---
title: How To Create, Edit, And Manage Material Orders
description: Create and manage material orders in Exterio. Build from sold estimates, adjust quantities, split orders across suppliers, and assign items to your warehouse.
---
[Skip to content](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to-create-edit-and-manage-material-orders#main-content)
English
Show submenu for translations
Open main navigation
Close main navigation
- English
Show submenu for translations
- Contact us
Contact us
How can we help you?
- There are no suggestions because the search field is empty.
1. [Exterio Help Center](https://www.getexterio.com/help?hsLang=en)
2. [How To](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en)
3. [Material Orders](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#material-orders)
# How To Create, Edit, And Manage Material Orders
## Your materials list builds itself from the estimates you’ve sold. From there you adjust quantities, add what the estimate missed, split items across suppliers, and send orders — with everything flowing into expected material costs on the project’s financials.
### When would I use this?
- Ordering materials after a project is won
- Splitting a multi-service job between different suppliers
- Pulling stocked items from your own warehouse instead of ordering them
- Correcting quantities before the truck rolls
### Before you start
**The materials list comes from sold estimates.** If nothing appears on the Materials tab, check that your estimate is marked as sold — either from a signed proposal or marked manually. See *How to Manually Mark an Estimate as Sold*.
### Where is the materials list?
Open the project and click the **Materials** tab. Every material from your sold estimates is pre-populated there.
### Can I see materials by estimate?
Yes. Segment the list to view materials from a single estimate.
If a project sold two estimates — a shingle package and a gutter package, for example — you can view each separately. This is how you send different service types to different suppliers on a multi-service job.
### How do I add an item from my catalog?
For anything the estimate didn’t include:
1. Assign the material to an **estimate**.
2. Search your **product catalog** and add the item.
3. Enter the **quantity**.
### How do I add a custom product?
For an item you can order from your supplier but don’t have in your catalog:
1. Select the **estimate** to link it to.
2. Enter the **item name**.
3. Enter the **quantity** and an optional **price point**.
### How do I adjust quantities?
Change the quantity on any product in the list and save your changes. Do this before ordering.
### How do I create a supplier order?
1. Confirm any required **variants** are selected on your products.
2. **Select the items** you want to order — all of them, or some.
3. Choose your **supplier**.
4. Click **Assign and Create Order**.
**You don’t have to order everything from one supplier.** If you keep underlayment and fasteners in your warehouse, leave them unselected and order the rest.
### What’s in the order review step?
| Option | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Include prices** | Show or hide pricing — hide it when bidding the same list to several suppliers |
| **Requested delivery date** | When you want it |
| **Requested delivery time** | What time of day |
| **Delivery instructions** | Site-specific directions, such as “leave on northeast corner of driveway” |
**Preview the PDF** to see exactly what your supplier receives: a PDF branded in your company’s colors with job site information, the products you’re purchasing, and your delivery instructions.
Suppliers connected directly by API have a slightly different ordering experience, covered separately.
### How do I send the order?
**Save as draft** to come back later — drafts appear in the supplier order section as a draft summary.
**Send** when ready. The email is pre-filled from your email template settings and addressed to the supplier rep from your supplier settings. Add CC or BCC recipients as needed.
Once sent, the order is marked **Order Sent**.
If you placed the order offline — by phone or in person — use **Mark as Sent** so your records stay accurate.
### What can I do after an order is sent?
| Action | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| **Resend the email** | Sends the order again — for a delivery issue, or if the rep didn’t see it |
| **Edit the order** | Adjust quantities and resend to the supplier |
| **Cancel the order** | Updates your internal records and releases the items back to your materials list |
**Sent items are locked.** Anything already ordered appears grayed out and uneditable in your materials list, so you can see at a glance what’s still outstanding. Cancelling the order makes those items selectable again.
### Does cancelling an order notify my supplier?
**No.** On a manual material order, cancelling only updates your records inside Exterio. **Nothing is sent to the supplier.**
You still need to contact them directly — by phone or email — to cancel the actual order. Until you do, they’re expecting to fill and deliver it.
### How do I assign materials to my own warehouse?
1. Select the items being picked up from your warehouse.
2. Choose your internal supplier — named whatever you’ve called it, such as “Company Warehouse.”
3. Assign and create the order.
The internal order is saved for records and review before pickup. You can also send it to a team member if you want a record delivered.
### Where do material costs appear?
All material orders appear in **expected material costs** on the project’s **Financials** tab.
### Tips and gotchas
- **Call the supplier when you cancel.** This is the one that costs real money. Cancelling in Exterio is a bookkeeping action — the supplier never hears about it. Make the call first, then cancel in the system so your records match reality.
- **Segment by estimate on multi-service jobs.** A roofing and gutter job rarely goes to one supplier. Viewing materials by estimate is what keeps the shingle order and the gutter order from becoming one confusing list.
- **Select variants before you order.** Required variants have to be set first. This is also your last chance to catch a color the homeowner changed their mind about — a supplier won’t catch it for you.
- **Preview the PDF every time.** It takes seconds and it’s the actual document your supplier works from. A wrong quantity or a missing delivery instruction costs you a return trip.
- **Write real delivery instructions.** “Northeast corner of the driveway,” gate codes, dogs on site, low branches at the entrance. The driver isn’t your crew and won’t call to ask.
- **Order from your warehouse through the system, not around it.** Assigning stocked items to an internal supplier keeps them on the job’s cost record. Pulling material off the shelf without recording it is how job costing drifts away from reality.
- **Edit and resend rather than creating a second order.** If quantities change before delivery, editing the existing order keeps one clean record. Two overlapping orders to the same supplier is how you end up with twice the material.
- **Check the materials list against the field before ordering.** The estimate is your best pre-job calculation. If someone’s been on the roof since, fix the quantity now — it’s cheaper than a second delivery.
- [How To](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#main-content)
- [Contacts](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#contacts)
- [Tasks](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#tasks)
- [Communication](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#communication)
- [Projects](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#projects)
- [Photos and Documentation](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#photos-and-documentation)
- [Estimates](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#estimates)
- [Inspection Reports](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#inspection-reports)
- [Workflows](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#workflows)
- [Customer Portal](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#customer-portal)
- [Proposals](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#proposals)
- [Calendar](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#calendar)
- [Change Orders](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#change-orders)
- [Material Orders](https://www.getexterio.com/help/how-to?hsLang=en#material-orders)
- [Overview](https://www.getexterio.com/help/overview?hsLang=en)
[](https://www.getexterio.com?hsLang=en)
[mailto:email@email.com](mailto:email@email.com)
Copyright © 2026, Exterio