Stock Keeping Unit (SKU)
Definition
A stock keeping unit, or SKU, is a unique identifier assigned to every distinct part, product, or service in an inventory system.
What Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) Means for Your Business
What it means
Every part on the truck, every item in the warehouse, and every service in the price book has its own SKU. The SKU is the key that ties together cost, price, quantity on hand, and sales history.
Why it matters
Without SKUs, inventory is guesswork. With SKUs, you know what is on every truck, what is selling, what is sitting, and what to reorder. SKUs are the backbone of truck stock management, price book accuracy, and job costing.
How contractors use it
Shops assign SKUs to every inventory item and service, load them into the field service platform, and use barcodes or QR codes to speed field checkouts and auto-decrement inventory as jobs are completed.
Real-World Example
A plumbing company set up 1,800 SKUs in their system. Automated reordering cut emergency supply runs by 70% and freed 240 billable hours per month worth roughly $30,000.
Related Terms
Truck Stock
Truck stock is the inventory of parts, tools, and materials a technician carries on their service vehicle to complete common jobs without a supply house trip.
Parts Markup
Parts markup is the percentage added to the wholesale cost of a part to set the retail price the customer pays.
Price Book
A price book is a standardized catalog of labor and material tasks with pre-set flat rate prices that technicians use in the field.
Field Service Management
Field service management, or FSM, is the software category that coordinates dispatching, scheduling, invoicing, and mobile work orders for technicians in the field.
Job Folder
A job folder is a digital or physical collection of every document related to a single job, including quotes, photos, invoices, signatures, and notes.
Put This Into Practice with Free Software
Kaldr Tech handles stock keeping unit (sku) and everything else you need to run your shop. $0/month, 3.5% + 30¢ per transaction.