Supplier sourcing and procurement for construction
Give Nexley the material list and it goes shopping the way you would if you had a spare day: pricing the same list across up to 20 merchants, asking each to beat the best figure on the table, and bringing you back the winner before you commit. Contractors typically shave around 10% off materials — on one anonymised roofing package it was £3,000 off a £30,000 supply bill.
- Up to 20 merchants priced
- Merchants bid against each other
- You approve before ordering
Loyalty is costing you margin
Most firms buy from the same two or three merchants out of habit and time pressure. The account works, the counter staff know your name, and ringing round six other branches for prices is a morning nobody has. Merchants price accordingly: the loyal account quietly pays list-adjacent prices while the firm that shops around gets the sharpened quote. On materials-heavy packages, that convenience is one of the largest invisible costs in the business — and unlike labour, it is pure margin: every pound saved on the same specified product goes straight to the bottom line.
How the negotiation works
- Start from a real list. The material schedule comes straight off your measured take-off or an accepted quote — exact products, specifications and quantities, so every merchant is pricing identical scope and the comparison is honest.
- Up to 20 merchants priced in parallel. Nationals, independents and specialists — the branches you use and the ones you never had time to try — each asked for their best price on the same list, including delivery to site.
- Then they compete. The best figure goes back to the others with a simple question: can you beat it? It is the bartering you would do yourself with a free afternoon and no embarrassment about asking twice.
- You see the table and decide. Prices, lead times and delivery side by side. If the cheapest supplier is one you would not trust with a Friday delivery, pick the second line — the decision is always yours.
What it is worth
The honest average is around 10% off materials. On the anonymised roofing example above — £3,000 kept on a £30,000 package — the saving on that one job covered the monthly subscription several times over. It also compounds at the other end of the business: sharper material prices mean sharper tender rates, which means winning work you would otherwise have lost by a whisker, without touching your margin. Every order lands in the books coded to its job through the accounting connection, so procurement and cashflow stay one picture. Included in the single plan, 7-day free trial first.
Price a real material listWhere the savings hide
Three buying habits that quietly leak money, and what replaces them.
The default merchant
The branch you always use knows you will not check. Twenty prices on the table restores the negotiating position a busy contractor gave up years ago.
More admin off your plate →The rushed order
Materials bought the day before they are needed get bought at whatever the price is. Ordering from the take-off, ahead of time, is when negotiating power exists.
Take-offs & bills of quantities →The unpriced spec
When the tender allows an equal-approved alternative, pricing both routes across the market can be the difference between winning and losing the bid.
The roofing example →Price your next materials package
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“Nexley saves me so much time it's unbelievable. Was sceptical at first but when I saw what it can do for my business I couldn't sign up quick enough. Can't recommend highly enough.”
