The Second Counter field guide
Start with the job in front of you—not the name of a tool. These guides map the work behind a lumberyard counter, the systems that may hold each record, and the points where judgment still belongs to the yard.
How to use this library
A POS, ERP, quoting tool, customer portal, CRM, and workflow layer can all touch the same request without owning the same job. The useful starting point is to ask what record must stay correct, who may change it, and what should happen when the information is missing or stale.
This library is a working model, not an official industry standard. Every yard has its own roles, systems, account rules, and safety practices. We publish the boundaries we can support, and we ask operators to correct what does not match their counter.
Separate the source of record from the work around it. See where POS, ERP, quoting, CRM, ecommerce, takeoff, dispatch, and workflow tools fit—and which evaluation questions matter before adding another system.
Map the software landscapeA practical ladder from observing work to taking a bounded action. The guide defines the data, authority, review, fallback, and audit trail required at each step.
Review the control frameworkFollow a request through intake, triage, quote, approval, order, credit, picking, delivery, and exceptions—without pretending every yard uses the same org chart.
Walk the operating loopHelp improve the map
Bring one recent call, quote request, open quote, or fulfillment exception. We will ask what actually happened, where the record lived, and when a person had to step in.
Start a 20-minute operator conversation