DarbyTry the demo

How Darby works, start to finish

Every part of the app, in order, in plain English — including the parts it doesn't do. Written from the real screens: every button named here exists, spelled the same.

Part 1 of 7

Getting started: your one-time setup

This is the setup you do once, before your first job: make your account, tell Darby your company name and tax rate, load your prices, add Darby to your home screen, and turn on notifications. About ten minutes, and you never do it again.

  1. 1

    Make your account

    Open Darby in your phone's browser. You land on the sign-in screen. Under "New here?" tap "Create an account". Type your email in "Email" and a password in "Password" — at least 8 characters. Tap "Create Account". If you tried the demo first, this screen instead says "You're already signed in" — tap "Use a different account" to make your own. If Darby then says "Check your email — tap the link we sent to finish signing up," open that email and tap the link; it brings you back signed in. Otherwise Darby takes you straight to setup.

  2. 2

    Step 1 of 5 — Your company

    The screen says "Your company." Type your business name in "Company name," like "Smith Stucco LLC." "Next" stays greyed out until you type something. Under "Logo (optional)" you can pick your logo from your phone — it saves by itself. Tap "Next." The moment you tap "Next" or "Skip for now" here, your company is created. From step 2 on, a "← Back" button at the top lets you return and fix an earlier step — your typing is kept, and going back to rename the company works. If you tap "Skip for now," Darby names you "My Company" until you rename it in Settings.

  3. 3

    Step 2 of 5 — Sales tax

    The screen says "Sales tax." In "Tax rate (%)" type the rate the way you'd say it out loud — 8.6 for eight point six percent. Do not type 0.086. Tap "Next." Darby adds this to every estimate and invoice. If you don't charge tax, tap "Skip for now." If you type a rate and then tap "Skip for now," what you typed is thrown away — tap "Next" to keep it. Tapped the wrong thing? "← Back" at the top returns you a step.

  4. 4

    Step 3 of 5 — Your email

    The screen says "Your email." "Reply-to email" is already filled with the email you signed up with. This is where a customer's reply lands when they answer an estimate or invoice. Leave it or change it, then tap "Next." Same trap as the last step: type a change and tap "Skip for now" and it's thrown away — tap "Next" to keep it.

  5. 5

    Step 4 of 5 — Price book

    The screen says "Price book" and shows seven stucco items tagged "EDIT ME." Tap "Load starter price book" to put them in — you fix the prices next. This is the only place to load them; skip it and you build your whole list by hand later. If you don't do stucco, tap "Skip — I'll build my own."

  6. 6

    Step 5 of 5 — First client

    The screen says "First client." Type the customer's name in "Name." "Phone" and "Email" are nice to have but you can leave them empty. "Add & Finish" stays greyed until you type a name. Tap "Add & Finish" and Darby drops you on the Home screen. No customer yet? Tap "Skip — take me to the app."

  7. 7

    Fix your prices

    Tap "Settings" at the bottom right, then the "Price Book" row at the top — two taps. Tap any item with the orange "EDIT ME" tag. Change "Price (customer pays)" to what you charge and "Your cost" to what it costs you, then tap "Save." Type both numbers — a blank box saves as $0.00, not empty. Do this for every "EDIT ME" item. To add something missing, tap "+ New Item," type the name, pick the unit and category from the two drop-downs, put in both numbers, and tap "Save."

  8. 8

    Put Darby on your home screen

    Do this in your browser, not inside Darby — Darby has no install button of its own. On an iPhone in Safari, tap the Share button (the square with the arrow going up), scroll down, tap "Add to Home Screen," then "Add." On Android in Chrome, tap the three dots, then "Install app" or "Add to Home screen." Now Darby has its own icon and opens full screen with no browser bars.

  9. 9

    Turn on notifications

    Open Darby from the new home-screen icon. Tap "Home" at the bottom left and scroll past the four buttons ("New Estimate," "New Expense," "Take Photo," "Jobs") to the card that says "Get notified the moment things happen." Tap "Turn On Notifications," then "Allow." The card changes to "Notifications are on ✓." Now your phone buzzes the moment a customer approves an estimate. Late invoices are different — those come in one summary each morning around 6:30, not the minute they go late. On an iPhone you must add Darby to your home screen and open it from that icon first, or the card reads "Install Darby to get notifications" with no button.

  10. 10

    Finish your company info in Settings

    The wizard never asked for these. Tap "Settings" and fill in "Address," "Phone," and "License #." Tap "Brand color" to set the color on your paperwork. In "Default terms," type the terms you want — Darby drops this into every new estimate you start, and you can edit it on that estimate. Invoices don't print terms, and changing this later doesn't change estimates you already made. Tap "Save"; a green "Saved ✓" shows. To set your logo, tap "Add logo" or "Change logo" by the square at the top — it saves the instant you pick the picture, no "Save" needed.

Worth knowing

  • The orange "EDIT ME" tag means that price is a placeholder from the starter list. The tags left over are your to-do list of prices still to fix.
  • "Price (customer pays)" and "Your cost" are two different numbers on purpose. The gap between them is your profit. Put the same number in both and Darby shows zero profit.
  • Nothing stops you from typing a wrong tax rate — type 30 and Darby taxes at 30%, so check it twice. Darby also rounds the rate to two decimals, so 8.625 becomes 8.63.
  • Price Book is two taps from anywhere: "Settings," then "Price Book." There's a "Settings" link in the top right of the Price Book screen to get back.
  • Forgot your password? There's no reset link. Type your email on the sign-in screen and tap "Email me a sign-in link instead" — Darby emails you a link that signs you in.
  • The starter price book only loads if your price book is empty, so tapping it twice won't make duplicates.
  • Once notifications are on, the card shows a small "Turn off" link. It's one tap with no confirmation, and you can turn them back on the same way.
  • "Sign Out" in Settings clears Darby's saved pages off that phone. Use it if you signed in on a shared or borrowed phone.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (14)
  • The setup wizard runs once. The moment you tap "Next" or "Skip for now" on step 1, your company is created; while you are in the wizard you can tap "← Back" at the top to change an earlier step, but once you finish, Darby sends you to Home if you try to reopen it. Tax rate, reply-to email, and your first client can all be redone in Settings — but "Load starter price book" only lives inside the wizard. Skip it and you build the whole list by hand with "+ New Item."
  • The starter price book is stucco only — seven items with real-looking placeholder prices ($12 a square foot for 3-coat, $650 minimum patch charge, $800 scaffolding). Other trades get nothing. Fix these before you send an estimate, or those made-up numbers go to your customer as if they were yours.
  • Saving a price book item clears its "EDIT ME" tag even if you changed nothing. And a blank price box saves as $0.00 — a blank price bills the customer nothing, and a blank cost makes Darby read the whole job as profit.
  • Tax is added to the whole estimate, labor included. There's no way to mark a line non-taxable. If your state doesn't tax labor, the estimate total comes out too high.
  • Card payments aren't switched on, so customers can't pay online. You collect checks, cash, or cards yourself and tap "Mark as Paid (check / cash)" to record it.
  • Emailing estimates and invoices from Darby isn't switched on. When you tap Send, Darby makes a live link and says so ("email isn't connected yet, share the link below"). Use "Copy link" or "Text the link" to get it to the customer.
  • Automatic texting isn't switched on. "Text the link" still works — it opens your phone's own messaging app with the link filled in, and you press send.
  • Darby runs on Central time for everyone right now. If you work outside Central time, your day rolls over at the wrong hour, so "today" and overdue dates can be off by a day.
  • One login per company. There are no separate accounts for your crew yet — everyone shares the one login.
  • iPhone notifications need the home-screen install first. Until you add Darby to your home screen and open it from that icon, the card reads "Install Darby to get notifications" with no button to tap.
  • If you ever tapped "Don't Allow" on the phone's permission box, Darby can't ask again. The card says notifications are blocked — turn them back on in your phone's own settings, then come back.
  • If you toured the demo first, the sign-in screen opens on "You're already signed in" instead of the email and password boxes. Tap "Use a different account" to make your own real account.
  • The Price Book has no search or filter. Items are listed alphabetically by name, so a long list means a lot of scrolling.
  • Deleting a price book item pops up your browser's plain gray box asking "Remove this item from your price book?" and there's no undo after.

