Keep the site moving.

A missing fitting can turn a straightforward morning into a trip back to the workshop. For a local builder, materials rarely stay in one place: sealant is in the van, fasteners are on a workshop shelf, and protective sheets were left at yesterday’s site. The challenge is remembering what is available before setting off. Tana helps you record materials and consumables by their actual storage places, giving the crew a starting point for checking what to load for the day.

Set up storages that match the places your team already uses. A vehicle, a site cupboard, and a workshop rack can each hold recorded quantities of the same item. Use locations to group storages at a building or site, and include useful sizes or specifications in item names. Photographs help colleagues recognize the packaging of a particular sealant or fitting. Checking the record can then answer a practical question: is the quantity on the workshop shelf, or has it been recorded somewhere else?

Record deliveries when materials arrive and subtract quantities as they are used. When moving stock between places, keep the records for both places aligned with the physical movement. Agree whether a quantity means one packet, one tube, or one piece so the numbers remain understandable across the crew. Set low-stock thresholds for everyday consumables, such as gloves and fasteners, to flag low recorded totals. Use that information alongside the requirements of the next job when deciding what to buy or bring back to the workshop.

Begin with a single van or the shelf that causes the most repeat purchases. Label the storage with a QR code, make familiar items searchable, and use a filtered CSV for a count before a busy week. What you build is a practical stock record: what the material is, how many are left, and which van or rack is holding them. Its value comes from making that easy to share, especially when the person who last handled a box is already on another site and cannot stop to answer the phone.