Construction
The one supplying materials to the site
You deliver a hundred consignments a month to twelve sites. Everyone remembers the lorry; nobody remembers the paperwork until the end.
Your product reaches the site on a lorry, someone in a hurry unloads it and signs a delivery note. That moment is the only real contact between what you supply and whoever uses it — and **it is also the only moment when that consignment's documentation could have travelled with it at no cost**. It almost never does, which is why the same consignment comes back months later as an urgent request.
The two lives of a delivery
| Moment | What changes hands | What is missing afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| Unloading | Material and delivery note | Everything else |
| The invoice | Amount and reference | The specific consignment |
| Weeks later | A phone call | Knowing which batch went to which site |
| **End of the project** | **One request for everything** | **Months of deliveries at once** |
Important
**What you will be asked for at the end is not «your documentation»: it is the documentation for ONE consignment delivered on ONE date to ONE site.** That difference is everything. A generic product certificate is found in a minute and does not answer the question; what answers it is knowing which batch left on 14 March for the site on such-and-such street. If that was not recorded when the lorry left, it cannot be deduced later.
What changes the outcome, and happens at delivery
- 1
Record which batch goes in each delivery
One line on the delivery note beats the whole archive at the end.
- 2
Attach the document to the delivery, not to the reference
Same information, different questions answered.
- 3
Keep the version current on that day
Product sheets get updated and today's does not cover March.
- 4
Know who on site it was handed to
Whoever signed for the unloading is rarely whoever asks at the end.
Watch out
The scenario repeated on every project: **the request does not arrive consignment by consignment, it arrives whole and with a deadline**. Someone is closing out the project documentation, discovers eight months of materials missing, and asks for all of it on the same day for Friday. Whoever recorded batches at delivery clears it in an afternoon; whoever did not spends a week reconstructing from delivery notes and memory, and hands over what they can evidence, which is almost never everything.
Worth knowing
What documentation must accompany each type of construction product, who may require it and what declarations or markings apply **depends on the product and the country, and is settled by your adviser or the relevant body**. Here we cover what decides whether you can hand it over: what gets recorded at delivery and how a specific delivery's paperwork is found months later.
›Is the general product certificate not enough?
To trade, yes; to evidence a consignment delivered on a date, no.
›Do I have to record batches for everything?
For whatever you will be asked about. And you will be asked about what stays on site.
›What if they ask for everything at once at the end?
That is the normal case. It is prepared at delivery, because at the end there is no time.
A real case
The situation
At project close-out, eight months of delivery documentation is requested at once.
What you do
- Keeps each document tied to its delivery and date
What you get
The handover is prepared in an afternoon rather than a week.
The situation
Nobody knows which batch went to which site on 14 March.
What you do
- Records batch, date and destination on every delivery
What you get
The question about a specific consignment has an answer.
The situation
The product sheet is updated and the previous one disappears.
What you do
- Stores versions with their dates instead of replacing them
What you get
What was delivered can be evidenced with what applied then.
The situation
Twelve sites request the same documentation in different formats.
What you do
- Serves every request from one file kept current
What you get
The work is not redone twelve times.
The situation
Whoever signed for the unloading is not whoever chases at the end.
What you do
- Records who each consignment was handed to on site
What you get
The chase is resolved without reconstructing who was there.
The situation
The final request arrives with a deadline and nobody saw it coming.
What you do
- Shows what documentation is missing before it is asked for
What you get
The gap closes without the site waiting.
This article answers
- documentation accompanying construction materials
- asked for certificates on deliveries from months ago
- what paperwork goes with each consignment
- contractor asking for material documentation