SideQuest for building materials distributors on QuickBooks Online
Building materials POs read like a parts list off a blueprint. Lumber, fasteners, sheet goods, hardware, sometimes a special order with a 4-week lead time. Your yard team has to decode '20 pcs 2x6x12 #2 SPF KD-HT' fast enough to get the buyer back to the job site. SideQuest reads the inbound PO out of Gmail, parses the dimensional spec, matches against your QuickBooks catalog, and builds the draft. Your team prices and confirms instead of re-typing.
What changes for you
Dimensional specs parse correctly
The matcher reads nominal dimensions (2x4, 2x6, 4x8 sheet), length, grade (#2, #1, prime), species (SPF, doug-fir, southern yellow pine), drying (KD, KD-HT, green), and treatment (PT, ACQ). Lines that the matcher can't fully resolve get flagged with the missing field.
Special orders route to the right workflow
Lines that don't match an existing SKU get flagged. Your team can manually assign a special-order SKU or trigger a vendor RFQ. The draft pipeline does not auto-submit special orders to QuickBooks because the price is not yet known.
Delivery scheduling reads off the PO
Delivery dates and job-site addresses parse from the PO header. SideQuest writes them to the Estimate's ship-to and need-by fields. Your dispatcher sees the schedule populated correctly on the first save.
Why this fits
Catalog quirk: dimensional + grade + treatment encoded in description
A 2x6 stud SKU and a 2x6 PT joist SKU are different items with different unit prices. The matcher reads both dimension and treatment on each line, so 'PT 2x6' and 'KD 2x6' land on the right shelf SKU. Cross-references handle the customer-by-customer aliases (some buyers call PT 'green-treated', some call it 'ACQ-2').
Customer mix: GCs, framers, custom builders
GCs run job-by-job POs through procurement portals. Framers call in same-day delivery. Custom builders email a list with item images. SideQuest reads all three. The Customer Risk Gate checks the buyer's AR balance before drafting; GCs over their net-60 limit get flagged.
Weather and season swing volume
Spring and fall framing seasons multiply order volume 3-4x. SideQuest scales the order desk through the spike. Same staff, same hours, more drafts cleared per day because the matcher does the reading.
Start free for 30 days
The Solo tier covers up to 100 POs per month. Setup is install the connector, point it at your Gmail and your QuickBooks Online file, and let it parse your next inbound PO. No credit card to start.
Quick-start guide See pricingFAQ
Does SideQuest read POs that include sketches or job-site photos?
Yes. PDF and image attachments go through OCR with a structural-trust gate. Sketches with handwritten line items often need an operator review pass, but the line types and quantities are surfaced to the draft so the rep is editing not transcribing.
Can SideQuest handle line items that are special orders without a SKU?
Yes. Lines that don't match an existing SKU get flagged in the draft. Your rep can leave them as text descriptions, assign a generic special-order SKU, or split them off as a vendor RFQ. The clean-draft pipeline holds the draft until special orders are resolved.
Does the connector know about state-specific lumber grading conventions?
It matches whatever your QuickBooks catalog calls them. Most building materials distributors carry SPF in northern markets and doug-fir/southern yellow pine in southern markets. The cross-reference table handles regional aliases (the same grade has different names by region).