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Price requests (RFQs)

Ask vendors for prices, compare their quotes and apply the winner.

Where Finance → Price requests (RFQs), or a project's Order → Price requests (RFQs) tab

Check specifications on Specify and choose Request quote….
Pick the vendor from Vendors and contacts (or type an email). The request opens with its email ready.
Preview and send… shows it before it goes: the items with their size, never another maker's name or model.

The vendor gets a vendor link: a page of their own, no sign-in, where they type a unit price, lead time and note against each item, send a quote or cut sheet against any of them, and press Send prices.

The answers land on the RFQ and you are told, with any price changed since their last answer said as was → now. The vendor's notes show in full under each line, and a quote they sent is listed against its item.

Comparing and applying quotes

Under Finance → Price requests (RFQs) (or a project's own, on its Order → Price requests (RFQs) tab), open the RFQ and type what came back — unit price, lead time, a note. Each line shows what other vendors quoted for the same item (Also quoted: …), so two quotes are compared side by side.

A price request page with quoted prices per line — A price request: each vendor's answer line by line, with what others quoted for the same item.

Apply writes the prices onto the specifications as unit cost, with the vendor as supplier and the quoted lead time, logged on each item — the lines you check, or all of them with none checked.

Apply the lines not yet awarded takes only those no other quote holds, so one vendor wins the King pieces and another the Queen.
A request sent to an address alone gets a vendor card when applied, so the supplier reads as a company.
Apply asks first if another quote was already applied to them, and it is for people who may see cost and margin.
The sell price follows the new cost by the item's markup (for a price typed by hand, the markup that price had over the old cost), and any item that would now sell below the quoted cost is named.

See also Markup and cost · Purchase orders

Price requests on a project

What this project has asked vendors to price, and what came back.

Where A project → Order → Price requests (RFQs); firm-wide: Finance → Price requests (RFQs)

Order → Price requests (RFQs) lists what this project has asked vendors to price, and what came back. The tab says how many are waiting and how many have been answered.

To ask for prices

On the specification list, check the items to be priced.
Choose Request quote… in the bar that appears.
Follow the answers here, or on the firm-wide list, Finance → Price requests (RFQs).

The vendor answers at a link of their own, with no sign-in — see Vendors at their links.

The price requests tab of a project, listing requests and their answers — A project's price requests: how many are waiting, and how many have come back.

Purchase orders

Raising orders, sending them to the vendor, and changing them after.

Watch the video · 1:14Purchase orders and tracking

Where Finance → Purchase orders, or a project's Order tab

Raising an order

On the project's Order tab choose Raise purchase order — or check items on Specify and use Raise purchase order… on its bar, which opens it with the checked items.
Narrow by area as well as by text, and check the items going to one vendor.
Each line copies the specification as it reads at that moment; later edits never rewrite what was ordered (see Raising from items).

An item with no cost goes on an order with its cost left blank — never the client's price — and the order says how many lines still need one; the paper says to confirm against them.

The raise purchase order picker — Raise purchase order: the items for one vendor, narrowed by area, each with what is already ordered.

Sending orders

Send orders not sent yet… on the project's purchase orders lists every order still to go, checked, each with the address beside it and the first one's email shown, and sends them together. A ship-to set on the project later reaches the drafts that have none.

The purchase orders list of a project — A project's purchase orders, with Send orders not sent yet… and the exports.

Send to vendor, on a purchase order, emails it with the order's total, the vendor's link and a line saying to reply with questions. A warning shows first if the order has no ship-to.

Download PDF

Download PDF on a purchase order gives the order as a document: the firm's letterhead and color, the vendor and ship-to, the terms, and every line with its maker, model, finish and size beneath it.

It carries the cost, never the sell price, because it is the vendor's copy. The vendor gets the same PDF at their own link, without signing in.

A purchase order page — A purchase order: its lines at cost, charges, bills, the approval chain and Send to vendor.

At the vendor's link

They acknowledge it with their name and expected ship date. The order and its expediting lines move to Acknowledged, and you are told.
They send shop drawings or cut sheets against the lines, which wait for your approval under Vendor documents on each item.
Beside Acknowledge, they can send A question or a problem without acknowledging; the order stays as it is and you are told.
Once acknowledged, or when you have asked for an update, they give ship dates and tracking line by line. A promised date later than the order's ship-by is said in the alert.

