Title: Builder supplier account setup checklist | Cercha

Description: Set up a builder supply account with buying authority, billing, quotes, and delivery contacts. Print the checklist for your first-order review.

Canonical: https://cercha.pages.dev/tools/builder-supplier-account-setup-checklist/

# Builder account setup checklist for supplier reps

Tools for residential building

Before the first order, confirm who buys, who approves, who receives, and who pays. Record the branch’s own account and delivery requirements.

You need the builder’s first order to reach the right site and the invoice to reach the right desk. Use this builder account setup checklist to identify the buyer, approver, receiver, and billing contact before quoting a package. Fill it out with the builder and the branch team. Keep unresolved questions assigned to a person.

Start with what the builder buys from you. Ask which materials the builder purchases directly and which the sub includes in its package. Record the active project, current plan revision, and first-order need. Do not ask for every possible detail before learning the next package.

Use that order to check whether your setup covers the builder’s working process.

Separate an account conversation from credit approval. Builders FirstSource, for example, directs customers to a credit application and its credit team, with help available from a local branch or sales rep. [Published credit process](https://www.bldr.com/services/credit) Follow your own supplier’s process. Record only terms the responsible team has approved.

Send questions about guarantees or disputed terms to that team and an attorney. Ask accounting or the builder’s CPA about tax documents.

Move from the company record to buying authority. Write down who can request a quote, approve a substitution, release an order, receive a delivery, and discuss an invoice. Ask how purchase orders and job references should appear. Give the builder your backup contact so a question has an owner when you are away.

These are suggested account-planning prompts, not universal application requirements.

Check the services at the branch handling the job. Builders FirstSource says its services vary by location. [Service availability notice](https://www.bldr.com/services) Ask directly about stock, takeoffs, lead times, delivery, pickup, and replacements. Keep the answer and check date together.

Avoid treating a carried brand or a national service description as a local order commitment.

Plan the delivery conversation with the field lead and dispatch. Builders FirstSource’s delivery page describes a portal for purchase orders, requested delivery dates, and delivery photos. [Delivery and account tools](https://www.bldr.com/services/delivery-pickup) Ask which equivalent records your branch provides. Agree the address, access, unloading, storage, receiver, and shortage contact before release.

Review the first confirmation with the authorized buyer, then set a follow-up for the next material package.

## Open-question record

Use this record for unresolved account, package, or dispatch questions. Keep private credit and tax records in the approved office process.

| Question or missing detail | Responsible person | Response due | Answer and date |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| __________ | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| __________ | __________ | __________ | __________ |
| __________ | __________ | __________ | __________ |

## Print note

Print one checklist per builder account. Add project-specific delivery sheets for each job. Record office-file locations rather than private identifiers. Keep approved terms and dated quote confirmations with the account records.

## Prepare the first account conversation

Use the [builder-account guide](/guides/win-builder-accounts/) to prepare the relationship conversation. Use the [contractor supply-account guide](/guides/contractor-supply-account/) for the buyer and billing handoff.

Ask which takeoff and quoting help your branch offers. [Lowe’s Pro Desk](https://www.lowes.com/l/about/lowes-pro-desk) lists those services for its own customers. Keep the [NC board’s written-work topics](https://www.nclbgc.org/remodeling-home-improvement-contracts/) beside the package being quoted.

Separate trade-account setup from tax intake for services. The [IRS contractor-forms guidance](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/forms-and-associated-taxes-for-independent-contractors) describes W-9 intake after worker classification. Ask the CPA which records apply; do not assume a material order requires that service-payee form.

Return to the [construction tools hub](/tools/) for the other quantity checks and printable records.

Suggested supplier-rep worksheet. Use your branch’s actual account forms and approved terms. Ask the credit team about credit and guarantees, a CPA about tax documents, and an attorney about disputed terms. No stock, price, delivery, or credit approval is implied.