Part 2 of 7

The home screen and red notes

The home screen is the front door of Darby. It shows what is chasing you today, what is on the schedule, and four big buttons for the jobs you do most. The red notes under "NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION" are Darby watching your money and your jobs so you don't have to hold it all in your head.

  1. 1

    Open Darby and read the top line

    Tap the Darby icon. The bottom bar has five tabs: Home, Jobs, Calendar, Money, Settings. Home opens first. At the top you see your company logo (or the first letter of your company name in a blue square), today's date like "Tuesday, July 14", and your company name. On the right is a button that says "Report".

  2. 2

    Read "NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION"

    Right under the header is a small gray heading in capital letters: "NEEDS YOUR ATTENTION". Every section heading on Home and the Daily Report shows in capitals like this. Under it is a stack of cards — your red notes. If nothing is waiting on you, you get one card that says "All clear 👍" and under it "Nothing is waiting on you. Anything that needs a nudge shows up here."

  3. 3

    Know the colors

    A card with a thick red edge and a red icon is money that is late. A plain gray edge with an orange icon is something slipping. A blue icon is a nice-to-do, not urgent. Red sorts above orange, and orange above blue. Inside one color the notes are not ranked, though — two overdue invoices come back in no set order, so a 60-day-overdue one can sit below a 1-day-overdue one. The number on your Darby app icon counts the red and orange ones only; blue does not add to it.

  4. 4

    Know what each note means

    Clock icon (red): an invoice is past due — "Overdue 6 days — send the reminder". Eye icon (orange): the customer opened your estimate. The first two days it says "Opened — waiting on their answer"; starting on day two it says "They opened it 4 days ago — time to nudge them". Mail icon (orange): the estimate went out and was never opened — "Sent — not opened yet", and after three days "Sent 5 days ago and never opened — resend or call". Flag icon (orange): an estimate you built but never sent, two days or older — "Built but never sent — it can't get approved sitting here". Calendar icon (orange): "Approved — not on the calendar yet". Camera icon (orange): a job marked "In progress" is on today's calendar but nothing has been logged on it — "On the schedule today but nothing logged — snap a photo or add a cost". If the job is still marked "Scheduled", this note does not fire. Flag icon (blue): "Paid — get the after-photos and close it out".

  5. 5

    Clear an overdue invoice

    Tap the red card — it opens that invoice. To nudge the customer, tap "Send Friendly Reminder". Darby can't email your customers yet, so this makes the invoice's web page live and shows a link instead of sending mail — get it to them with "Copy link" or "Text the link". That does not clear the red note. Only recording the payment clears it: when the money lands, tap "Mark as Paid (check / cash)". Darby already fills in the full balance in "Amount received" and picks Check. Change the amount if it was partial, tap Cash, Card, or Other if it wasn't a check, then tap the green button that reads "Record $2,400.00". The note drops off the next time you open Home.

  6. 6

    Clear the other notes

    Tap the card and it takes you straight to the fix. A draft-estimate note opens the estimate — tap "Send Estimate"; email isn't connected, so you get a live proposal page and a link to send yourself with "Copy link" or "Text the link". An eye or mail note opens the estimate — tap "Resend" or call the customer, but know that resending starts the clock over: an "opened" note goes back to "Sent — not opened yet" until they open the new link, and the note only clears for good when the estimate is approved or lost. A calendar note opens the Calendar — put the job on a day. A camera note opens the job — add a photo or a cost. A blue paid note opens the job — add your after-photos if you want them, but the note only goes away when you change the job's status off "Paid" and set it to "Closed".

  7. 7

    You can't swipe a note away

    There is no dismiss, no snooze, no X. A note goes away only when the real thing behind it is handled. If it is still on the screen tomorrow, it is still true.

  8. 8

    Check today's schedule and the four big buttons

    Below the notes is a heading "TODAY" with anything on the calendar for today. Tap one to jump to that job — or to the Calendar, if that entry isn't tied to a job. If there is nothing, it says "Nothing scheduled today" and "Open the calendar to plan the week." Under that are four square buttons: "New Estimate", "New Expense", "Take Photo", and "Jobs".

  9. 9

    Turn on notifications

    Scroll to the bottom of Home. If you haven't set it up you see a card headed "Get notified the moment things happen" with a blue button "Turn On Notifications". Tap it and say yes to your phone's popup. Once it is on, the card reads "Notifications are on ✓" with a small "Turn off" on the right. On an iPhone you must install Darby first — the card will say "Install Darby to get notifications" and tell you "Tap Share → Add to Home Screen first, then open Darby from your home screen and turn notifications on." If you tap "Don't Allow" on the popup, the card switches to "Notifications are blocked for Darby in your phone's settings — flip them on there, then come back" and the button disappears; you have to turn them on in your phone's settings.

  10. 10

    Open the Daily Report

    From Home, tap "Report" in the top right. One tap. The page is headed "Daily Report" with today's date, and "← Home" above it to get back.

  11. 11

    Read the Daily Report top to bottom

    "STILL OPEN — CARRIED FORWARD UNTIL FIXED" is the same red notes as Home. "MONEY TODAY" shows two boxes — "In" in green and "Out" in red — for cash that moved today only. "WHAT HAPPENED TODAY" is a time-stamped list of the last 30 things logged today, newest first, with the job name after each; if nothing is logged it says "Nothing logged yet today. Photos, costs, and sends all land here." "TOMORROW" shows what is on the calendar tomorrow, or "Nothing on the calendar tomorrow." with a "Plan it →" link.

  12. 12

    Get the morning brief on your phone

    If notifications are on, your phone buzzes once each morning. The title reads "☀️ Morning brief — 3 things need you" (or "☀️ Morning brief — clean slate" when nothing is chasing you). The body names the top two items in plain words — like "Delgado Chimney Re-stucco payment is overdue. Miller Garage hasn't opened the estimate. And 2 more." — then "Today: Miller Garage scratch coat, Hensley punch list." Tap it to open Home. The brief leaves out the blue "close it out" notes and the quiet-job note, because at that hour every job is quiet.

