Repair and service shops
Big-ticket jobs, tracked from teardown to road test
A transmission job is a week of shop floor, a four-figure approval and a part on order. All three need to be visible on the same record.
- Vehicle 2014 Ford F-150
- Job 1: Rebuild In progress
- Teardown finding Clutch pack, with photos
- Finding quote Awaiting signature
- Parts Core charge on the unit
- Hours, job 1 14 sold - 12.5 clocked
- Promised Friday
The calendars show one day at a time. A week-long job lives on the work order, with its stage and its promised date.
What gets in the way
Sound familiar?
- The vehicle occupies a bay for days, and nothing on the schedule says so.
- A four-figure estimate approved over the phone is a four-figure estimate you cannot prove.
- Parts arrive mid-job and the customer has heard nothing since Tuesday.
One rebuild, from the estimate to the road test
A transmission job is a week of shop floor, a four-figure approval and a part on order. Here is what MecanoPro does at each step.
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The estimate
An approval you can produce later
Put the job on a quote and send it by text or email for signature. The customer signs from a phone with no app and no account, and the signed copy is kept on the record, with a timestamp, so a disputed rebuild has a signature behind it.
- A signed quote is kept as signed, with its timestamp, so what was agreed is never in question.
- Approval lives on the quote, never on the work order. A signed quote approves the jobs, and a cancelled one declines them.
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The teardown
What you find when it is open
The technician raises a Finding: what needs doing, what was found, the suggested labour hours and up to three suggested parts, with photos. The advisor prices it and sends it as a second quote, so the extra four figures have their own signature.
- A job cannot go beyond its quote plus the percentage you allow without a new approval. It starts at zero; check your provincial rules.
- The clock is locked on a job awaiting approval, so nobody works on what the customer has not agreed to.
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The parts
A part on order, a core to send back, work sent out
Each part moves from Needed to Ordered, Received and Installed, with its own purchase and PO number. A line can carry a core charge, and the machining you send to another shop is a Sublet line.
- The work order shows Awaiting Parts when everything is on order, and the person holding the job gets an alert on receipt, so a part arriving mid-job is not found out on Thursday.
- Send a part from NAPA, Nexpart, Distribution Stox, Worldpac or DT Tire straight onto the job.
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All week
Where is the vehicle, and what stage is it at?
The work order board shows every stage from Estimating to Closed, with a promised date and an hourglass on whatever is waiting on the customer. A job that holds a bay all week is visible without being redrawn on a calendar.
- Give the customer a private status page with no sign-in. It shows the stage, the expected date, the photos and a quote waiting for a signature.
- Text or email an update when the part lands or the build is finished, with the message written for you. A person sends it.
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The bay
Sold hours against clocked hours
Flat-rate shops bill what they sold. Job Margin sets the sold hours against the hours clocked, and the Technician Efficiency report totals them for each person, so you see which kinds of rebuild run long.
- Labour can be billed at sold hours, the flat rate, or at clocked hours.
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The road test
Checked, then closed
Send the vehicle to quality control and pass it against a checklist you define, such as Road test, with the mileage out. Then close and invoice, and send a Stripe payment request so the customer can pay by card.
- Declined or deferred work keeps a follow-up date, and Quote Again turns it into a new quote.
The parts of MecanoPro this shop uses
Each one is a real module, and each is explained on its own page.
Where it stops and you start
A rebuild is a long job with a lot of money in it. Here is what MecanoPro leaves to you.
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A long job is not drawn across days
Both calendars show one day at a time, so a job that holds a bay all week is not a bar across the week. It lives on the work order, with its stage, its promised date and the board.
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The approval is on the quote
A job is approved by a signed or accepted quote, so the second four-figure finding is only approved once the customer has signed it. Nothing is approved by ticking a box on the work order.
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The update is a tap
Nothing is sent when a part arrives or the stage changes. Someone texts or emails the customer, which is also why the customer hears from you first only when you decide.
See it on your own jobs
Book thirty minutes and we will walk through it on your own work orders. No pressure and nothing to sign.
See it running on your own work orders
Thirty minutes, at a time that suits the shop. We load a few of your real jobs in and you tell us where it would break.