Billing for your hardware and paint shop in Jammu and Kashmir
Cement by the bag, roofing by the foot, bukhari pipes by the piece, and each site on a page of its own.
From the bukhari pipes counted in September to the truck counted at the yard and the shovels before the snow
Elbows and caps counted in September, not found short in October
Look at which pipe parts are running low a few weeks before the frost, and order them while the road is open. The stove-pipe rack is full when the first customers arrive, and the shop does not lose a job over one elbow.
The truck from the plains in the short building season, counted at the gate
In the short building season the trucks of cement and steel come from the plains one after another, and every mason wants his bags in the same week. At the gate, put in the bags or the tonnes as the driver counts them. The yard's count goes up by what was really unloaded, and the number in your phone is the number in the yard.
What the wall holds the evening before the first fall is all there is until the road opens
At the end of autumn, open the counts of shovels, tarpaulins and ropes side by side. When the first fall comes, the three go in the same few hours, so what you hold the evening before is what you can sell until the road opens. You order the short ones while the road is still open, and you can tell a customer honestly how many are left that evening.
Why a Kashmir hardware shop is crowded in a short building season, bare of bukhari parts in October and of shovels on the first snow
A building season of a few months, and every mason in the same week
The snow stops building for months, so the work comes in a rush between spring and the first fall. Every mason and contractor wants cement, steel rods and paint in the same fortnight, and by evening you have written lots of numbers on the back of a cement bag.
Bukhari pipes, elbows and caps before the first frost
In October every house wants its stove ready: a bukhari, a length of chimney pipe, two elbows and a cap. Each is a different size and each sells as one small part. The racks are emptied of pipes in a few days, and the one elbow that was in short supply is the one that makes the whole job wait.
Snow shovels, tarpaulin and rope, gone in one night
The first heavy fall empties the wall in a night: shovels for the roof and the lane, tarpaulin for the woodstack, rope and nails. A customer who comes the next morning finds the wall bare. The roof must be cleared today, so he does not wait for you. He goes down the road to the next shop.
Tools for a yard of cement bags, steel rods and elbow pipes
Low stock warnings
A warning on elbows, caps and chimney pipe in September, so the stove-pipe rack is ready before the first frost.
Godown stock
A count for the bags held in the yard for contractors whose village roads the snow will close, kept apart from the bags at the counter.
Daily reports
The weeks the road is closed and no cement moves, set beside the building weeks, so the first load is booked before the pass opens and not after it.
The towns and hills where a Jammu and Kashmir hardware shop sells
A hardware shop in Jammu and Kashmir sells to builders and farmers in places like these.
- Jammu city's Narwal fruit and vegetable mandi was upgraded between 2021 and 2023 with improved sheds, a Mandi Plaza building and a 100-tonne weighbridge.
- Budgam district has 74 government handicraft training centres teaching about 1,840 people a year, and an artisan credit scheme gives loans of Rs 2 lakh.
- In Kalakote tehsil of Rajouri district, the main livelihood is agriculture and allied work, and coal is the main resource, exported outside.
- Baramulla is the largest producer of horticulture products in J&K, with vast apple orchards.
Questions Kashmir hardware and paint shops ask
A contractor takes the cement for a house in a village that snow will cut off. How do I write it so it is paid for in spring?
Open a page for the house with the contractor's name and the village, and put the cement on it as it leaves, with its day. The page holds the bags until the road opens and he pays.
The truck from the plains reaches the yard after the shop has shut. Who puts the count in?
Whoever is at the gate. Put in the number of bags the driver counts as he unloads, even at night, and in the morning the yard's count is already right.
A bukhari job needs a pipe, two elbows and a cap. Can I bill it as one job?
Yes. Put each part on the same bill with its own rate and number. The bill shows the whole job, and the stock of each part goes down by what was sold.
Roads, tolls and the price of a bag of cement
After the Lakhanpur toll was abolished, prices of cement and steel saw a significant decline in Jammu and Kashmir, The Tribune reported in January 2020. The road in from the plains decides what a bag of cement costs, and a hardware shop that bought stock before the change and sold it after had a different margin on the very same bags.
In July 2020, as Srinagar reopened after the lockdown, a resident told Kashmir Reader that rates of bricks, sand and bajri had gone up by 50 to 60 per cent. When rates jump that far, a dealer who notes what he paid for each load can show a customer why today's bill is not last month's.