CONTRACTOR GLOSSARY · MATERIALS & PURCHASING
What is a Price book?
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.
List price at a supply house is a starting point, not what anyone with an account pays. Behind your account sits a pricing file — the price book — setting your actual price per item or product group, shaped by volume, relationship, and what got negotiated. Two contractors can buy the same breaker the same day at meaningfully different prices.
The book isn't static, and that's the catch: prices drift, quoted project pricing expires, and an item that was sharp last year can creep. The defenses are ordinary paper discipline — get big buys quoted, keep the quote with the job, and spot-check invoices against quoted and expected prices instead of assuming the counter rang the right file.
One naming collision to know: in service trades, "price book" also means the contractor's own flat-rate book — the selling prices customers see. Same words, opposite direction of the money. Context tells you which one is meant.
Common questions
Why do two contractors pay different prices for the same part?
Supply-house pricing is account-specific — volume, history, and negotiation set each account's price file. What you pay is your price book, not the shelf tag.
How do you keep supply-house pricing honest?
Quote significant orders in writing, attach the quote to the job, and check invoices against it. Price drift is rarely malicious — wrong file, expired quote, updated cost — but it only gets corrected when someone matches the numbers.
RevnuPros tracks the thing, not just the word
Permits to sign-off, T&M tags to signature, materials to billed through, retainage to released — built for subcontractors. Browse the full contractor glossary or the Massachusetts permit guide.
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