The vendor's page carries the firm's address and who sent the order, with their email.

Changing an order

The lines of a purchase order stay editable after it is issued: quantity, unit cost, description, note; add a line from a specification or typed in; remove a line. Every change is logged, and once the order has been issued the changes gather into a banner:

Issue revision … and send shows the change notice first (the changes with dates in words, the order's new total, who to ask), numbers them, keeps the list on the order and emails it.
Issue revision … without emailing does the rest without the email.
An acknowledged order goes back to Issued until the vendor acknowledges the revision.

Canceling and moving back

A canceled order tells the vendor not to ship, shows the reason you gave, and asks for nothing more.

When the vendor has the order (emailed, issued with its link, or acknowledged), canceling it, or putting it back on, brings up Tell the vendor… on the order with the email to preview and send, or I told them myself. Back on, the vendor is asked to acknowledge it again. A failed email can be sent again at once.

Moving an order back a step (to Draft, say) or to Closed asks first, as canceling does.

Vendor bills

Recording what vendors bill on each order, paying it, and using their credits.

Where A purchase order → Record a bill; all of them under Finance → Vendor bills

On a purchase order, Record a bill as the vendor sends them: deposit, progress bill, balance or credit.
Give the vendor's number, dates and anything already paid (and the day it was paid — the bill's own date unless you say).
Fill in Of which VAT/tax when you reclaim the tax the vendor charged: cost and margin then count the bill less it, and the bills file puts it on a line of its own.
Record payment as checks and ACH go out.

Vendor credits

A vendor's credit is used up with Apply to a bill on the credit: pick one of the order's open bills and the amount, and the bill and the credit both close by as much, without money moving. A credit the vendor paid back instead is Record refund.

The list

Finance → Vendor bills lists them, each in its order's currency, with what is owed totaled per currency. Aging shows payables by vendor, less the vendor's open credits.

Budget and margin shows vendor bills, what is owed, and the actual margin (invoiced less vendor bills).

The vendor bills list — Finance → Vendor bills: every bill in its order's currency, with what is owed.

See also QuickBooks and Xero · Month-end

Vendors at their links

A vendor never signs in: each email carries a link to one record.

Watch the video · 1:14Purchase orders and tracking

A vendor never signs in. Each email carries a link to one record, and the page there shows that record only. It never shows the firm's sell prices, another maker's name or model (unless it is the vendor's own), or the client's details beyond the ship-to.

A purchase order

The vendor sees the order at cost, with the firm's address, ship-to and terms.

Acknowledge this order takes their name, an expected ship date and a note.
A question or a problem — a wrong quantity, a date they cannot make — reaches the firm without acknowledging, and the order stays as it is.
Once acknowledged, or when the firm has asked for an update (see Expediting), Ship dates and tracking takes a date and tracking per line. Only the lines they fill in move.
A canceled order says Do not ship with the reason. One put back on asks them to acknowledge it again.

A price request

Each item comes with its quantity. They give a price, a lead time and a note per line, Send a document… (a quote or cut sheet) and Send prices. They can come back to change them until the firm closes the request; the firm sees what changed, was → now (see Price requests on a project).

An issue set, a transmittal, a price list

An issue set: the spec book as issued, with the addendum of what changed since the last set. A set printed with prices goes only to people on the portal who may see prices.
A transmittal: the cover sheet and its documents, and Acknowledge receipt.
A price list: see Vendor price lists.

Which makers a source sells

A contact card can say which makers a source sells and which sources sell a maker (Sources and Manufacturers in the project-first layout). On a card under Vendors and contacts, Makers and vendors (the tabbed layout: Manufacturers and Vendors; the project-first layout: Manufacturers / Sources) lists Makers they sell and Vendors who sell them, each a link to that card.

Open the company's card under Vendors and contacts (you need to be able to edit contacts).
Under Makers and vendors, type the other company's name and pick it from the list.
Press Add. × takes one off again (it asks first).

An item whose maker has sources shows them under its source details (Vendors who sell them), so you can see who to buy from. Both companies need a card; a card cannot carry itself, and a pair is listed once.

Expediting

Where every ordered item is, from Ordered to Installed, and what is late.

Watch the video · 1:14Purchase orders and tracking

Where A project → Order → Expediting

The project's Order tab holds Price requests (RFQs), purchase orders, Expediting, Receiving and Installation.