Worth knowing

  • The red notes on Home and on the Daily Report are the exact same list. If you only check one screen, check Home.
  • The number on your Darby app icon is your red-and-orange count. Zero means nothing is chasing you.
  • Tap the card, don't hunt for the job. Every note is a shortcut straight to the screen that fixes it.
  • Two notes run on a clock: a draft estimate gets flagged after two days, and a sent-but-unopened estimate starts telling you to resend or call after three days.
  • The "MONEY TODAY" boxes count today only. Use the Money tab for the bigger picture.
  • The day counts are exact. "Overdue 6 days" is counted from the due date you typed on the invoice.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (19)
  • Darby doesn't take card payments. Every invoice is marked paid by hand — check, cash, card, or other — when the money actually lands. There is no online "pay now" for your customer.
  • Darby can't email your customers yet. Sending an estimate or invoice makes its web page live and gives you a link; it does not send mail, and it says so on screen. You share the link yourself with "Copy link" or "Text the link".
  • There is no automatic texting. "Text the link" opens your phone's own messaging app with the link filled in — you still hit send. Darby never texts anyone on its own.
  • One login per company. There are no separate accounts for crew or workers yet — everyone who needs in shares the same login.
  • A partial payment does not clear the red note. Record less than the full balance and the invoice stays "partial", which is still in the overdue sweep, so the note keeps saying "Overdue N days" even though money came in.
  • An invoice you never sent is never chased. The overdue note only looks at invoices you have sent — a draft invoice sitting past its due date produces no red note.
  • The "Approved — not on the calendar yet" note only fires while the job's status is exactly "Approved". Move it to "Scheduled" or "In progress" without ever putting it on the calendar and Darby stops nudging you about it.
  • Resending an estimate resets its day counter. A stubborn customer's estimate can restart at "Sent — not opened yet" every time you resend and never reach the "resend or call" stage.
  • The "They opened it" note depends on the customer opening the link you sent. If they print it or you hand them paper, Darby never knows, and the note stays on "Sent — not opened yet".
  • The Daily Report is today only. There is no date picker and no way to look back at yesterday's report or read past morning briefs in the app.
  • "WHAT HAPPENED TODAY" shows the last 30 entries. On a very busy day the oldest items drop off the bottom.
  • "MONEY TODAY" counts by the date on the payment or expense, not the day you typed it in. Log an expense today but date it to last Friday and it will not show in today's "Out" box.
  • With no signal on the jobsite, Darby shows the last copy it loaded. The notes are still sitting there, but they are as old as your last bar of service and nothing on the screen tells you that. Reload once you are back in signal before you act on them.
  • Darby's day runs on Central time for everyone. If your crew works in another time zone the days flip at the wrong hour, and that can only be changed during setup — for the whole company at once.
  • The morning brief goes out at 6:30 Central through the summer. After the clocks fall back it comes an hour earlier, 5:30 Central, until spring.
  • The morning brief only reaches phones that have already turned notifications on. If nobody has, the brief runs and quietly sends nothing.
  • On an iPhone, notifications and the app-icon number only work if you install Darby to your home screen first (Share → Add to Home Screen) and open it from there. In Safari alone you get no buzz and no number.
  • The app-icon number only shows on phones that support it — iPhone on iOS 16.4 or newer, and most Android phones — and it only refreshes while Home is open or when a morning-brief push arrives. Clear an invoice from the Money tab and the old number sticks until you reopen Home.
  • On a browser that can't do notifications at all, the "Turn On Notifications" card simply never appears — there is no message explaining why.

Part 3 of 7

Customers, jobs and photos

This is where you keep track of who you work for and what you are building for them. Every job is one folder. The customer, the address, the photos, the money, all in one place, so you are not digging through your phone later. Get the details right when you set a job up, because most of them lock once you save.

  1. 1

    Add the customer

    Tap "Jobs" in the bottom bar. In the top right, tap "Customers". Tap the big blue "+ New Customer" button. Five boxes open up: Name, Phone, Email, Address, Notes. Type the name. Phone and Email are the two that earn their keep, they turn into the call, text and email buttons on the job screen. Address and Notes are only ever seen here, when you open this customer again. Tap "Save". Only the name is needed. The "Save" button looks faded and will not work until you type one. "Cancel" next to it backs out without saving.

  2. 2

    Fix a customer's info later

    On the "Customers" screen, tap the customer's name in the list (it says "Edit" on the right). The same five boxes open under their name. Change what you need and tap "Save". To remove one, tap "Delete", then tap OK on the "Delete this customer?" question. This only works for a customer with no jobs on them.

  3. 3

    Make a new job

    Tap "Jobs" in the bottom bar, then tap "+ New Job". Type a "Job name", this box is required. Type the "Job address" if you have it. Under "Customer", tap the dropdown and pick the person. Tap "Create Job" and the job opens right up. Get the name and address right here, because you cannot change them after you save.

  4. 4

    Add the customer while you make the job

    On the "New Job" screen, instead of using the dropdown, tap "+ Add a new customer". Three boxes appear: Name, Phone, Email. Fill them in and tap "Create Job". The customer gets saved and hooked to the job at the same time. To go back to the dropdown, tap "Pick an existing customer instead". If you have no customers yet, the app skips the dropdown and shows you these three boxes on its own, and there is no way back, because there is no list to go back to.

  5. 5

    Skip the customer for now

    On the "New Job" screen the dropdown starts on "Pick later". Leave it there and tap "Create Job". The job shows up in your list with "No customer" under the name. Careful: right now there is no way to hook a customer to a job after you make it. If you want the call, text and email buttons on the job screen, pick or add the customer while you are on the New Job screen.

  6. 6

    Open the job folder

    Tap "Jobs" in the bottom bar. Tap any job in the list. The top shows the job name, the customer's name, and a colored status pill. Under that, if you typed an address, it shows with a pin, tap it and Google Maps opens. If the customer has a phone number you get a phone button and a text-message button. If they have an email you get an envelope button. One tap each.

  7. 7

    Read the rest of the job folder

    Scroll down the job and you go through it in order: "Expected profit" and "Real profit" side by side, then "Photos", then "Estimates", then "Invoices", then "Money out", then "Schedule", then "Activity". "Activity" is the running list of what has happened on this job, newest on top.

  8. 8

    Change the job status

    On the job screen, tap the colored pill in the top right. Nine choices drop down: "Lead", "Estimated", "Approved", "Scheduled", "In progress", "Invoiced", "Paid", "Closed", "Lost". Tap the one you want. It saves right away, no Save button, and the pill changes color. Every new job starts as "Lead". The status pill is the only thing on the job you can change after you make it.

  9. 9

    Take photos from the job

    On the job screen, scroll to "Photos". You will see three buttons: "Before", "During", "After". One is already filled in blue, the app picks it from the job status. Tap a different one if it is wrong. Then tap the big blue "Take Photo" button. Your phone camera opens. Shoot the picture and accept it. You can pick more than one picture at a time and they all get saved.

  10. 10

    Take photos without opening the job first

    From "Home" in the bottom bar, tap the "Take Photo" square. The screen asks "Which job is this photo for?" and lists your jobs. Tap the job. (If you only have one open job, the app picks it for you and goes straight to the camera button.) Now tap the blue "Take Photo" button and shoot. If you tapped the wrong job, tap "Change" next to the job name, that only shows when you have more than one job. When you are done, tap "Open this job →" to go see it.

  11. 11

    Know your photo saved

    After you shoot, a green bar says "Uploaded ✓". That means it is off your phone and on the server. If it says "Something went wrong saving that photo. Try again.", shoot it again.