- [ ] Account and contacts: Record builder legal name, trading name, billing address, and account reference: _____. Why: Match the account to the purchaser.
- [ ] Account and contacts: Name your rep, branch, backup contact, and service area: _____. Why: Give the builder a reachable team.
- [ ] Account and contacts: Name authorized buyers, quote approvers, field leads, and billing contact: _____. Why: Separate purchasing, receiving, and payment questions.
- [ ] Account and contacts: Record current projects, packages purchased, and first-order contact: _____. Why: Define the relationship you are setting up.
- [ ] Terms and billing: Confirm the requested cash or credit process with the branch: _____. Why: Use the actual account route.
- [ ] Terms and billing: Send application and requested documents through the approved account process: _____. Why: Keep private records with the responsible office.
- [ ] Terms and billing: Record credit-team decision and approved limits or terms, if applicable: _____. Why: Avoid promising terms before review.
- [ ] Terms and billing: Route tax-document questions to accounting or the CPA: _____. Why: Use the right reviewer for exemption or reporting questions.
- [ ] Terms and billing: Confirm PO format, job reference, invoice recipient, and dispute contact: _____. Why: Make the first invoice match the builder’s process.
- [ ] Quote and material package: Record current plan, takeoff, selection schedule, and revision: _____. Why: Quote the package being built.
- [ ] Quote and material package: Name who checks quantities, dimensions, included accessories, and exclusions: _____. Why: Assign the review before order release.
- [ ] Quote and material package: List exact models, materials, finishes, and approved alternatives: _____. Why: Keep substitutions attached to an approval.
- [ ] Quote and material package: Record stock checks, special-order conditions, quote validity, and estimated arrival: _____. Why: Keep time-sensitive answers dated.
- [ ] Quote and material package: Record who authorizes release and how changes reach the branch: _____. Why: Identify the buyer’s final order decision.
- [ ] Delivery and receiving: Confirm phases, requested dates, delivery contact, and release method: _____. Why: Plan each drop with the builder.
- [ ] Delivery and receiving: Record site address, access, unloading, storage, and receiving person: _____. Why: Give dispatch a defined destination and handoff.
- [ ] Delivery and receiving: Confirm shortages, damage reports, return conditions, and replacement contact: _____. Why: Agree the follow-up route before a problem.
- [ ] Delivery and receiving: Ask which tracking, pickup, or delivery-evidence services the branch provides: _____. Why: Use locally confirmed capabilities.
- [ ] First order and follow-up: Review the first order and confirmation with the authorized buyer: _____. Why: Check the account process on a real package.
- [ ] First order and follow-up: Record receipt, remaining items, invoice questions, and responsible contacts: _____. Why: Keep unfinished work assigned.
- [ ] First order and follow-up: Set the next package review and rep follow-up date: _____. Why: Carry the relationship into the next order.

Print this checklist from the HTML page.

## Where Cercha fits

Cercha supplier profiles list carried brands and show project portfolios. Use that profile to introduce your supply scope to builders and trades. Messages support the first conversation; account setup and orders stay with your branch.

## Build your connections

[Ask about the beta](</beta/>)

## Sources

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1. Builders FirstSource. (n.d.). *Credit*. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://www.bldr.com/services/credit

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2. Builders FirstSource. (n.d.). *Services*. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://www.bldr.com/services

<a id="source-3"></a>

3. Builders FirstSource. (n.d.). *Delivery and Pickup*. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://www.bldr.com/services/delivery-pickup

<a id="source-4"></a>

4. Lowe’s. (n.d.). *Pro Desk*. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://www.lowes.com/l/about/lowes-pro-desk

<a id="source-5"></a>

5. North Carolina Licensing Board for General Contractors. (n.d.). *Building, remodeling, improving your home*. NC Licensing Board for General Contractors. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://www.nclbgc.org/remodeling-home-improvement-contracts/

<a id="source-6"></a>

6. Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). *Forms and associated taxes for independent contractors*. Retrieved October 14, 2026, from https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/forms-and-associated-taxes-for-independent-contractors
