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Payment Hub for Building Materials, Lumber & Hardware

A self-service B2B payment portal for building-material dealers, lumberyards, and hardware distributors — integrated with Epicor Eagle, Epicor Prophet 21, Sage 100, and NetSuite.

Payment Hub for Building Materials, Lumber & Hardware: Overview

Clarity Payment Hub is a B2B self-service payment portal built for building-materials dealers, lumberyards, and hardware distributors. It gives contractor customers, builder accounts, and commercial buyers a branded online portal to view invoices, pay consolidated monthly statements, and manage saved payment methods — with every payment posting back automatically to your distribution ERP through Clarity Connect.

Building materials and hardware distribution sits at the intersection of wholesale distribution and contractor services. Contractors run tabs across dozens of invoices a month, pay consolidated on the 10th or 15th, and expect counter and online parity. Payment Hub handles all of it — high-frequency daily invoicing, consolidated monthly pay, compliant surcharging where state law allows, and automatic cash app.

Counter staff, AR managers, branch managers, and owners use Payment Hub. Contractors, builder accounts, and commercial customers use the portal to manage their account through the chaos of a busy build cycle.

The AR Problem in Building Materials, Lumber & Hardware

Building material and lumber distribution is a volume-heavy, contractor-driven business. A single builder might have 60 invoices open across a month from daily deliveries, then settle the entire month consolidated. Counter staff often takes card payments over the phone; AR teams apply consolidated payments against long lists of invoices by hand. Card interchange on contractor volume without Level II/III data is a quiet margin killer.

Dealers that modernize their AR experience typically win more wallet share from contractors, shorten collection cycles, and protect margin on card-paid volume. Those running manually usually pay more in interchange than necessary and lose AR hours to manual keying every day.

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High-Volume Contractor Invoicing

Daily delivery invoicing creates dozens of open invoices per contractor per month.

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Manual Consolidated Payment Cash App

Contractors settle monthly with a single payment against many invoices — manual application is slow.

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Phone-Card Intake at the Counter

Counter staff taking cards by phone is labor-heavy and PCI-risky.

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High Card Interchange Without Level II/III or Surcharging

Contractor card payments erode margin on tight-margin product categories.

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No Self-Service for Contractor Accounts

Contractors have no clean online place to see their account or pay at consolidation.

The cost of inaction. For a building-materials dealer at $50M revenue with 5 days of avoidable DSO, that is around $685K of working capital locked up. Add Level II/III or compliant surcharging on contractor card volume and reclaimed AR labor, and the cost of a manual AR process is real margin every month.

How Clarity Payment Hub Solves It

Payment Hub gives your contractor and builder accounts a branded portal where they see every open invoice from Epicor Eagle, Epicor Prophet 21, Sage 100, or NetSuite. They pay individual invoices or consolidated monthly statements; every payment posts back automatically as applied cash against the right invoices.

Where state law permits, compliant credit-card surcharging on contractor card volume preserves margin. Level II/III data applies where surcharging does not. ACH is promoted for large consolidated payments.

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Consolidated Statement Payment

Contractors pay the full monthly statement in one transaction; cash splits correctly across every invoice.

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Automatic Cash App

Payments post to Eagle, P21, Sage 100, or NetSuite as applied cash — no manual keying.

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Compliant Credit Card Surcharging

Where legally permitted, surcharging is configurable by state and card brand to protect margin.

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Level II/III Card Optimization

On non-surcharged volume, enhanced data passing unlocks the lowest B2B interchange.

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PCI-Compliant Wallet

Saved cards and ACH accounts are tokenized at the processor.

Clarity Payment Hub portal showing a contractor's open invoices at a building materials dealer with options to pay individually or consolidated
Open invoice view — contractors see every invoice across the month and pay individually or consolidated.
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Gateway- and ERP-flexible. Payment Hub integrates with Epicor Eagle, Epicor Prophet 21, Sage 100, and NetSuite through Clarity Connect. Compliant surcharging applies where state law permits; Level II/III data is passed on the remaining card volume. Keep your processor or negotiate contractor-appropriate rates.

