

A supplier credit control experience gap means nobody at the site office is tracking the running balance owed to each supplier, so a lorry fails to arrive before anyone on the Burao build sees a problem. The work then stops for a reason that is not technical: cement, timber or aggregate was ordered against an account a supplier had already suspended.

What does supplier credit control cover on a Burao build?

Credit control is the record of every order, every delivery and every amount still owed to each supplier. It answers three questions: what has arrived, what has been paid, and what remains due. A contractor with supplier credit control experience keeps that record beside the order book, so a quantity surveyor can read it at any time. Without it, orders go out by phone, invoices sit in a file, and the first sign of trouble is a phone call saying no more deliveries until a balance clears.

Supplier markets in Somaliland towns often work through merchants who hold accounts across several projects at once, so who serves a given site is something to confirm locally rather than assume. Ask the site office to show the last two months of supplier statements next to the delivery notes, and ask which merchants currently serve the site and on what terms. If the statements and delivery notes do not reconcile, the control is weak. The same check applies when a client reviews a bid: ask how the bidder will track supplier balances, and ask for one worked example from a recent job.

How do suspended material deliveries hit the programme?

A suspended delivery stops the trade that depends on it, and the delay compounds from there. When cement stops, blockwork stops, so plaster waits, so finishing waits, and any labour paid by the day keeps costing while the site stands still. Two things make this worse. First, a supplier who has cut off a site may also refuse to quote for the next stage. Second, restarting means renegotiating from a weaker position, often before the programme has caught up.

The execution risk sits in the record, not in the balance. No one knows where the credit limit sits until a supplier crosses it, and by then the delivery is already lost. Ask each main supplier, in writing, what credit terms the account carries and what triggers a hold. Walk a recent site with the proposed foreman and ask what happened the last time a delivery was stopped and how long the restart took.

How do you close the gap before it reaches site?

Put one named person in charge of the supplier ledger, and give that person the authority to flag a balance before it reaches the credit limit. Write payment dates and amounts into the contract, and check what the contract allows before holding or redirecting any payment. Issue numbered purchase orders for every order, so each delivery can be matched to a document and each balance can be traced.

At the bid stage, ask the contractor to describe in one page how supplier balances are recorded, who signs off payments, and what happens when a supplier gives notice. A useful answer names people and documents. A weak answer describes intentions. Check the request against the accounts office at the contractor's yard, not the site office, because the yard keeps the statements.

What to do next

Take the last two months of delivery notes and supplier statements for your build and lay them side by side this week. Where a delivery has no matching statement or a payment has no receipt, write to the supplier and ask for a current balance in writing, then set the same exercise monthly. If the site cannot produce both documents, bring in a quantity surveyor to rebuild the ledger before the next order goes out.