Projects, teams & contacts
What this covers
Section titled “What this covers”Before anything can be estimated, scheduled, or billed, a project has to exist, have people attached to it, and share a vocabulary with every other project in the business.
This area is that setup — the project record, the team on it, the contact directory behind it, and the cost code library everything else refers to.
Creating the project and assigning the team
Section titled “Creating the project and assigning the team”A project is created with its scope and its client, and people are assigned to it by role. Assignment is what determines who works the project and who appears on it in the records the client sees.
The roles are:
| Role | What they do |
|---|---|
| Project Planner | Plans and coordinates the project |
| Design Manager | Owns the design process through its phases |
| Site Manager | Runs the work on site |
| Interior Designer | Produces the design |
| Client | The homeowner |
| Vendor | A supplier or trade responding to purchase orders |
Some screens call the client the owner. It’s the same role, and it comes from construction convention, where the party paying for the work is the owner of the building.
The cost code library
Section titled “The cost code library”A cost code is the classification that separates framing from plumbing from tile. It’s shared across the whole business, not created per project, and that’s the point: a quote line, a budget line, a purchase order, and an hour of labor can all carry the same code, so what was priced and what was spent are directly comparable.
It’s what makes “are we over on tile?” a question with an answer.
Because the library is shared, projects can also be compared to each other. Estimating a kitchen is easier when the last four kitchens booked their costs under the same classification.
Contacts and companies
Section titled “Contacts and companies”Clients, vendors, trade partners, and everyone else on a project live in one directory of contacts and the companies they belong to. A contact is recorded once and attached wherever they’re needed — as the client on a project, the recipient of a purchase order, the person accountable for an answer.
Recording a person once means an updated phone number or address updates everywhere it appears.
What you see as a client
Section titled “What you see as a client”You’re a contact on your project before you’re a login. Getting access to the client portal is a deliberate step: your contact record is sent an invitation, and accepting it turns you into someone who can sign in and see your project.
Once you’re in, you see the team assigned to your project and the roles they hold, so you know who to ask about design and who to ask about the site.
Related
Section titled “Related”- How a project works — the project structure these records set up
- What Story covers — every area, and how they connect
- Budgets and cost control — cost codes doing their main job
- Glossary — roles, cost codes, and terminology