WoodWorkCalc guide · Estimating
Use Customer and Job Records in WoodWorkCalc
A job is easier to run when the customer information, quote, task list, materials, status, and operations notes do not live in separate places. WoodWorkCalc gives those records clear roles so each project can be picked back up without reconstructing its history.
Follow this in WoodWorkCalc
The workflow, screen by screen.
Open the linked area as you move through the job. Each step has one job so the record stays clean.
- 01
Create the customer context
Use Customers for contact history and the ongoing relationship around the work.
Open Customers - 02
Attach a clear quote
Use the quote to capture the approved scope and commercial decision before production begins.
Open Quotes - 03
Run the project as a job
Use Jobs for status, tasks, items, and the production work that has to happen next.
Open Jobs - 04
Review the finished record
Use the job and operations context to compare what was planned with the work that actually happened.
Open Operations
Before you begin
Set up the inputs that make the workflow useful.
- Create or select the correct customer before a quote becomes long-running work.
- Use one job record for one committed project so the status and task list stay meaningful.
- Treat customer notes and production tasks as different information, even when they refer to the same project.
Customers hold relationship context
Use a customer record when a project needs a durable home for contact details, repeat work, quote history, or follow-up. That prevents a new inquiry, an old estimate, and a finished job from becoming disconnected fragments. It also makes it easier to return to a customer with the right context already in place.
Jobs hold the work itself
A job is where committed work becomes actionable. Keep the production status, tasks, job items, and what must happen next there. Quotes explain the agreed commercial decision; jobs explain how the shop will carry that decision out.
Give every status a practical meaning
Use job status to reflect actual shop state rather than a vague feeling of progress. A useful status tells you whether work is waiting, in production, complete, or no longer active. Combined with tasks and operations planning, it helps you see the load across the shop without opening every project.
Use actual outcomes to improve future work
A completed job is not the end of the record. Review what took longer, created waste, needed rework, or changed the client conversation. Those facts are the best input for a better quote and project plan next time.
Open the right workspace
Continue the workflow without hunting for the screen.
Common questions
Answers before you start the workflow.
Do customers replace quotes?
No. Customers hold relationship context; quotes hold the commercial decision; jobs hold the committed production work. Keeping the roles distinct makes records easier to understand.
Should I make a job for every small calculation?
No. Start with a calculator. Create a quote or job only when the decision becomes real customer or production work that needs to be saved and managed.