Projects and starting a job
Every job you have, from the ones you are still quoting to the ones you are closing out, on one list. The strip across the top counts what is in delivery, the contract value across active jobs, how many are quoting and how many need attention. Each row shows the client, the contract sum, the stage and a health dot. The health dot rolls up programme slippage, unowned work and trades at risk; it is a prompt to look, not a score, and only jobs in delivery get one.
This is also where a job starts. New Estimate in the nav opens the assistant on a fresh thread so you can describe the job or drop a plan set and have the estimate built for you; New project opens the form for setting one up by hand. Estimators, project managers and owners use this page; the person doing the books usually goes straight to Money.
- A job needs a client company from Contacts. The form lets you add one as you go, so you do not have to leave.
- A project number that is already in use is refused. Base suggests the next one.
- To mark a job won while creating it, the contract must already be signed or agreed; see The estimate for what the win does.
- Press New Estimate in the nav, or Start a project in chat on an empty list. The chat opens on a new thread and asks you to describe the job or drop a plan PDF.
- Tell it the type, the location and a rough size, or attach the drawings. Add anything you know about how you price ("client supplies the joinery").
- The assistant creates the project and builds the estimate from the plans, one trade section at a time. Every line lands pending for you to review on the estimate.
- Press New project. The form has seven pages; only the first is required.
- On Project, pick the kind of job (shopfit, commercial build, residential build, single trade, or something else), give it a number and a name, pick or add the client, and type the site address. The address decides which building and payment-claim rules apply. Say where the job is up to: still quoting, on hold, or already won.
- Scope fills in the sector, type of work, your role and trades from the kind you chose, then asks the questions that kind of job needs. Terms takes the price route, contract sum, deposit, retention, dates and how you claim. Every figure is ex GST; leave the contract sum blank until it is priced and the estimate fills it.
- Xero offers to add the job to Xero's job tracking now, link it to an existing option, or leave it until the first claim or bill. When Xero is not connected the page says so and nothing is set up there.
- Team picks the delivery team and its head PM, estimator and site supervisor. Documents takes the drawings, specs and photos, typed and foldered.
- Review lists everything Base is about to set up. Press Create project (or Ctrl+Enter).
- Each step reports as it runs. The project itself is the only step that can fail the whole thing; a photo that did not upload is a line to retry, never a reason to roll the job back. The draft form is kept in your browser, so closing it by accident loses nothing.
- Type in Search projects or press a stage pill (quoting, awarded, in progress, completed, on hold). Archived jobs appear only when you search for them or pick the archived view.
- Sort by project, client, contract, status, health or updated. Pressing Needs attention on the strip filters to the jobs at risk, worst first.
- Open the row's actions menu.
- Edit changes the number, name, status, site, client company, contract sum and dates.
- Duplicate copies the job as a new quote: job details, estimate lines and section margins. Nothing from delivery comes across.
- Archive hides the job from every live surface (tasks, timeline, automations) without deleting anything. Restore brings it back on hold.
- Delete removes the job and everything in it: estimate, programme, tasks, documents, claims. It asks first and cannot be undone. If you might ever need it again, archive instead.
- A new job is created at Quoting (or On hold if you said so). Choosing "won" on the form creates the job and then marks it won through the same path the project page uses, so the win date, the estimate lock and the budget seed happen exactly as they would later.
- A job's health is recomputed from its programme and roster; the dot on the list is the same one the dashboard shows.
- When Xero is connected and you chose to add the job, it becomes an option under your jobs tracking category so bills coded to it in Xero land on the right job here.
- Marking a lead won in the CRM does not create a project. That is a separate, deliberate step from the lead, so a job is never half-created by a status change. See CRM.
- A job with no estimate has nothing to build a budget from, so it shows no margin anywhere until it has one.
- Archiving is not deleting. The job and its history stay; it stops being watched.
- The contract sum on the form is a figure you type. On a won job the contract sum comes from the accepted quote and the estimate, so leave it blank while quoting.
- The estimate — what the assistant builds from the plans
- CRM — where enquiries live before they are jobs
- Contacts — the client companies the form picks from