Managing materials can feel a lot like a game of chess, or — when things go really badly — Dungeons and Dragons. Fortunately, it is a game you can win if you plan ahead. Want to give it a try and learn some materials management tricks in the bargain? Grab a coffee from the lunch truck, find a flat place to put this page, rip the dice off the rear-view mirror, and have some risk-free fun at materials management. In our game, two perfect roles of six will get you to the house without a hitch. Otherwise, you’re going to run into problems. You’ll also run into a couple of ideas to make your real materials management a little smoother. The rules to the game are simple. Use one dice. When you land on a square with a number and an arrow, you must follow the direction of the arrow. Read what happened by going to the description on the left that corresponds to the number in the square. Then read the materials management tips below. The first one to the house wins. Just like real life.

1. The roofing, lumber, bathroom fixtures and drywall came at the same time. What were you thinking? Read H and stop playing the game. You’re gonna get killed in this business.

2. The lumber came, but a day early. Now it's in the way. Read A.

2.1 You called your framing contractor and he agreed to do some prebuilding. Consequently, he moved the pile.

3. It snowed. You forgot your tarp and didn't cover the pile. Now you have an ice-encrusted lump of wood that will take twice as long to use. The framers are not amused.

3.1 You read F and took the framers out for lunch. They like you so much now, they finish the framing a day early.

3.2 To add insult to injury, you had the tarp all along, but it was buried under a pile of tools behind the driver's seat. Take a walk around the block to cool off. Then clean up the van and read C.

3.3 It snowed again. But you thought it couldn't happen to you twice, so you didn't bother with the tarp after finding it the first time. Skip a turn. Read G.

7. Somehow you received 100 2 x 6s instead of 50, and you don't know if the mistake was in the estimate, order or delivery. More lumber to handle and no one to blame. Read B and C so it doesn't happen again.

9. Your happy customer (so far) arrives on site to discover that the tub and faucets are not what he ordered. You are just as sure that they are correct. Unfortunately, you have no way to tell because you don't have his signature on anything. Return the tub. Read D.

9.1 This must be your day. The customer admits you were right about the tub and faucets, before you get a chance to send them back.

9.2 This must be your worst day. The customer admits you were right, but only after you sent the tub and faucets back, paid a restocking charge and ordered what he thought he wanted.

9.3 You convince him to pay the restocking charge and an additional charge for your time to work out the mess. You must have already read E.

10. This time, the package is too late, and it will sit for a day or two before it gets used. Read A again. CC

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