  12. 12

    Shoot photos with no signal

    Do nothing different. Take the photo the same way. Instead of green you get an orange bar that says "Saved to your phone ✓ — 1 photo will upload when signal returns." The photo is safe on your phone. When you get bars again the app sends it up by itself. Heads up: a photo shot with no signal does not show under Before, During or After until it actually uploads, so on a dead-spot job the groups can look empty. It is not lost. Do not shoot it all over again.

  13. 13

    Check what is still waiting to upload

    Open the job screen, the "Take Photo" screen, or the "New Expense" screen. If anything is still stuck on your phone, an orange bar near the top says how many, like "3 items saved on this phone — waiting for signal". That count is everything waiting, photos and receipts together, which is why it says "items". When it is going up it says "Uploading…". When the bar is gone, everything is up. The app tries again every 30 seconds, and again every time you come back to the app.

  14. 14

    Look at the photos on a job

    On the job screen the photos sit under "Photos", in three groups with a count on each: "BEFORE · 4", "DURING · 7", "AFTER · 2". Tap any small picture and it fills the black screen with the date on top. Tap the black area around the picture, or the "×" in the top right, to close it. Tapping the picture itself does nothing.

  15. 15

    Delete a photo

    Tap the photo so it fills the screen. Tap the red "Delete photo" button at the bottom. A box asks "Delete this photo? This can't be undone." Tap OK. It is gone for good, there is no undo and no trash can.

Worth knowing

  • Name jobs so you know them at a glance. The box shows an example: "Hernandez — 3-coat re-stucco". The job list shows the name, the customer, the address and a colored status pill, so a name like "Job 2" will not help you.
  • Type the job address when you make the job. It turns into a tappable link on the job screen that opens Google Maps. You cannot add it later, so put it in now.
  • Put the phone number and email on the customer. That is what puts the call, text and email buttons on the job screen. No number, no buttons.
  • Before / During / After is already picked for you. Lead, Estimated and Approved jobs get "Before". Scheduled and In progress get "During". Everything after that gets "After". Only change it when you are shooting out of order.
  • You can grab several photos in one go instead of one at a time.
  • Photos are worth the most on the day before you start and the day you finish. Those two sets are what settle an argument later.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (18)
  • Nothing about a job can be edited after you create it. Not the job name, not the job address, not the customer. There is no edit button on the job screen, the status pill is the only thing that changes. Get the name and address right on the New Job screen, that is your only shot.
  • A job cannot be deleted. There is no delete control for jobs anywhere, only for customers and photos. A mistyped job stays in your list for good. The closest you get is setting it to "Lost" or "Closed", which at least hides it from the Home "Take Photo" job list.
  • Deleting a customer who has jobs will not work. You get the message "This customer has jobs attached — close those jobs first." That message is misleading: closing the jobs does not help, and there is no way to delete a job in the app. Once a customer has a job on them, they are in for good. You can still open them and blank out the phone and email.
  • A photo shot with no signal does not show up under "Before", "During" or "After" until it actually uploads. On a dead-spot job you will see the orange "waiting for signal" bar but empty photo groups. The pictures are safe on your phone. Do not shoot them again, they fill in once you get bars.
  • Photos waiting to upload are stored inside the browser on that one phone. If you clear your browsing data, or switch to a different phone, anything that has not uploaded yet is gone. Get to signal before you wipe anything.
  • Photo thumbnails load through links that go stale after about an hour. If you leave the job screen open on your phone all afternoon and come back, the pictures can come up blank. Pull down to refresh, or reopen the job, and they come right back.
  • "Delete photo" is permanent. It removes the picture from the server too. No trash can, no undo.
  • A photo cannot be moved from "Before" to "After" once it is saved, and you cannot type a note on a photo. If you tag it wrong the only fix is to delete it and shoot again.
  • The "Take Photo" square on Home only lists your 12 newest jobs, and it hides anything marked "Closed" or "Lost". For an older job, go to "Jobs", open the job, and shoot from inside it.
  • Some statuses move on their own: sending an estimate turns a "Lead" into "Estimated", putting an "Approved" job on the calendar makes it "Scheduled" (a Lead or Estimated job put on the calendar does not move), sending an invoice makes it "Invoiced", and getting a regular invoice paid makes it "Paid" (a paid deposit does not move the job). "Approved" also happens on its own, the moment your customer signs the estimate on their link, the job turns "Approved" by itself. Only "Closed", "Lost" and "In progress" never move on their own, you set those with the pill.
  • The orange "waiting for signal" bar only shows on the job screen, the "Take Photo" screen and the "New Expense" screen. Home and the Jobs list never show it, so a stuck photo can sit there without you seeing it.
  • Adding a customer and making a job both need signal. There is no offline saving for these two. In a dead spot the screen shows an error and you have to do it again when you have bars. Photos are the part that works offline.
  • "Customers" has no button in the bottom bar. The only way in is to tap "Jobs", then tap "Customers" in the top right corner.
  • The customer boxes have no labels above them. The words Name, Phone, Email, Address, Notes are gray text inside the boxes and they disappear the second you type. If you lose track, tap "Save" and open the customer again to see what landed where.
  • The quick "+ Add a new customer" on the New Job screen only saves Name, Phone and Email, there is no Address or Notes box. Leaving the name blank there blocks "Create Job" with a browser popup, not a message from the app. To add an address or notes, go to "Jobs", then "Customers" afterward and open the customer.
  • There is no search or filter on the Jobs list or the Customers list. Jobs are newest first, Customers are A to Z. Once you have a couple hundred, scrolling is the only way to find one.
  • Photos get shrunk to 1920 pixels on the long side so they upload fast on a bad connection. Plenty for a record or a claim, not full camera quality for printing big.
  • The "Activity" list only shows the last 20 things that happened. On a long job the early history scrolls off and cannot be reached.

Part 4 of 7

Estimates and getting approved

This is how you price a job, send it to the customer, and get a signed yes. They open a web page on their phone, type their name, and tap a green button — and your phone buzzes the second they sign.

  1. 1

    Open the estimate builder

    Two taps. On the Home tab, tap "New Estimate". You'll see "Which job is this estimate for?" and your open jobs. Tap the job. That opens "New Estimate" with the job name under it. Already inside a job? Tap "+ New estimate" in its "Estimates" section instead — same screen.

  2. 2

    Add your lines

    Up top is a box that says 'Type to search your price list — try "stuc"'. Type three or four letters. A short list drops down with each item and its price, like "$12.00 per sq ft". Tap one and it drops in as a line. Need something that isn't on the list? Tap "+ Add a custom line", tap "What's the work?", and type it. Custom lines start at 1 qty and $0.

  3. 3

    Fill in each line's numbers

    Every line has "Qty", "Price each", and "Line". Type the quantity and the app does the math and shows the amount on the right. Square-foot and linear-foot items start at 0 qty on purpose — you type the number. Items sold each, by the hour, or at a flat price start at 1. The Qty box tells you the unit — "Qty (per sq ft)", "Qty (per hour)" — so you know what to type. Wrong line? Tap the red "Remove" under it. Note: any line you leave blank gets dropped when you save, with no warning — so fill in every one you want on there.

  4. 4

    Deposit, notes, and terms

    Scroll to "Deposit (%) — optional" and type a number like 30. That's a percent, not dollars — the app works out the amount from the total. Leave it blank if you don't take one. Under that, "Notes to the customer — optional" for anything they should read, like access or color. Below that, "Terms" is already filled from your Settings; you can change it on this one estimate without touching your default.

