Attic stock

Definition

The extra material a job requires the contractor to leave with the owner at closeout.

Why It Matters

Commercial specifications routinely require a percentage of the material to be handed over for future repairs, and it has to be from the same dye lot, which means it is bought with the original order and cannot be sourced later. It is a real cost in the estimate and a real risk outside it: material bought and never delivered sits in a warehouse, and material delivered and never billed is margin given away. Ask how attic stock is estimated and whether the warehouse is holding any, because a stack of orphaned dye lots is inventory that will never be sold.