How to use Jobs
What a job is
A job is one confirmed piece of work for one customer. It holds the text conversation, every visit, the checklist your crew works through, and the invoices — so the whole story of that work sits in one place instead of in somebody’s head or somebody’s phone.
Jobs do not arrive on their own. A form submission, a phone call, or a booking always creates an appointment first — a visit you have agreed to, not work you have won. A job is what you create once that visit turns into work. A customer can only have one open job at a time, so the job is always the thing you are doing for them right now.
Step by step
- 1
Turn a visit into a job
Most jobs start on the appointments page. When a visit turns into work you have won, open it and click Convert to Job. Name the job, and the visit comes across as its first one — date, time and address already filled in, editable there and then. That appointment is not marked finished, because it is the first thing on the new job’s schedule. If the customer already has an open job, FieldStone points you at it rather than starting a second.Convert to JobScheduled - 2
Set your workflow up first
A workflow is the list of steps every job follows. Set it up once and each new job starts from a copy of it that you can adjust. Do this before anything else: creating a job by hand is blocked until a workflow exists — you get a “Set up your workflow first” panel instead of the form. Open the ⋯ menu at the top right of the Jobs page and choose Workflow. That menu also holds Invoicing and All invoices, and it only appears on a computer — set your workflow up there, then use it from anywhere.Open the Jobs page⋯WorkflowInvoicingAll invoicesAdd step - 3
Create a job by hand
Not every job comes from a visit. Click New job at the top right — or Create job in the middle of the page while you still have none. One thing that catches people out: the button says New job, but the panel it opens is headed New project and finishes with Create project. They are the same thing. It walks four short stages — who it is for, what the work is, anything existing to attach, and the checklist to start from.New jobNew projectWho is this project for?1Who2What3Connections4WorkflowCustomerBackContinueNew projectWhat's the project?Who2What3Connections4WorkflowBuilt-in pantry shelvingScope, constraints, customer asks…BackContinueNew projectConnect appointments, notes, tasks, and people.WhoWhat3Connections4WorkflowAppointments+Notes+Tasks+People+BackContinueNew projectPick a workflow checklist.WhoWhatConnections4WorkflowBackCreate project - 4
Find your way around the job
Each job opens as a two-pane board. The left side is your text conversation with the customer — on their first job it shows your entire history together; after that it picks up where the last job ended. The right side has the workflow checklist and its progress ring, the next appointment, and a row of drawers: Invoices, Estimates, Notes, Tasks, People, Activities, Recordings and My Apps. Activities is the one worth knowing — every call, text, email and status change on this job, in order, without you logging a thing.30 min out+Invoices›Estimates›Notes›Tasks›People›Activities›Recordings›My Apps› - 5
Talk to the customer, and to your team
One box at the bottom of the conversation does both, and how you start the line decides which. Anything you type without a slash is sent directly to the customer as a real text message — the composer says so above the box, so read it before you send.
Type / to keep it internal:
- /note — add an internal note
- /task — create a task for this job
- /ask — ask the copilot about this job
/noteAdd an internal note/taskCreate a task for this job/askAsk the copilot about this job/ - 6
Book the visits the work needs
A job carries as many visits as the work takes. The right side shows the next one — when it is, how many days out, and the address as a map link — with a + to book another or attach one that already exists. Once a visit is done it drops into a past-appointments list rather than cluttering the top.+ - 7
Invoice the work
Money lives on invoices, never on the job itself. The value you see against a job is the sum of its invoices, and it only counts as paid once every one of them is.
Open Invoices and add one. Pick the kind first — a simple total, an itemised breakdown, labour and materials split out, or a progress bill — and the form changes to match. Add a line item for each thing you are charging for and the totals add themselves up. Tax, a discount and a deposit are all optional.
Save it now and Send it when the work is done; Send becomes Resend afterwards. Mark as paid works at any point, including on a draft you never sent — which is how you record cash taken on the day. A draft can be deleted; an invoice already sent is voided instead.
New invoiceCreate a new invoice for this job.SimpleDetailedLabour + materialsProgressLine itemsSupply line replacement$480.00Shut-off valve$64.00+ Add line itemTotal$544.00Mark as paidSend - 8
Mark it complete
Nothing closes a job for you — not a finished checklist, not the last visit. You do it from the ⋯ menu at the top of the conversation. Read the confirmation before you accept it: completing a job messages the customer, asking them once to rate the work, on whichever channels you have job reminders switched on for. Mark as cancelled closes it the same way but sends nothing. Either is reversible — Reopen job appears in that menu afterwards and puts the work back in progress. On the Jobs page the job moves out of Active and into Completed.⋯Mark completeMark as cancelledMark this job complete?This closes the job and sends the customer a rating request. You can reopen it anytime.CancelMark complete⌄Active⌄In progressScheduled25%$880Invoice sent⌄CompletedIn progress66%$2,400Unpaid⌄CancelledCompleted100%$544Paid
That is the whole loop — a visit becomes a job, the checklist carries the work, the invoice collects the money, and completing the job asks the customer how you did.