  5. 5

    Save it

    A white bar at the bottom shows "Total" and the running number the whole time. With a tax rate set it reads "Total (incl. 8.5% tax)". When it's right, tap "Preview →". It says "Saving…" for a second, then drops you on the estimate screen. "Preview →" stays greyed out until you've added at least one line.

  6. 6

    The estimate screen

    Up top: "Estimate (draft)" and a grey "Draft — not sent yet" tag. Then your lines, Subtotal, Tax, Total, and "Deposit to schedule (30%)" if you set one. There's no number like EST-0001 yet — it gets one the first time you send.

  7. 7

    Pick photos and send

    In the "Send it" box, if the job has photos you'll see "Include job photos? (tap to pick)" and a grid. Tap a photo to add it — a blue ring and a checkmark mean it's on; tap again to drop it. Under "Customer email", their email is filled in if you have it — fix it or type one. Tap "Send Estimate". The estimate goes live, gets its number (EST-0001, EST-0002, and so on), and if the job was still a lead it moves to estimated.

  8. 8

    Or just text them the link

    Under the send button: "Copy link" and "Text the link". "Copy link" copies the web address and flips to "Copied ✓" for a couple seconds. "Text the link" opens your phone's messaging app with "Here's your estimate:" and the link already typed — you pick who and hit send. Both buttons also show before you've sent, but the link is dead until you tap "Send Estimate". Send first, then copy or text.

  9. 9

    Watch the status

    The tag at the top runs "Draft — not sent yet", then "Sent — not opened yet", then "Opened by your customer", then "Approved ✓". Their page marks itself opened on its own, but your screen doesn't watch it — back out of the estimate and open it again to see the tag change.

  10. 10

    What your customer sees and how they sign

    They get a plain phone page: your logo (or the first letter of your company name in your brand color), your phone and license number, "Estimate EST-0001", the job and address, "Prepared for" their name, every line, Subtotal, Tax, Total, and "$1,500.00 deposit to get on the schedule" if you set one — then photos, notes, and terms. To sign, in the box that says "Ready to go?" they type their name under "Type your full name — this is your signature", check "I approve this estimate and agree to the terms below. My typed name counts as my signature.", and tap the green "Approve Estimate". The button stays greyed out until both are done.

  11. 11

    The moment they sign

    Their screen turns green: "You're all set ✓". Your phone buzzes with a notification that reads "✓ Estimate approved!" and names who signed — that's your signal, since email isn't on. The job flips to approved on its own. Their page keeps the record: "Signed by Jane Smith on March 4, 2026".

  12. 12

    Turn the yes into money

    Back on the estimate screen the tag reads "Approved ✓" with "Signed by Jane Smith on March 4" under it, and a new box appears: "Approved — turn it into money". With a deposit you get "Invoice the Deposit" and "Invoice the Balance". Without one, a single "Convert to Invoice". One tap builds the invoice and opens it.

  13. 13

    Get a PDF

    At the bottom of the estimate screen, tap "Download PDF". It opens in your browser — from there use your phone's share or save button to keep it. Short estimates fit on one page; a long line list runs onto a second. The PDF shows your logo, address, phone, license number, the customer and job, every line, subtotal, tax, total, deposit, notes, and terms.

  14. 14

    Changing or resending after you sent

    You can't edit a sent estimate — the lines lock the moment it leaves draft. To change anything, build a new one from the job ("+ New estimate"); the old one stays in the job's estimate list as history. If they never opened it, the send box reads "Send again" and the button "Resend" — same link, same number. Once approved, the send box is replaced by one button: "View the signed proposal".

Worth knowing

  • The orange "EDIT ME" tag means that price is still the sample the app shipped, not yours. Fix it in the Settings tab → "Price Book" before you quote it, or you're quoting a made-up number.
  • Watch the running total in the white bar while you're standing in front of the customer — it updates as you type.
  • No customer email? Leave it blank, tap "Send Estimate", then "Text the link". The page works the same.
  • "Opened by your customer" means they looked and didn't sign. That's a phone call, not another email.
  • Deposit is a percent, not dollars. Type 30, not 1500 — and you retype it on every estimate; there's no saved default.
  • Set your terms once in Settings under "Default terms" and every estimate starts with them already filled in.
  • If the customer says the link is dead ("This estimate link isn't active."), you shared it before tapping "Send Estimate" — the page stays dark until you send. Send, then share the link. It never expires and never changes, so re-copying won't fix it.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (15)
  • Email isn't connected. Tapping "Send Estimate" gives the orange note "Email sending isn't connected yet — share the link below by text." The proposal page still goes live and works — you just send the link yourself with "Copy link" or "Text the link". Nothing texts the customer for you either: "Text the link" opens your own messaging app with the link typed in, and you pick the person and hit send. Email can be switched on during setup; it hasn't been yet.
  • Estimates need a live connection. Building, saving, sending, and the customer signing all need signal — in a basement or a dead zone "Preview →" will fail. Photos and expenses save offline and catch up later; estimates don't.
  • Lines you leave blank are thrown away with no warning. A square-foot line you forgot to fill in just won't be on the estimate you send. If every line is blank you get "Add at least one line".
  • You can't start an estimate without a job. With no open jobs the screen says "Estimates live on jobs" and "Create the job first — takes 30 seconds" with a "+ New Job" button, so it isn't always two taps. And the New Estimate job list only shows your 15 most recent open jobs — reach an older one from the Jobs tab, open the job, and tap "+ New estimate".
  • Photos have three catches. The grid only offers the 12 newest job photos, so older ones can't be attached. "Resend" clears your photo picks every time — re-select them or they drop off the customer's page. And after about 60 days the photos stop showing on the customer's page entirely, because the links expire.
  • There's no edit and no delete on an estimate — not even on a draft. Every change means building a new one from the job, and every abandoned draft stays in the job's estimate list for good.
  • You can't open your price list from inside the builder. Spot a wrong price mid-estimate and you have to back out, fix it in the Settings tab → "Price Book", and come back.
  • Nothing tells you when the customer opens the link — no buzz, no email, no badge. You only hear about it when they sign. "Opened by your customer" shows only when you reopen the estimate yourself.
  • The approval buzz needs notifications turned on. Scroll to the bottom of the Home tab and tap "Turn On Notifications". On an iPhone you have to install the app to your home screen first (Share → Add to Home Screen) and open it from there — until then the card just reads "Install Darby to get notifications" with no button to tap. With notifications off and email off, nothing tells you they signed until you next open the estimate.
  • Set up Settings before your first real estimate or the paperwork's wrong: "Tax rate (%)" (set it, or every estimate, proposal page, and PDF shows a "Tax (0%) $0.00" line), "Default terms", plus your logo, phone, and "License #" — those print on the customer's page and the PDF.
  • If you took the starter price list during setup, it's stucco work at sample prices — all seven items flagged "EDIT ME" until you change them. If you tapped "Skip — I'll build my own", your list starts empty. Either way, HVAC or any other trade means building the list from nothing.
  • The PDF doesn't show the signature — the signed record only lives on the customer's page and your estimate screen. If a lender or inspector needs signed paper, this won't give it to you. "Download PDF" also only works while you're signed in, so you can't hand that link to a customer.
  • The customer's page has no decline or "request changes" button — they can only say yes. A no comes to you by phone.
  • Dates and day boundaries run on Central time for everyone right now. If you work outside Central, a date like the signed date can land on the wrong day near midnight.
  • The invoice this creates takes no online card payment. You mark it paid by hand — check or cash — when the money comes in.

