Run a project

Projects covers multi-visit jobs that bill in stages instead of one lump invoice — a big install or retrofit broken into phases, each with milestones you bill as they're completed. Use it when a job is too large or too long to run through Jobs and one invoice alone. Billing a service agreement by percent complete is a different job: the agreement record's Schedule of values. See Understand agreement billing and renewal.

Set up a project

Create a project for the customer, then build it out in phases — the stages of the work (e.g. "Demo," "Rough-in," "Startup"). Each phase holds one or more milestones: a billable unit of work with its own amount. Give a phase a budget so you can see its cost against what it's allowed to spend.

Bill a milestone

Mark a milestone complete to bill it — this generates the milestone's invoice for that amount. A milestone can only be completed when it's eligible to bill (see Money topics below); the action is blocked otherwise.

If a milestone's invoice gets voided or deleted after the fact, Reopen milestone resets it to pending so you can edit, delete, or re-bill it — you don't have to work around a stuck completed state.

Track cost against billing

A project's detail page shows labor, materials, and purchase-order cost against the phases' milestone billing, so you can see whether a phase is tracking to plan before you complete its next milestone.

Under each phase's budget, Cost to complete is your estimate of what the phase still needs. Enter it and Save; the Job cost panel then shows Forecast final cost, Forecast variance, and Estimated total cost. It is for people who can manage invoices.

Answer questions with RFIs

When the customer or a general contractor asks a question the work depends on — "which unit does this conduit run to?" — log it as an RFI on the project instead of leaving it in an email thread. Add RFI takes the Subject and Question, an optional Proposed solution, a Due date, and Ball in court — the person who owes the answer. Tick Cost impact or Schedule impact when the answer affects either.

An RFI is open until it's answered, and closed when it's settled. Open ones past their due date are flagged Overdue, so the section shows at a glance what's holding the project up. Anyone who can open Projects can add, answer, close, and reopen them. The full control list is on Project record.

Crew

Crew on the project record is a read-only two-week view of the visits on this project's jobs, one row per technician, subcontractor, or Not yet assigned. Previous week and Next week move the window. A bar is a Scheduled visit or an Unconfirmed (hold). With nothing in the window it says "No visits in this window". Nothing on this section creates or moves a visit.

Punch list

Punch list records what is left to finish. Add punch item takes a Description, and optionally a Location, Phase, Equipment, Owner, and Due date. Mark ready for review and Close move an item along. Open and ready-for-review items block the closeout report. With none yet it says "No punch list items yet."

Submittals

Log what goes to the engineer or customer for approval under Submittals. Add submittal takes a Title, Spec section, and Due date, and starts as a draft. When the response comes back, Record review: pick the reviewer's response, type the Reviewer, and Save review. A submittal marked revise and resubmit offers Resubmit. Attach files adds drawings from the project's files.

Daily log

Daily log is one entry per date. Add daily log takes Crew count, Weather, Work performed, Delays, Safety notes, and photos from the project's files. Hours booked fills in from the approved and submitted time clocked that day. Saving a date again edits that day.

Project files

Files holds drawings, documents, and photos. Upload file takes the Kind, Sheet, Title, Revision, and a PDF, JPEG, or PNG; each row has Download. Drawings show Current or Superseded. Without file storage set up the button is hidden and the section says so.

Equipment on a project

Link equipment ties a unit at the customer's sites to the project as In scope (the work is on it) or Affected (its service is disrupted). Use the row menu to switch the role or Remove from project.

Warranty

Warranty lists warranty claims on the project's jobs, with status and the equipment involved. Open a row to work the claim. Claims are not created from this section.

Closeout report

Once the work is done, generate a closeout / commissioning report from the project record. It is a point-in-time record of what was done and signed for — phases, completed jobs, closed punch items, and any retained customer signatures.

A G702/G703-format pay application is a different file. After the project has a schedule of values and a counted progress bill, Schedule of values lists Pay application, Invoice, Owner certified, Not certified, and Documents. Download PDF is the link in the Documents column. Until someone records a certification, Owner certified reads Not recorded and Not certified reads None. On a sent, partly paid, or paid application, the invoice's progress section shows Owner certification. Record owner certification stores the amount the owner certified. The invoice total does not change. A lower certified amount is requested again on the next application. After a later application is sent, the earlier one can no longer change. The message names that later application: Application 2 has been issued, so this application's owner certification can no longer change. Change owner certification is the same form once an amount is on file.

Generate is offered only when every non-canceled phase is completed or canceled, the final phase is completed, every non-canceled job on those phases is completed or invoiced, and no punch item is still open or ready for review. The screen states the blocking reason otherwise. Outstanding punch is a count that is not closed yet, split into open and ready for review.

Each generate creates a new immutable version (closeout-report-vN.html). Earlier versions stay on file; the database rejects edits or deletes of a stored report. Regenerating does not rewrite v1. Nothing is emailed automatically — the customer can download the latest version from Documents in their portal, and office users can View any version from the project record.

Money topics

Completing a milestone bills exactly that milestone's amount — not the phase's or project's total. Set each milestone's amount to what that stage should invoice for.
A milestone can't be edited or deleted once it's completed and billed, only reopened first (which requires its invoice to be void or deleted).

Reference

Who can reach Projects — Owners and Office users. See Roles & permissions.