Once an item is on a purchase order it appears under Order → Expediting: where it is, expected ship and delivery dates, the actual dates, carrier, tracking and notes. The stages run Ordered → Acknowledged → In production → Shipped → Delivered → Received → Installed.

The expediting table of a project with stages, dates and a late row — Expediting: each ordered item's stage, dates and tracking, late rows in red and coming-up rows in amber.

Moving items along

Change the stage in the row. Moving to Shipped, Delivered, Received or Installed stamps today's date if none is set.
Dates & tracking opens the rest of the row's details.
To move several: check rows, choose a stage in Move the checked items to above the list and press Move. Dates are stamped where empty.
A tracking number counts as shipped only once its ship date has come.

Late and coming up

Late means past the expected ship date and not shipped, or past the expected delivery and not delivered. The tab shows the late count, and the specification page shows where the item is.

A late row is red, with shipping 2 days late or arrival 2 days late under it.
One coming up is amber with a small triangle and ships tomorrow or arrives Sun, so the color is never the only sign.
The heading counts both (18 ordered items · 1 late · 2 coming up).

Filter by Late, Coming up (due to ship or arrive within three days and not there yet; shown only when there is something in it), Not acknowledged, In transit, Delivered, Installed or Documents pending, or by area.

Asking the vendor

A late row has Ask for an update…, which writes to the vendor (you see the email first) and asks for a date and tracking line by line. The row then says when the vendor was last asked, and a second ask within the day is asked about first.

Receiving and claims

Booking goods in, line by line or a whole truck at once, and chasing what came damaged or short.

Watch the video · 1:14Purchase orders and tracking

Where A project → Order → Receiving; firm-wide: Projects → Receiving

The Receiving tab (beside Expediting) is where goods are booked in.

The arrivals on a project's Receiving tab, one with a closed claim — A project's arrivals: what came, in what condition and where it was put, with a damaged frame's claim settled.

A whole truck at once

Press Receive a whole order.
Choose the order. Each line shows what is still to come, with its condition.
Set one date and one place for them all, and save.

One line at a time

Or log an arrival against one purchase-order line. The lines are grouped by order; a line's receive link fills in what is still to come. Record:

how many came, and the date;
the condition: good, damaged, short, wrong item;
where you put them: warehouse, bay, shelf, the site;
photos from your phone.

The line's received count and the item's expediting stage follow on their own: part in → Delivered, all in → Received. More than was ordered is asked about before it is saved. A short delivery says how many are still missing.

Photos and papers

An arrival takes up to ten photos or papers: pictures (JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF, HEIC, TIFF or AVIF) or documents such as a signed delivery note (PDF, Word, Excel, text, DWG, DXF, ZIP). A file of another kind, or one whose contents are not what its name says, is turned away with the kinds named — and the arrival is still booked.

Claims

Anything not in good order opens a claim and alerts the project's managers and the portal's accountants, who chase the credit. Follow it on the arrival — filed, credited, replacement coming, kept as they are, closed — with the vendor's or carrier's reference.

The lists

The tab lists every open claim and the latest 100 arrivals, newest first; a long job's whole log is one click away under Show all.

Projects → Receiving lists every open claim across your projects, then the latest arrivals that are not already up there as claims. An arrival is in good order unless it says otherwise.

The firm-wide receiving page listing claims and arrivals — Receiving across your projects: open claims first, then the latest arrivals.

Pick lists

What to pull from the warehouse for one delivery.

Where Built on a project; firm-wide: Projects → Pick lists

A pick list is what to pull from the warehouse for one delivery, and it is built on its project, two ways:

In Specify, check the items and choose Build pick list… in the bar, with where it goes and for when.
On Order → Receiving, under Build a pick list from what has arrived, check what goes out together or take a whole area. Each line is to ship what was received.

Either opens the new list on its own page.

Working a list

Type what was pulled per line (or All). Each line shows where the item was last put. The first pick moves a draft to Picking.
Mark it Picked when every line is complete.
Mark it Shipped when it leaves (or Cancel list).

Print / PDF gives the warehouse a sheet. Marking a list shipped clears those places, so the warehouse view shows only what is still there.

A pick list page with lines to pull and their warehouse places — A pick list: what to pull per line, where each item was put, and its status.

Every pick list

Projects → Pick lists is the firm-wide table: reference, project, scheduled date, what is picked of what is to ship (with the line count), and the status. Its New pick list says where to start and lists your live projects with both ways in.