Common Building Materials, Lumber & Hardware Scenarios

Here are a few representative situations we see across building materials and hardware dealers and how Clarity Payment Hub addresses each:

Regional lumberyard on Epicor Eagle

Situation:A multi-location lumberyard on Eagle serves 300+ contractor accounts with daily delivery and monthly consolidated pay. Counter staff takes cards by phone; cash app is manual.
Solution:Payment Hub deploys on Eagle with a branded contractor portal, consolidated monthly pay, and compliant surcharging where permitted.
Outcome:Phone-card intake drops sharply; cash app automates; card margin protected via surcharging; contractor satisfaction with billing climbs.

Building materials distributor on Epicor Prophet 21

Situation:A building materials distributor on P21 serves contractor and builder accounts. Card interchange sits at 3.0%+.
Solution:Payment Hub layers Level II/III data on P21 card volume and adds consolidated contractor pay with automatic cash app.
Outcome:Effective card cost drops meaningfully; DSO improves 6 days; AR team refocuses on credit and aging work.

Hardware distributor on Sage 100

Situation:A hardware and specialty distributor on Sage 100 wants to expand digital AR and reduce counter-side card handling.
Solution:Payment Hub adds a branded dealer portal for contractor accounts with online consolidated pay.
Outcome:Contractor digital payment volume grows; counter phone-card drops; AR cycle tightens.

Benefits for Building Materials, Lumber & Hardware Companies

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Shorter Contractor DSO

Self-service consolidated pay speeds up monthly settlement cycles.

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Compliant Surcharging Protects Margin

Where permitted, surcharging preserves card margin on tight-product categories.

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Lower Card Interchange Overall

Level II/III and surcharging together keep effective card cost low.

Automated Cash App

Monthly consolidated payments apply against dozens of invoices automatically.

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Reduced Counter Phone-Card Volume

Contractors pay in the portal instead of calling the counter.

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Better Contractor Experience

Modern self-service account view and pay flow that contractors expect.

5–10 days
typical contractor DSO improvement
0.5–1.0%
card interchange savings with Level II/III
48 hrs
deployment time
85%+
typical reduction in counter phone-card intake

Counter staff, AR managers, and branch managers reclaim hours every week. Owners and CFOs see contractor DSO tighten and card margin preserved. Contractors and builder accounts — the real customers — get a fast, modern, self-service way to manage and pay their account.

ERPs We Integrate With for Building Materials, Lumber & Hardware

Building-materials, lumber, and hardware distribution runs on a concentrated set of dealer-oriented ERPs. Payment Hub integrates with the dominant platforms through Clarity Connect.

Integration pattern: Building-materials and lumber distributors typically run one core ERP (Eagle, P21, Sage 100, or NetSuite) with a gateway relationship. Clarity Connect bridges the ERP and gateway; the portal handles consolidated monthly pay, compliant surcharging, and automatic cash application.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can contractors pay a consolidated monthly statement online?

Yes. Consolidated statement pay is a core workflow — contractors pay the full monthly statement in one transaction and cash splits correctly against every invoice.

Can we surcharge contractor card payments?

Yes, in states where surcharging is legally permitted and following card-brand rules. Payment Hub applies compliant surcharging with proper disclosure and defaults to no surcharge where not permitted.

Which ERPs does Payment Hub integrate with?

Epicor Eagle, Epicor Prophet 21, Sage 100, and NetSuite are all supported directly through Clarity Connect, each with a battlecard available.

Will counter phone-card intake drop?

Typically dramatically. Once contractors are on the portal, most card payment volume shifts there and phone-card intake falls sharply.

How long does deployment take?

Most building-materials deployments go live in 48 hours of ERP sandbox access.

Can we prioritize ACH over card?

Yes. You control which payment methods are offered and can default to ACH for large consolidated payments.

Related Industries

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