Projects and work
How customers, projects, contacts, locations, and measurements fit together
Use a customer for the person or organization you serve, and a project for the specific job or operational workspace. Keep contacts, addresses, locations, and measurements attached to the record that owns them so estimates, scheduling, documents, and reports can reuse the right information.
Before you begin
- Your company may use a customized word instead of Project. JobBuddy applies that term across the portal.
- You need access to the project. Customer Admin or company-administrator access may be required for customer-level administration.
- Search for the customer and project before creating new records. Duplicates can split history, reporting, and QuickBooks mappings.
- Turn on Quantities & Takeoffs before relying on its project workspace.
My Work → Projects & Customers
Organize customer and project information
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Find or create the customer
Open My Work → Projects & Customers, then select Customers.
Search for the person or organization first. Create a customer only when the correct record does not already exist.
Expected result: One customer record holds the reusable relationship and contact information.
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Create the project for the job
Create or open the project that represents the specific job, property, or body of work.
Give it a distinct name and connect the existing customer rather than creating a duplicate customer for each job.
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Add the project address and contacts
Use the project Details area for information that belongs to this job, including the project address when your company shows that field.
Use the Customers area to confirm the customer relationships and the contacts relevant to this project.
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Use Locations for areas inside the project
Open Locations to organize physical or operational areas within the project, such as Building A, Main Floor, Kitchen, or Mechanical Room.
Keep the project address separate from these internal work areas. The address locates the project; Locations organize where work happens inside it.
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Store quantities and measurements in the project workspace
Use Quantities & Takeoffs for reusable measured values, takeoff work, and material quantities associated with the project.
Use descriptive names and units so estimating and field users understand what each value measures.
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Check downstream documents and work
Before creating estimates, schedules, routes, invoices, or reports, confirm that they reference the intended customer and project.
Correct the source record early. Copying customer or address details into unrelated fields makes later updates and reporting less reliable.
Expected result: Operational and financial records can reuse a consistent customer, project, location, and measurement structure.
Choose the right record for each kind of information
Store information where it can be safely reused by the workflows that depend on it.
Customer
The person or organization your company serves
Reuse across jobs. Keep the relationship and reusable contact information here.
Project
The specific job or operational workspace
Connect the work. Work items, files, estimates, invoices, notes, and permissions use this scope.
Contact
A person associated with the customer or project
Choose recipients carefully. Use the relevant contact for documents and communication.
Project address
The street or map location of the job
Locate the project. This can support maps, routes, geofences, and project documents where enabled.
Location
An area within the project
Organize work areas. Use a hierarchy that matches how the team talks about the site.
Quantity or measurement
A measured value used for takeoffs, materials, or estimating
Record value and unit. Use Quantities & Takeoffs when the company module is enabled.
Avoid duplicate customers and projects
Duplicates can split communication history, documents, reporting, and external accounting mappings. Search and reuse before creating a new record.
Troubleshooting
The Projects & Customers page shows only one section.
Your access may permit projects or customer administration, but not both. Ask a company administrator to review Customer Admin and project permissions.
The company does not call jobs Projects.
Use the customized term shown in your portal. The underlying relationship is the same: the record represents the job or operational workspace.
The same customer appears more than once.
Stop creating new records and identify which customer is already used by active projects and accounting mappings. Ask support or an administrator for the safest consolidation path.
Quantities & Takeoffs is missing from the project.
Confirm that the company has enabled Quantities & Takeoffs in Company Settings. Project access and module availability both apply.
A map, route, or document shows the wrong address.
Check the project address and the source record used by that workflow. Do not substitute an internal Location name for the street address.
A contact is missing when sending a document.
Confirm that the contact belongs to the customer or project relationship used by the document and that the required delivery detail is present.
What happens next
- Create work items inside the correct project so permissions, schedule, files, and reporting stay connected.
- Use the same customer record for repeat work while creating a distinct project for each job that needs its own operational history.
- Review the project’s customer, address, and contacts before sending customer-facing documents.