Part 5 of 7

Invoices and getting paid

This is how you bill a customer and track the money coming in. Turn an approved estimate into an invoice, or build one from scratch, share it with the customer, and mark it paid when the money lands.

  1. 1

    Open the job

    Tap "Jobs" in the bottom bar. Tap the job you want to bill. Scroll down past the photos to the "Estimates" section. The "Invoices" section is right below it.

  2. 2

    Turn an approved estimate into an invoice

    In the "Estimates" section, tap the estimate. It has to say "approved". A box appears that says "Approved — turn it into money". If you set a deposit percent on that estimate, you get two buttons: "Invoice the Deposit" and "Invoice the Balance". If you did not, you get one button: "Convert to Invoice". Tap the one you want — one tap builds the invoice and opens it. The deposit buttons only show up when the estimate has a deposit percent.

  3. 3

    What the balance invoice does with the deposit

    Tap "Invoice the Balance" and the app subtracts the deposit for you. You will see a line that reads "Less deposit received" with a minus amount. One catch: it only subtracts a deposit invoice you already sent. If you made the deposit invoice but never tapped "Send Invoice" on it, the balance invoice comes out for the full amount. Send the deposit invoice first.

  4. 4

    Or build an invoice from scratch

    In the "Invoices" section, tap "+ New invoice". The "New Invoice" screen opens with one blank line. Type the work in "What's this for?", fill in "Qty" and "Price", and "Line" fills in on its own. Tap "+ Add a line" for each extra item. Type anything else in "Notes — optional". Tap "Create →". There is no due date or email box here — you set those on the next screen when you send. "Create →" stays grey until the total is above zero, and any blank line or a line with Qty 0 is dropped.

  5. 5

    Send it, then share the link

    On the invoice screen, type the customer's email in "Customer email" (it fills in on its own if the customer has one saved). "Due date" starts 14 days out — change it if you want. Tap "Send Invoice". That is what turns the share link on and gives the invoice its number, and the job moves to "invoiced". Email is not connected right now, so nothing gets emailed — you will see "Invoice page is live ✓ — email isn't connected yet, share the link below." That is expected. Then tap "Text the link" (your phone's message app opens with the link already typed; you pick the person and hit send yourself) or "Copy link" to paste it anywhere. "Copy link" flips to "Copied ✓" for a second. Both only work after you tap "Send Invoice" — the link is dead until then.

  6. 6

    What the customer sees

    The link opens a plain page. At the top is your logo — or a colored square with your first initial if you have not added a logo in "Settings" — then your company name, phone, and license number. Below that: "Invoice" and the number, the job name, the line items, and a big "Amount due". Under that a line reads "<Your company> accepts check or cash — call <your phone> to arrange payment." Put your phone number in "Settings" — without it that line just says "call your contractor", which looks broken to a customer. Your notes, if you wrote any, show below. When card payments get switched on during setup, a green "Pay Now" button shows there instead.

  7. 7

    Mark it paid

    Open the invoice. Tap "Mark as Paid (check / cash)". The "Record a payment" box opens with "Amount received" already filled with the full balance and "Check" already picked — tap "Cash", "Card", or "Other" to change it. Tap the green "Record" button with the amount. For a partial payment, type a smaller number in "Amount received" first. You will see "Payment recorded ✓" and how much is in so far, the chip turns to "partial", and the invoice shows "Total", "Paid", and "Balance". Record again each time more money lands. When the payments reach the total it flips to "Paid in full". Check the amount before you tap "Record" — there is no undo.

  8. 8

    Chase an overdue invoice

    Once today is past the due date and the invoice is not fully paid, the chip turns red and reads "overdue", the date line adds "— overdue", and a "Send Friendly Reminder" button appears. It also shows on the Home tab under "Needs your attention" with how many days late — tap the flag to jump straight to the invoice. "Send Friendly Reminder" sends an email, so until email is switched on during setup it will not actually go out — chase them with the shared link instead.

  9. 9

    See the money

    Tap "Money" in the bottom bar. "Money in" counts the payments you recorded inside the period you pick at the top — "This month", "This quarter", or "This year". The list below it, "Jobs — best to worst (all time)", is always all-time and does not change when you switch periods.

Worth knowing

  • The "Due date" box starts 14 days out on a brand-new invoice. After that it shows the date already saved. Careful on a resend: whatever is in that box gets saved again, so if you change it there, you have moved the due date.
  • When the customer opens the link, the invoice chip changes from "sent" to "viewed" on its own. That is how you know they saw it. It only flips the first time, and only from "sent" — a partly-paid invoice stays on "partial".
  • Tapping "Send Invoice" again changes the button to "Resend Invoice". It sends the same invoice — it does not make a new one.
  • A deposit invoice has no tax on it. The tax rides on the balance invoice.
  • Marking a regular invoice paid in full moves the whole job to "paid" for you. A deposit being paid does not.
  • Every payment shows under a "Payments" heading on the invoice — amount, "by" the method, and the date, newest on top. That heading only appears after the first payment is recorded.
  • The "Download PDF" link sits at the very bottom of the invoice screen.
  • The share link works for the customer with no login and no app.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (14)
  • Card payments are switched off. They need to be switched on during setup. Until then no one can pay you by card, the customer's page tells them to call for check or cash, and you mark invoices paid by hand. The "Card" button in the "Record a payment" box does not charge anyone either — it only labels money you already collected some other way.
  • Emailing invoices is not connected. It needs to be switched on during setup. Right now nothing gets emailed — you share the link by hand with "Copy link" or "Text the link", and "Send Friendly Reminder" will not go out either.
  • There is no hands-off texting. "Text the link" opens your own phone's message app with the link ready; you still pick the person and hit send yourself.
  • The app runs on Central time for everyone right now. If you work outside Central time, day boundaries — like when an invoice counts as overdue, or which day a payment lands in — will be off by your time difference.
  • One login per company. There are no separate crew or worker accounts yet — everyone shares the one login.
  • There is no single screen that lists all your invoices. You reach an invoice through its job, or through an overdue flag on the Home tab.
  • You cannot edit, void, or delete an invoice after you create it, and you cannot undo a payment you recorded. A wrong number stays until it is fixed for you.
  • Nothing stops you making the same invoice twice. The "Approved — turn it into money" box stays on the estimate after you convert, so tapping "Invoice the Balance" twice gives you two identical invoices — and you cannot delete either one.
  • Nothing checks a payment against the balance. Type any number and it saves. Anything at or above the total marks the invoice paid in full and moves a regular job to "paid", with no undo.
  • Payments are stamped the moment you tap "Record". There is no date field, so a check you took last week still shows today's date under "Payments".
  • Invoices and payments need a live internet connection. Unlike photos and expenses, they are not saved up to send later. On a bad-signal jobsite this part will not work until you are back on signal.
  • An invoice with no due date never goes overdue — it never turns red, never shows "Send Friendly Reminder", and never lands on the Home tab's "Needs your attention" list. If you clear the "Due date" box before sending, you lose the whole chase-it system for that invoice.
  • Invoices you build by hand with "+ New invoice" have no tax line — tax is zero. Only estimates carry tax.
  • Once an invoice is paid in full, the action panel turns into a green "Paid in full" box. You cannot resend it, remind on it, or record anything more against it — only "Download PDF" is left.

