Billing for your hardware and paint shop in Delhi
Iron cut by the foot and billed by the kilo, and paint by the tin, all on the contractor's page.
Why a Delhi hardware counter's iron is cut by the foot and sold by the kilo, and the morning after the first rain is a rush
The weight chart on the wall that only the old helper can read
The iron is priced by the kilo, but customers ask by the foot: a rod cut to eleven feet, an angle cut to six. The conversion is on a chart on the wall that only the old helper can read, and when he is at his lunch the new boy guesses the weight. The bill and the iron on the floor stop agreeing within weeks.
The morning after the first rain, when every cracked terrace needs the same coat
June's heat cracks the terraces and the outer walls of the colony's houses, and the first rain finds every crack. The next morning one owner after another asks for the same coat. You tell each of them a time to come back, when the drum has been brought from the godown. By the afternoon the times you gave are mixed up, and nobody wrote down who was promised first.
A builder floor going up over three months, and a contractor who pays at each stage
When a builder floor is being put up in a colony, the contractor takes cement, rods, pipes, fittings and paint from you at every stage: the foundation, the slab, the plaster, the finish. He pays when the owner pays him, and the owner pays by stage. For three months what he owes you is a list of what the site took, kept on loose paper that moves from one pocket to the next.
Tools for a counter with iron on the floor, waterproofing on the shelf and a contractor at the door
Bills on your phone
The painter's helper on a colony floor reads the primer and the putty on the bill at the site, before the bag is opened.
Credit book (khata)
The stage names, foundation, slab, plaster and finish, decide the pay day: each owner pays when his stage is done, and that stage's lines are the sum he pays.
Low stock warnings
A warning that putty and primer are running down in the weeks before Diwali, when houses are painted, while a lorry can still be asked for.
Orders to suppliers
The order for iron by the kilo sent to the supplier, with the kilos that arrived on the lorry noted against it.
From a rod cut to eleven feet to the owner abroad who reads the stage list
The new boy bills from the scale and not from the chart
Make each iron an item sold by the kilo. Whoever is at the counter weighs the cut piece and enters its kilos, and the bill works out the price. The chart on the wall is no longer the only way to know a rod's weight, and the old helper's lunch is no longer the weak hour of the counter.
The drum and the tin are counted, so the waterproofing is ordered in time
Make the drum of waterproofing and the one-litre tin two items, each with its own count. In the weeks before the monsoon you watch both on the phone and order the drum while there is still time. The painter who comes on Tuesday is served, and the terrace is sealed before the first rain.
The owner who lives abroad reads the stage list on his own phone
Many builder floors are owned by people who live far away, and the contractor pays for the material. Make each stage's bill on the floor's page and send it to the owner's number on WhatsApp. He sees what went into the slab, the contractor has no argument, and your account is not held up by a call across time zones.
Questions Delhi hardware dealers ask about the lorry's weight, the drum and the owner who lives abroad
A painter wants tomorrow's primer and putty ready when his helper comes. Can he ask from home?
Yes. Put the tins and the putty on the shop's own online shop. His order arrives on your phone as a list, and the helper collects the bag with the bill.
One contractor builds three floors for three owners. Whose page is whose?
One page for each floor, named for the floor. Every stage's bill goes on its own floor's page, and each owner's bills go to his own WhatsApp number, so no floor's lists are added to another's.
A painter needs only a little putty from a full bag. Can I bill the part?
The painter's helper sends tomorrow's putty and primer from the shop's online page tonight. In the morning the putty is weighed out, the part bag is billed by the kilo, and the helper takes it.
Iron and steel through Delhi, and the markets that deal in it
The Economic Survey of Delhi says 44% of the iron and steel imported to Delhi is re-exported to other parts of India and abroad. A dealer here buys iron in a city where a large share of what arrives goes out again, and the rate for a rod can move between one lot and the next.
Delhi's wholesale markets deal in about 27 major commodities, including textiles, auto parts and machinery, stationery, food items and iron and steel. A hardware counter's supplier list has a few of these on it, and the order to each is its own list.