Every builder PO for a start, checked against the house package and that lot's options.

The PO reaches you through the builder's portal or as a PDF, one per start, sometimes split by delivery. It names the community, lot and plan, prices each line from the builder's own records, and carries codes for the options the buyer picked. Later paper lands on the same lot: a variance PO when a superintendent adds material, a revised PO when an option changes after the start. Your desk confirms the order, sends it back, or calls the builder's purchasing team.

For the test, AI reads copies of those POs beside the house package your team agreed for each plan and the price agreement in force, and drafts a check sheet for every lot: each PO line matched to a package line with item, quantity, unit and price compared, each package line the PO left out, and each variance PO tied back to the lot and line it changes. Nothing is confirmed, rejected or sent. Your reviewer compares the sheet with what your desk flagged when those lots shipped, and with any rebill or credit that came later.

The PO comes from the builder's takeoff, not yours. Oracle's guide to JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Homebuilder Management, one ERP production builders run, describes a Lot Start process that turns bids and takeoffs into lot-specific purchase orders. Bid details are kept by area, community, phase, plan, elevation and option, and the process looks for an exact match on those fields before falling back to less specific records. Takeoffs work differently: when several takeoff records match a lot, their quantities are added together. So a PO can be wrong where your package is right, with a quantity counted twice or a price taken from a general record. The draft compares each PO with your package for the same plan, elevation and options, and names the field that differs.

The price is set at the start. Smith Douglas Homes, in its annual report for 2025, says material prices for a home move until construction begins and are then locked in by purchase orders. Oracle's guide gives each bid an effective date and a cancel date, and has Lot Start compare them with the lot's commitment start date. ICI Homes' published PO terms, effective September 15, 2025, call the price on its purchase order a ceiling that can't rise without the builder's written approval in advance. A line priced under your agreement is a loss once the load ships, unless someone catches it first. The draft checks every line against the agreement in force on the date your success criteria name, usually the start, and lists lines priced from an expired list or one not yet in effect.

Changes arrive on separate paper. The same ICI Homes terms show authorized changes separately on a Variance Purchase Order or Change Order, and make the purchase order the seller's invoice once the job is complete. Oracle calls extra purchase orders field purchase orders, because they start at the construction site, and uses them for lots only. Smith Douglas says the system behind its paperless POs, which lets trade partners check their job schedules and orders online, helps it avoid variance orders. A variance PO filed to the wrong lot leaves two lots wrong. The draft ties every variance or extra PO to its lot, its original PO and the line it changes, and lists any it can't place.

The agreement may be national while the PO is local. D.R. Horton's annual report for fiscal 2025 lists negotiating national purchasing contracts among its corporate functions, while most of its direct homebuilding runs through local divisions. Smith Douglas says it sets national specifications with its distributors and has distribution agreements for lumber among other supplies. The price a division's PO should carry can sit in an agreement written somewhere else, with its own item names. The draft keys each PO line to whichever agreement, price exhibit or list you send, and marks any item the agreement doesn't name.

Who bought it on the lot matters later. Oracle's guide separates turnkey bids, where a subcontractor buys labor and materials, from takeoffs, where the builder buys and delivers the material itself, so your customer on a lot may be the builder or a framer. Notice rules can turn on that. Washington's lien statute, for one, says that on new construction of a single-family residence a notice of the right to claim a lien may be given at any time but protects only materials supplied from ten days before it, where the general rule reaches back sixty days. The draft keeps each lot's address and customer of record beside its POs; whether a notice is due is for your credit manager and counsel, and this is not legal advice. Your reviewer, usually the builder account manager or order desk lead, watches option codes, doubled lines, stale prices and stray variance POs.

Once your reviewer says yes against the success criteria, the same check runs on new builder POs and variance POs for about 30 days.

Each check sheet goes to the person who confirms builder orders, and only they accept a PO, send it back or call the builder. Nothing loads on the strength of a draft.

The live run has a fixed price agreed before you sign, and a next job is priced by itself.