Most independent shops run on a paper work order on the dash, a whiteboard for the bays, QuickBooks or Sage for the books, parts on a shelf and in somebody's head, a card file for customers, and photos on somebody's phone that sometimes make it onto the invoice.
A customer comes back in three months and the original photos can't be found. Or the customer okayed the extra work on the phone and now says he didn't.
We build custom software for small garages and body shops that keeps the work orders, the vehicles, the parts and the money in one place.
Things we could build for shops
- A work order on a screen instead of the dash, that stays with the car: VIN, mileage at intake, the customer's concern, which tech did the work, parts, labour and photos before and after, searchable by plate, VIN, customer or job number.
- The customer's okay, with the time, on the work order. Estimates could go out by text or email with the photos, and the customer's yes would be on the record when the bill comes.
- Photos from the bay, taken on a phone or a shop tablet and saved straight to that car's work order.
- A parts inventory that keeps parts ordered for this job apart from parts on the shelf, so the part ordered for a job lands on that job's invoice, with sublet work like alignments on the same order.
- A customer and vehicle history with every visit, part, photo and estimate on one record, so a regular's whole history is there next year.
- Invoicing built from the closed work order, sent to QuickBooks, with card payment from a link or at pickup.
- Service reminders for oil changes, seasonal tire swaps and safety inspections, by text or email.
The work order is where most shops start. The reminders and the parts can come later.
The shop program you used a third of
Shop management programs have no place for a specialty in one make, or a standing arrangement with a local insurance adjuster, so the program ends up half used and the paper comes back. A custom tool covers the parts your shop needs, with no per-bay fee.
What it costs and what you own are on the work with us page.
Common questions from shops
Can it connect to our parts supplier?
Sometimes. We'll tell you on the first call whether your supplier has a way to connect. If it does, the part and the price can land on the work order on their own; if it doesn't, the part gets typed once at the counter.
The techs don't want another app. Will they use it?
The tech's part can be as small as a phone or a shop tablet with a photo button, and it runs in the web browser with nothing to install. We walk the techs through it when it goes live.
Do we throw out QuickBooks and the old shop program?
No. We connect to QuickBooks so invoices and customers flow across, and the new tool can sit beside the old shop program and handle the parts it does badly.
Bringing the card file and last year's paper orders across can be part of the proposal. Tell us what you have when we first talk.
Getting started
Book a short, free call about how your shop runs now and where the paper piles up. Request a call, or fill in the estimate form.