Part 6 of 7

Costs, receipts and profit

Log what a job costs you so Darby can tell you what you actually made. You snap a receipt, Darby reads the amount off it, and that cost lands on the job. The job screen shows what you spent against what you planned, and the Money tab adds it all up.

  1. 1

    Open the expense screen

    From Home, tap "New Expense". Or open a job and tap "+ New expense" next to the "Money out" heading. Either way you land on the screen titled "New Expense". Coming in from a job does not lock the expense to that job — Darby still guesses, so check the "Which job?" list before you save.

  2. 2

    Snap the receipt

    Tap the big blue "Snap the receipt" button. Under it, it says "Darby reads the amount for you". Your camera opens. Take the picture of the receipt and accept it.

  3. 3

    Let it read

    You see your photo and the words "Reading the receipt…". Don't tap anything. When it finishes you get a card with a green check: "Read it ✓", the store name, and the dollar amount in big numbers.

  4. 4

    Check the amount, category and job

    Eyeball the number — it says "Wrong? Just tap the number and fix it.", so tap the big number and retype if it's off. Darby is reading a crumpled receipt, same as you. Under it is a row of buttons — "Materials", "Labor", "Equipment", "Subs", "Other" — with Darby's pick in blue; tap another if it's wrong. Under "Which job?", if a job is on today's calendar Darby highlights it in blue with a "TODAY" tag. If nothing is scheduled today and you have more than one open job, nothing is picked — you have to tap the job yourself, and Save stays greyed out until you do. If Darby read the wrong receipt entirely, tap "Start over" under Save.

  5. 5

    Save it

    Tap the big green button — it shows the amount, like "Save $412.87". A green bar says "$412.87 logged ✓" and the screen resets for the next receipt. There's an "Open this job →" link at the bottom, but after a save it jumps back to whatever job Darby has highlighted, not always the one you just logged. To be sure, go to the Jobs tab and open the job by name.

  6. 6

    No receipt — type it in

    On the first screen, tap "No receipt? Type it in". Under "How much?" type the amount. Pick a category, pick the job under "Which job?", and type what it was in "What was it? (optional)". Tap "Save Expense".

  7. 7

    When you have no signal

    Being out of service doesn't warn you up front. After you snap a receipt with no bars you get an orange bar: "No signal — type the amount and it'll upload later." Type the amount and save like normal. The save bar comes up ORANGE, not green, and says "$412.87 saved to your phone ✓ — uploads when signal returns." Orange here isn't a problem — it just means it's still on your phone. An orange badge shows how many items are "saved on this phone — waiting for signal"; that count is everything waiting — job photos AND receipts together — so it's usually bigger than the receipts you just did. While it's sending it just says "Uploading…". Darby uploads them on its own once you get bars back.

  8. 8

    Read the job's numbers

    Open the job from the Jobs tab. Under the job name is a white box with two numbers: "Expected profit" (what the estimate said you'd make) and "Real profit" — which reads "Real profit so far" while the job is still running. Both show a dash until there's an estimate and real money on the job. Once money has moved, a "Money in" (green) and "Money out" (red) line appears under them. Below that is one line per category, like "Materials $2,140 / $1,800 budget" — left is what you really spent, right is what the estimate planned. Over budget shows a red tag like "19% over". That's your early warning to slow down or write a change order.

  9. 9

    See every cost on the job

    Scroll that same job screen to the "Money out" heading. Every expense is listed newest first: amount, category, what it was, and the date. That's your paper trail.

  10. 10

    Check the whole business on the Money tab

    Tap "Money" in the bottom bar. Three buttons pick the window: "This month", "This quarter", "This year". The tiles below show "Money in" (always green), "Money out" (always red) and a big "Profit" number. Only the Profit number changes color: green means you're up, red means you're down. Scroll to "Jobs — best to worst (all time)" to see every job with money moving, ranked. Tap any job to open it.

Worth knowing

  • When it works it's three taps: "Snap the receipt", check the number, "Save". Do it standing at the supply counter, not at the kitchen table at 9pm.
  • Darby only pre-picks a job when one is on today's calendar. Any other time, glance at "Which job?" and pick it yourself before you save.
  • A red "Real profit so far" mid-job is normal — you've paid for material and the balance invoice hasn't landed yet. The note under the numbers says the same.
  • The budget lines only mean something if you built an estimate for that job first. No estimate, no budget to compare against.
  • You can attach a receipt after typing, with the "📷 Snap the receipt (optional)" button. But if you have signal, Darby reads that photo and REPLACES the amount, category and description you just typed. Check the number again before you save.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (20)
  • Receipt reading needs signal. No bars means you type the amount, every time.
  • The reader looks for the grand total after tax. On receipts with deposits, returns, or two totals it can grab the wrong one — check the number before you save.
  • The reader can also come back empty. If it can't find a total, or decides it isn't a receipt, you get an orange "Couldn't read a total on that one — type the amount." and land in the type-it-in screen. Your photo is still attached — just type the amount and save.
  • Reading a receipt sends the photo off your phone to an outside AI service. If a receipt has something on it you'd rather not send out, use "No receipt? Type it in" instead.
  • You can't look at a saved receipt photo later. It's stored, but no screen in Darby shows it back to you. Keep the paper for taxes or a dispute.
  • You can't edit or delete an expense once it's saved — there's no button for it anywhere. A wrong amount stays wrong.
  • There's no date box. Every expense is stamped the moment you tap Save, so you can't log yesterday's receipt as yesterday, and catching up on a pile bunches them all onto today.
  • The day boundary is fixed to Central time for everyone. Outside Central, the day can flip at the wrong hour, so an expense or a Money window can land on the wrong day.
  • The "Which job?" list is your 10 most recently created open jobs, with no search and no "show more". Closed and lost jobs never appear, so you can't log a late cost against a job you already closed — and if you have more than 10 open jobs, the oldest ones can't be picked from this screen at all.
  • With no open jobs at all, you can't log an expense. The screen shows "Costs live on jobs" and "Create the job first, then log what you spend" with a "+ New Job" button. Make the job first.
  • The Save button stays greyed out until there's an amount above zero AND a job picked. If tapping Save seems to do nothing, one of those is missing.
  • Offline logging only works if you already opened "New Expense" once while you had signal — otherwise it falls back to the Home screen. And even from cache, the job list is your last-visit copy, so a job created since then won't be there.
  • An expense saved with no signal is invisible everywhere until it uploads — not on the job's "Money out", not in "Real profit", not on the Money tab. Only the orange badge knows it's there, so don't re-enter it thinking it didn't save.
  • On the review screen after a good read there's no "What was it?" box. Darby writes the description from the store name and its own summary, and you can't change it. Only "No receipt? Type it in" lets you write your own.
  • The budget lines come from one estimate per job — the approved one, or the newest if none is approved. Change that estimate and the budget changes with it.
  • Estimate lines you type in by hand instead of picking from the price book get filed as "Other", so their money shows on the "Other" budget line, not Materials or Labor.
  • "Money in" on the job comes only from payments recorded against invoices. Card processing isn't set up, so you mark invoices paid by hand — until you do, "Money in" and "Real profit" read low. Cash or a check you never record never shows up.
  • The Money leaderboard is always all-time. The "This month / This quarter / This year" buttons only change the three tiles at the top, not the ranking underneath. And the tiles and the leaderboard add up incoming money in slightly different ways, so they may not match exactly — treat both as a gut check, not your books.
  • One login per company. There are no separate crew logins yet, so every receipt gets logged from the one account.
  • None of this is bookkeeping. No tax handling, no mileage, no overhead split, and nothing exports to an accountant.

