FREE REFERENCE
The words subcontractors live in — permits and inspections, field paperwork, billing, and materials — defined in plain English, from the sub's side of the job.
A rough inspection is the inspector's check of wiring, boxes, and connections while walls are still open — it must pass before insulation and drywall can cover the work.
The final inspection is the inspector's last visit, verifying the finished installation — devices, fixtures, panel labeling, and safety details — so the permit can be signed off.
Sign-off is the inspector's recorded approval of the final inspection — the act that officially closes a permit and ends the contractor's open obligation on it.
The wiring inspector is the local official who reviews electrical permit applications and inspects electrical work in a city or town.
An electrical permit is the municipal authorization to perform specific electrical work at a specific address, pulled by the licensed electrician doing the work and closed by inspection sign-off.
An open permit is any permit that has been issued but not yet closed by a passing final inspection — including finished jobs that never got signed off.
Temporary service is short-term electrical power installed for construction — typically a temp panel or pole — usually under its own permit and inspection before the utility connects it.
A low-voltage permit covers systems like data, security, audio, and control wiring that run below standard line voltage — often permitted separately from line-voltage electrical work.
A T&M tag is a daily record of extra work — hours, materials, and what was directed — signed in the field by the GC or owner's representative before the details go cold.
A change order is a documented, approved change to the contract — scope, price, or schedule — signed before (ideally) the changed work is performed.
A punch list is the closeout list of small remaining items — fixes, touch-ups, incomplete details — that must be finished before a job is accepted as complete.
A submittal is documentation — product data, shop drawings, samples — a contractor sends up the chain for approval before the material or method is used on the job.
An RFI is a formal written question from a contractor to the design team or GC when the drawings or specs are unclear, conflicting, or silent.
The general contractor holds the prime contract with the owner and coordinates the project, hiring subcontractors — like electrical subs — for the specialized trades.
A subcontractor performs a specialized portion of a project — electrical, plumbing, HVAC — under contract with the general contractor rather than the owner.
Retainage is the percentage of each progress payment (commonly 5–10%) held back until project completion — the last money a subcontractor sees on a job.
Progress billing invoices a job in installments as work completes — typically monthly requisitions against a schedule of values — instead of one bill at the end.
Materials markup is the percentage added to a contractor's material cost when billing the customer — covering procurement, handling, warranty risk, and profit on materials.
A supply house is a trade wholesale distributor — where contractors buy materials on account, generating the invoices and monthly statements that drive job costing.
A purchase order is a numbered document authorizing a purchase — matching supplier invoices to a PO is how contractors verify they're billed only for what was ordered, at the agreed price.
A counter ticket is the itemized slip the supply house prints when you buy at the counter — line by line, what left the store, on which job account, at what price.
A packing slip is the document packed with a shipment listing what the supplier says is in the box — the paper you check the order and the actual contents against.
A delivery ticket is the supply house's record of a jobsite drop — what was delivered, to which job, and who signed for it.
Job costing is tracking every dollar of labor and material against the specific job that consumed it — so you know what each job made, not just what the company made.
A price book is the pricing file behind your supply-house account — the prices your account actually pays, as opposed to list price, item by item.
A job account is a sub-account under your supply-house account opened for one project — so every ticket and invoice for that job prints the job's name on its face.
A supplier statement is the supply house's periodic summary of your account — every invoice, credit, and payment for the period, and the balance due.
A back order is an ordered item the supplier can't fill yet — it ships and bills later, separately from the rest of the order.
Will-call is phoning or sending an order in ahead so the supply house pulls and stages it — you pick it up at the counter instead of shopping the aisles.
A restocking fee is the charge a supplier deducts when taking back returned material — the price of un-buying what got over-ordered.
An extended price is a line item's unit price multiplied by its quantity — the number that actually hits the invoice total, and where pricing errors hide.
RevnuPros tracks the things behind these words — permits to sign-off, T&M tags to signature, materials to billed, retainage to released.
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