Maverick buying in construction: definition and fixes
What maverick buying is, why it is so common on construction sites, what it costs, and how construction firms can measure and reduce their maverick buying rate.
Maverick buying is purchasing that bypasses agreed contracts: material is bought without a framework contract, from suppliers that are not approved, or outside the intended ordering and approval process. In construction firms it happens mostly on site, with a quick run to the DIY store or an order phoned in to the nearest merchant. The result is higher prices, lost rebates and invoices that cannot be matched to any order.
Definition: what is maverick buying?
The term comes from procurement controlling. Any purchase that circumvents one of these rules counts as maverick buying:
- Contract: a framework contract exists for the material, yet it is bought elsewhere or at different prices.
- Supplier: the purchase is made from a supplier that is not listed or approved.
- Process: there is no order, no approval, or the order is created after the fact.
Not every outlier is misconduct. Construction sites have genuine emergencies, and a sensible process allows them within limits. Maverick buying becomes a problem when it turns into a habit, when regularly needed material is routinely bought outside contracts.
Why maverick buying is so common on construction sites
Few industries offer as many opportunities for off-contract purchases as construction:
- Top-up purchases on site (Baustellen-Zukauf): 20 bags of mortar or a box of screws are missing. The foreman drives to the DIY store instead of waiting for the next delivery.
- Cash and company cards: small amounts are paid in cash or by card, and the receipt reaches accounting weeks later, or never.
- Urgent reorders: calling the nearest merchant is faster than ordering through the framework supplier.
- Unclear contracts: site management doesn't know which suppliers and prices have been agreed, or the contract doesn't cover the material needed.
- Cumbersome process: if an order through the office takes a day, the site takes the fast route.
The core problem: on site, what matters is that the crew can keep working. As long as the compliant route is slower than the direct one, people will buy around the contract.
What maverick buying costs
The costs arise in several places:
- Higher prices: DIY-store and list prices are often well above negotiated contract prices.
- Lost rebates and volume tiers: spend that bypasses the framework contract is missing from annual rebates and volume tiers.
- Process cost: documents without an order have to be assigned, queried and booked by hand, one by one.
- No control: without an order there is nothing to match against, so quantity and price errors go unnoticed.
- Weaker negotiating position: if you don't know your real demand, you negotiate the next contracts on poor data.
Example: costing it out for one firm
A calculation based on assumptions, not an industry statistic: a construction firm spends €2 million a year on materials. 8 % of it, €160,000, is bought outside contracts.
| Cost item | Assumption | Amount per year |
|---|---|---|
| Price premium over contract prices | 15 % on €160,000 | €24,000 |
| Lost annual rebate | 2 % on €160,000 | €3,200 |
| Manual processing | 600 documents × 15 min × €50/h | €7,500 |
| Total | €34,700 |
Plug in your own numbers: even with cautious assumptions, maverick buying costs a five-figure amount per year without standing out on any single invoice.
Measuring the maverick buying rate
The key metric is the maverick buying rate:
Maverick buying rate = spend outside contracts and approved orders ÷ total spend × 100
In the example: €160,000 ÷ €2,000,000 × 100 = 8 %. Depending on your data, you can also calculate the rate by number of line items instead of by value. What matters is to fix the definition once and then evaluate it consistently by site, product group and supplier. That shows where a framework contract is missing and where the process is stuck.
How to reduce maverick buying
- Put framework contracts where the demand is. The rate breakdown shows which product groups are regularly bought without a contract. A clean bid comparison (Preisspiegel) is the basis for the new contract.
- Make ordering from the contract easy. The site should be able to order contract items at agreed prices in a few clicks, from a phone too.
- Set approval limits. Clear amount limits per site, role or user: small emergency purchases are allowed, everything above needs approval.
- Regulate emergency purchases instead of banning them. A defined route for DIY-store purchases with a limit and a receipt requirement beats a rule nobody follows.
- Create transparency. Review the rate per site regularly with site management, factually rather than as blame.
How Streckenheld helps
In Streckenheld, orders go out from existing framework contracts and accepted quotes at agreed prices and pass approval limits by site, role or amount before they reach a supplier. The analytics dashboard shows the maverick buying rate, calculated as the share of order line items that are not linked to an item from a framework contract, and can be filtered by site, supplier and period. Document reconciliation flags line items that were never ordered.
Learn more on the purchase orders page and in the guides on order approval, analytics and AI procurement and contract checking.
Frequently asked questions
What is maverick spend?
Maverick spend is money spent outside agreed contracts, with suppliers that are not approved, or without the intended order and approval process. In German it is often called Einkauf am Vertrag vorbei or wilder Einkauf.
What is a normal maverick buying rate?
There is no universal target, because the rate depends heavily on how it is defined and how much spend is covered by contracts at all. More important than an industry benchmark is the trend in your own company per site and product group.
Is every DIY-store purchase maverick buying?
No. Small emergency purchases within defined rules, such as up to an amount limit and with a receipt, are a deliberately allowed process. It becomes a problem when regularly needed materials are routinely bought outside contracts.
Who is responsible for maverick buying?
Usually not the individual foreman but the process. If ordering through the contract is more cumbersome than calling the merchant down the road, people buy outside it; purchasing and site management have to make the right way the easiest one.
How is maverick buying related to invoice verification?
Purchases without an order cannot be matched because the reference document is missing. That is why they often only surface during invoice verification, when the material has already been installed.
Read next
Purchase order management for construction: order from contracts and accepted quotes at agreed prices, with approval limits, a site calendar and ERP sync.
Track expenses, orders, and supplier performance across every construction site. Spot overspend, supplier drift, and seasonal patterns before they hurt margin.
Place purchase orders directly with your suppliers, route them through approval, and track delivery status from a single dashboard.
What a bid comparison (Preisspiegel) is, how to build one for material tenders, normalise units, rate alternative bids and award on total cost, with an example.
Material spend under control, from the first site
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