Pick lists show on the Calendar on their day.

The firm-wide pick lists table — Every pick list across the firm, with its date, progress and status.

Installation schedule

The plan of site visits, with each item's readiness.

Where A project → Order → Installation

Order → Installation is the plan of site visits. Each visit has a date (or a span), the area, what goes in, who installs, notes on access and protection, and the items on that visit.

Each item carries a dot for readiness — received, delivered but not booked in, shipped, not shipped — taken from Expediting and Receiving. So a visit whose items have not arrived shows before anyone drives out.

The installation tab with planned site visits and item readiness — The installation schedule: site visits with each item's readiness dot.

Planning visits

Add a site visit plans one.
Received, not yet scheduled lists what is sitting in the warehouse with no visit; Schedule it in one click.
Typing All areas in a visit's Area keeps every item on offer.
Visits appear on the calendar as Installation.

After the visit

Mark done on a visit asks which items went in and stamps those Installed. The ones left unchecked are named on the visit, and the project's managers get an alert saying what went in and what is left. A visit dated after today asks before it is marked done.

Reopen puts the items it stamped back where they were and takes its Not installed line away.

Who else sees it

Who	What they get
Clients	The plan, read-only, on their project once a visit exists — and still after the last one is done.
An installer signed in as a contractor	The plan too, and they can mark a visit done (and nothing else).

Site visits and punch lists

Walking the site with a phone: photos, what is wrong pinned on a plan or photo, assigned and dated, fixed with an after photo and verified; the punch list as a PDF.

Where A project → Order → Punch list

A site visit is a visit on the project's Installation schedule, worked from a phone. Start a site visit at the top of the project (or on the Installation tab) makes today's visit and opens it; an existing visit opens from its on site link. What is found goes on the project's punch list, where it is tracked until it has been fixed and checked.

On the visit

Fill in the area or room and who is there; Notes for the visit save as you type.
Choose an Area and an Item for the next photos, then press Photo at the foot of the screen and take as many as you like, one after another. From the phone adds ones already taken.
Press Something to fix for each problem: what is wrong, a photo (take one, or pick one of the visit's), the area and item, how bad (Low, Medium, High), who fixes it and by when.
To show exactly where, choose On a plan (one of the project's layouts or PDF drawings, any page) or On the photo, and tap the spot: a numbered pin goes there. 2× and 3× enlarge the picture for a finger-sized aim.

The site visit page at phone width with its photos and the two buttons at the foot — A site visit on a phone: the area and who is there, notes, the photos, and Photo and Something to fix along the foot.

The punch list

Order → Punch list has every item by area, each with its number, status, who has it, when it is due, its photo, where it is on the plan, and the after photo once fixed. Filter by status (Not verified to start), by person and by area.

Status	Means
Open	Found; nobody has started on it.
In progress	Whoever has it is on it.
Fixed	They say it is done, usually with an after photo. The firm is told.
Verified	The firm has checked the fix. Only the firm verifies, and only an item marked fixed.

Edit changes anything on an item; Reopen sends a fixed or verified item back, and its assignee is told.
PDF prints the list as filtered, on your letterhead: the items by area with their photos as thumbnails and the plan cropped around each pin.
Email to assignees sends each person a PDF of their own open items only, with a link to them. Your firm's email settings apply as to everything else: paused email waits in the outbox, mail held for approval waits for it, and the example project never emails anyone.

A punch list item with its photo and its numbered pin on the lobby plan — An item opened: its photo, and where it is on the A-101 plan, the numbered pin dropped with a tap.

The person who fixes it

Items are assigned to the firm's people or to a contractor with access to the project. Whoever has one is told, and sees it on their phone with its photo and pin. A contractor sees only the items assigned to them (under Your punch list on the project, and on their Home); they press Start, then Mark fixed, take an after photo and add a word. The firm then verifies it.

Who sees it

Who	What they get
Those who update expediting (designers, managers, owners)	Start visits, add and assign items, verify, reopen, print and email the list.
Accountants and viewers	The list, read-only.
A contractor	Only what is assigned to them, on projects they are on; they mark it fixed with an after photo.
The client	Nothing, unless the firm turns on Show to the client on the punch list; then the list, read-only.

The whole of it sits under the Installation module (Settings → Work → Modules).

Purchasing