Part 7 of 7

Scheduling jobs and telling people

The Calendar tab is where you put approved jobs on a day and move them around: the calendar grid on top, the list of approved jobs waiting for a day at the bottom. Setting up your suppliers is one screen over — there's a "Suppliers" link in the top right.

  1. 1

    Open the calendar

    Tap "Calendar" in the bottom bar. You land on this month. Today's date sits in a filled circle. Each scheduled job shows as a small colored bar on its day.

  2. 2

    Switch between Month and Week

    Under the date at the top there are two buttons: "Month" and "Week". Tap the one you want; the one you're on turns solid. Week view gives one row per day, with the day name and number on the left and a dash "—" on days with nothing on them. Week view shows every job on a day; Month view only fits three.

  3. 3

    Move around, and jump back to today

    Tap "‹" to go back and "›" to go forward. In Month view it jumps a month; in Week view, a week. To snap back, tap "Today" — the small blue word right under the date. The date reads like "March 2026" in Month view and "Week of Mar 3" in Week view.

  4. 4

    Add your suppliers first

    Do this before your busy season. From the calendar, tap "Suppliers" in the top right. Tap "+ New Supplier". Fill in "Supplier name (e.g. Ferguson)", "Contact name", "Phone", "Email". Under "Notify by" tap "Email", "Text", or "Both". Tap "Save". To change one later, tap its name or "Edit"; to remove it, open it and tap "Delete" — it asks "Remove this supplier?" first. Until you've saved at least one supplier, the "Suppliers on this job" section won't show up anywhere.

  5. 5

    Find the jobs that still need a day

    Scroll to the bottom. Look for the heading in small capitals: "APPROVED — NOT SCHEDULED (3)". Each job there has a green dot, the job name, the customer name, and "Schedule" on the right. If you don't see that heading at all, no approved jobs are waiting — that's normal, not a problem. Only jobs marked approved land here; leads and estimates don't.

  6. 6

    Put a job on a day (two taps)

    Tap the job in the "APPROVED — NOT SCHEDULED" list. Its right side changes to "Pick a day →" and a blue bar appears up top: "Tap a day to schedule" with the job name. Tap the day you want. Done — the job drops onto that day and leaves the list. Behind the scenes it's now marked "scheduled" instead of "approved", which is why it won't come back to this list if you take it off later. Changed your mind before tapping a day? Tap "Cancel" in the blue bar.

  7. 7

    Move a job, and tag who's on it

    Tap the colored bar for the job. A panel slides up with the job and customer name. If suppliers should be told, tap them under "Suppliers on this job" FIRST — they turn solid blue — because moving the job closes this panel. Then under "Move to" pick the new day and tap the blue "Move Job". "Move Job" stays grayed out until you pick a different day than the one it's on.

  8. 8

    Tell people about the new day

    The moment the job moves, a panel slides up: "Moved to" the new day, then "Tell people?". Two checkboxes: "Customer" and "Suppliers on this job". Untick anyone you don't want to bother, then tap the blue "Send the heads-up", or tap "Skip" to send nothing. The "Customer" box starts unticked if the job has no customer attached, and the "Suppliers on this job" box only reaches suppliers you tapped on in the panel before you moved it.

  9. 9

    Check that it went out

    After "Send the heads-up" the panel shows a green line — "Sent 2 notices ✓" — then closes itself after about a second and a half. If it says "Nobody had a reachable contact — no notices sent.", that does not always mean their info is blank (see the limits). There's no sent history, so that green line is the only confirmation you get.

  10. 10

    Take a job back off the calendar

    Tap the colored bar, then at the bottom of the panel tap the red "Remove from calendar". It comes off the day right away — no "are you sure", no undo. It will NOT go back to the "APPROVED — NOT SCHEDULED" list, because scheduling it marked the job "scheduled". To find it again, go to the Jobs tab.

Worth knowing

  • Two taps schedules a job: tap it in the "APPROVED — NOT SCHEDULED" list, then tap the day.
  • A day box in Month view only shows three jobs. More than that shows as "+2" underneath — switch to "Week" to see them all.
  • Bar color is a rough hint, not a rule: blue means scheduled or invoiced, orange means in progress, dark green means paid, gray means a lead or a closed job, red means lost. Two of those blues look alike on a phone in the sun, so tap the bar when you need to be sure.
  • In Month view, tapping an empty day does nothing unless you've already picked a job from the list first. That's on purpose, so you don't create jobs by accident with muddy hands.
  • When texting and email get switched on later, set a supplier's "Notify by" to "Both" so an email backs up the text.
Straight talk — what this part doesn't do (15)
  • Automatic texting and email haven't been switched on yet. Until they're turned on during setup, "Send the heads-up" reaches no one — you'll see "Nobody had a reachable contact — no notices sent." every time, even with the customer's phone and email filled in. The move to the new day still saves; for now, you tell people yourself. That same line also shows when a send fails, so it's never proof that a contact is blank.
  • The "Tell people?" panel only appears when you MOVE a job that's already on the calendar. Scheduling a job for the first time never asks to tell anyone, and there's no notify button anywhere else. If you tap "Skip", the only way to get the panel back is to move the job to another day and back.
  • "Remove from calendar" is instant — no confirmation and no undo — and the job does not return to the "APPROVED — NOT SCHEDULED" list. Putting it on the calendar marked it "scheduled", and taking it off doesn't undo that. Find it again on the Jobs tab.
  • The "Suppliers on this job" picker opens blank every time — it doesn't show who you already picked. Tapping a supplier replaces the whole set with just what's lit up right then, so re-opening and tapping one can quietly drop the others. Pick all the suppliers for that job in one go, each time you open it.
  • Every panel on this screen closes if you tap the dark area outside it — mid-edit included.
  • Dragging a job to a new day only works on a computer. On a phone the bars don't drag — tap the bar and use "Move to".
  • Every job goes on as a single all-day block. You can't set how many days a job runs, can't give it a start time, and there are no time slots anywhere.
  • Only approved jobs go on this calendar. There's no way to add a plain appointment, a day off, or an inspection.
  • Nothing stops you double-booking. You can stack any number of jobs on one day; Month view just hides everything past the third behind "+N".
  • The calendar only loads jobs for the month or week you're looking at. A job scheduled far out won't show until you page to it — there's no single list of everything.
  • The days flip over on Central time for everyone. If you work outside Central time, "Today" and the day a job lands on follow Central, not your own clock.
  • One login per company. There are no separate crew or worker accounts yet, so your guys can't log in to see the schedule themselves.
  • There's no delivery log. The app doesn't keep a record of notices you can check later, and moving a job quietly clears any "already told them" mark — nothing on screen tells you whether a job's people have been told.
  • The month grid always shows six weeks, so faded days from the month before and after are always on screen. Tap one of those while a job is armed and it schedules into that neighboring month — the grid won't stop you.
  • Dates only work between the years 2000 and 2100. Type something outside that in "Move to" and you get "That date doesn't look right — pick a day between 2000 and 2100."

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