Material Control Layer
RunBlu builds in-stock availability into the purchasing process — so what you already own gets checked before a new PO is written.
For Canadian Electrical Contractors — $10M to $100M
The RunBlu Advantage
Nobody has a reliable, current picture of what's on the ground. Receiving is inconsistent, job-site returns go unlogged, and the yard count is a spreadsheet somebody last touched in March. So purchasing does the only rational thing available to it — writes a new PO. Margin erodes, and the yard keeps growing.
RunBlu makes the yard visible and makes checking it mandatory. Every item that enters is captured and indexed at the point of receipt, so what you own stays current instead of drifting. Then RunBlu builds that availability into the purchasing process itself — an in-stock check that happens before a PO can be written, not a report someone reads afterward.
$1.2M+
Average eroding inventory for a $30M electrical contractor — street lighting, signals, and surplus that sits unused because nobody knows it's there.
$400K–$700K
Projected working capital recovery for our founding partner, a BC electrical contractor, over the first year of deployment.
40–60%
Capital recovery potential in year one when in-stock buying is enforced before new procurement — margin protection at the point of purchase.
How It Works
RunBlu creates operational rigidity around material flow. Every item that enters your yard is identified, indexed, and made available for reuse — before purchasing ever opens a vendor catalogue.
Every material delivery is captured at the tailgate — quantities, conditions, photos. Returns from job sites are logged the same way. Nothing enters the yard without a record.
RunBlu's Stock Identifier ingests every item — vendor part numbers, descriptions, and specifications — and normalizes them into one consistent catalog. The result is a living index of what you actually own, current as of the last delivery rather than the last stock count.
When a job needs material, RunBlu checks your existing inventory first and puts the result in front of the buyer. In-stock availability is enforced as a step in the purchasing process — a new PO can't be raised without it.
The Financial Case
Millions in usable inventory is sitting in your yard right now, invisible to purchasing. RunBlu unlocks that capital by making it visible at the one moment it matters — when someone is about to buy it again.
Recover what you already own.
Every unnecessary PO is margin walking out the door. By enforcing in-stock buying at the point of purchase — not after the fact — RunBlu protects project margins before they erode.
Stop the bleed at the source.
No more tribal knowledge about what's in the yard. No more “I think we have some.” RunBlu creates an enforceable material process — receiving, indexing, allocation, procurement — that doesn't depend on who's working that day.
Process that outlasts people.
Buying Blind (The Status Quo)
Purchasing has no current view of the yard — so it buys new by default
Street lighting and signals inventory depreciates in the yard because it doesn't match the spec sheet SKU
New POs issued for material you already own — margin erodes on every project
Yard becomes a graveyard of "eroding assets" that never get reused
CFO sees growing inventory value on the books but zero capital recovery
Enforced In-Stock Check (RunBlu)
Every item captured at receipt — the yard index stays current without a stock count
What you already own is surfaced at $0 before any new purchase is priced
In-stock buying enforced before new procurement — margin protected at point of purchase
Dead inventory converted to active capital — eroding assets become recovered revenue
Full audit trail: what was reused, what was purchased, and why — CFO gets clean reporting
Street lighting, signals, wire reels by footage, conduit by stick count. Every item indexed at receipt — so your yard stock gets checked before new POs get written.
Ductwork, pipe, fittings, and equipment from fab shop to rooftop. Custom fabrications tracked from shop drawing to installation.
Copper, PVC, cast iron — pipe, valves, fixtures, and rough-in kits. High volume, repetitive materials where over-ordering compounds fast.
One dashboard, every trade. See every subcontractor's material flow on the project without chasing spreadsheets.
A material control layer is a system that sits between procurement, field operations, and financial systems to provide real-time visibility into material state across the full lifecycle — from purchase order to installation to reconciliation. Unlike ERPs or inventory apps, it tracks the physical material itself, not just the transaction.
ERPs track dollars and transactions. Inventory apps track what's on a shelf. RunBlu tracks the material itself through six enforced states: Ordered, Received, Stored, Allocated, Installed, and Reconciled. Every state change is an immutable event. When RunBlu says you have 200 feet of conduit in Bay 4, it means someone put it there, nobody has moved it, and it's not allocated to another job.
RunBlu is built for specialty trade contractors including electrical, mechanical/HVAC, plumbing, fire protection, and civil contractors, as well as general contractors who need visibility across all subcontractor material flows. It's designed for contractors in the $5M to $50M revenue range.
RunBlu is implemented in four sprints over 17 to 24 weeks: Foundation, Receiving, Allocation, and Readiness. We configure the system around your workflows, train your people, and go live together. It's not a plug-and-play app — it's a controlled rollout designed around how your team actually works.
Contractors typically recover $400K to $700K in working capital in year one through reduced over-purchasing, waste elimination, and improved reconciliation. The average contractor over-purchases 10-20% of material due to unreliable inventory data. Eliminating that alone often delivers 13x+ ROI.
Yes. RunBlu is the material control layer — Procore is the project management layer. They're complementary systems. RunBlu integrates with Procore as well as accounting systems like QuickBooks and Sage.
We'll analyze your current inventory, identify eroding assets, and show you exactly what's recoverable. No slides. No pitch deck. Just the numbers — and a clear path to margin protection.