The Setup Checklist: tailor FieldForge before you go live

These print on every invoice and estimate and drive schedules and reminders. Most are captured when you sign up; confirm them.

• Company name, phone, email, address Required
  Your business identity on every document and the number/email customers reply to.
  Where: set at signup; edit any time in Settings › Company Profile.
• Timezone Required
  Drives "today," schedules, and when reminders send. Get this right or reminders fire at the wrong hour.
  Where: Settings › Company.
• Currency & date format Optional
  How money and dates display. Defaults to USD and MM/DD/YYYY.
  Where: Settings › Company.
• Invoice logo Optional
  Your logo on invoices, estimates and the customer’s pay page. A small thing that makes you look established.
  Where: Settings › Invoice Logo. Paid plans. Owner.

Set these before you bill anything. They decide what the voice AI charges and whether your reports show real profit.

• Hourly (labor) rate Required
  What you charge per labor hour. The voice AI multiplies the hours it hears by this to price labor.
  Where: signup, then Settings.
• Minimum labor minutes Optional
  The labor floor billed even on a five-minute fix (default 30). Protects the value of a truck roll.
  Where: signup / Settings.
• Tax rate Required
  Your sales-tax percentage, applied automatically.
  Where: signup / Settings.
• Tax applies to Required
  A real decision that varies by state and trade: tax parts only, parts and labor, or nothing. Set it wrong and every invoice is off. Ask your accountant if unsure.
  Where: Settings › Company. Owner.
• Tech cost / hour Optional, powerful
  Your loaded labor cost per hour. Enter it and Insights shows true profit, not just revenue, on every job. Leave it blank and reports show revenue only.
  Where: Settings. Owner.
• Member discount Optional
  A percentage (0 to 25) that maintenance-plan members get off automatically, shown as a line item. Set it only if you run memberships.
  Where: Settings. Trio and up. Owner.

Your catalog is what the voice AI prices from. Bring years of pricing with you instead of retyping it.

• Import your parts / price book Required
  Upload the CSV export from Profit Rhino, ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, or your own spreadsheet. Match the columns once (it guesses for you) and pick only the categories you actually work. Duplicates are skipped.
  Where: Parts Book › Import.
• Set the unit PRICE Required
  What you charge for each part. This is what appears on the invoice.
  Where: in the import, or the Parts Price List.
• Set the unit COST Optional, powerful
  What you pay for each part. This is the other half of profit reporting: with cost filled in, Insights and the per-job profit card show what you actually made. Without it, they can only show revenue.
  Where: the Parts Price List (Cost column).
• Flat-rate price book? Optional
  If your book is flat-rate (all-inclusive task prices), mark it so, and the voice AI bills the listed price without stacking labor on top.
  Where: the price-book import.
• Common aliases / nicknames Optional
  Add the names your techs actually say (“45/5” for a capacitor) so the voice AI matches the right part every time.
  Where: the parts sheet, Common Alias column.

Moving from another platform? Come with your data, not a blank slate.

• Import your customers Recommended
  Upload your customer list from any CSV export. Split-name columns are merged and duplicates are skipped, so a saved customer’s address, phone and email auto-fill on the next voice invoice.
  Where: Customers › Import CSV.
• Import past invoices & estimates Recommended
  Bring your history as closed records so search and reporting cover it. Imported records are historical only: never re-sent, charged, or reminded, and duplicates are skipped by invoice number.
  Where: Settings › Import past invoices. Owner.

Decide how money comes in. Card payments are the one to do first; the rest are levers you pull for bigger tickets.

• Connect Stripe (card payments) Required to collect online
  A two-minute Connect signup puts a Pay button on every invoice. Customers pay by card or Apple Pay, the job marks itself Paid, and the money lands in your own Stripe account. A 1% platform fee applies.
  Where: Settings › Payments. Owner.
• Bank payments (ACH) Optional
  On big invoices, let customers pay straight from their bank with no card fee, so bank transfer becomes the fee-free option. Decide: on/off and a minimum invoice amount.
  Where: Settings › Payments. Needs card payments. Owner.
• Card fee recovery Optional
  Recover the ~3% processing fee: show a lower cash price (dual pricing, legal everywhere), add a surcharge to card payments (regulated, check your state), or leave it off.
  Where: Settings › Tips & Late Fees. Owner.
• Tips at checkout Optional
  Give customers a one-tap 10/15/20% option before card checkout; the tech on the job is notified when one lands.
  Where: Settings. Needs card payments.
• Estimate deposits Optional
  Ask for a deposit (you pick 25 to 75%) when a customer approves an estimate online; the final invoice bills only the balance.
  Where: Settings. Needs card payments.
• Customer financing Optional
  Offer monthly payments (Affirm) at checkout on jobs from $50 to $30,000. You are paid in full up front; the customer owes Affirm.
  Where: Settings › Payments. Needs card payments.

• Invite your techs If you have a crew
  Add each crew member; they sign in on their phone with a text code, no app store needed.
  Where: Team. Owner or admin.
• Set roles Optional
  Owner (everything, including money and pay), admin (runs the office: dispatch, customers, stock, timesheets, no billing or pay rates), tech (their own day). Pick who sees what.
  Where: Team.
• Pay profiles If you run payroll
  Per tech, mix hourly, weekly salary, percent of sales, percent of profit, and a spiff per job. Overtime past 40h is automatic.
  Where: Payroll › Set pay. Trio and up for the full mix; hourly on Solo Pro. Owner.
• Time tracking on or off Optional
  On, techs clock in/out and those hours feed hourly payroll. Off, the clock-in button disappears from every phone and hourly payroll takes a manual hours entry instead. Turn it off if you pay flat, salary or per-job, or run solo.
  Where: Settings › Time Tracking. Owner.

• Delivery method Required
  Send invoices and estimates by SMS, email, or both. Most trades pick both.
  Where: Settings › Delivery & Reminders. Owner.
• Customer-facing photos Optional
  Show the job photos your crew snaps on the estimate approval page, the invoice, and the customer portal. The cracked-part photo does the selling; the after shot heads off disputes. One switch turns it off if you prefer.
  Where: Settings.

These run themselves once switched on. Decide which fit how you like to operate; you can leave any of them off.

• Customer payment reminders Optional
  Automatically remind customers about unpaid invoices, at the frequency you choose, until they pay.
  Where: Settings. Trio and up.
• Review requests Optional
  After a job is paid, ask for a Google review with your link and send one gentle reminder. Paste your review link to switch it on.
  Where: Settings › Customer Reviews. Solo Pro and up.
• Estimate follow-ups Optional
  Nudge quotes that go quiet, in your own words, stopping the moment they approve or you convert it.
  Where: Settings. Solo Pro and up.
• Appointment reminders Optional
  Remind customers the day before their visit to cut no-shows.
  Where: Settings. Solo Pro and up.
• Estimate signature Optional
  Ask the customer to sign on the glass when they approve an estimate, in person or online.
  Where: Settings.
• Owner morning report Optional
  A daily text to the owner listing what is unpaid and aging, so nothing slips.
  Where: Settings › Delivery & Reminders. Owner.

Tailor how work moves through your shop. All optional; add them when they earn their keep.

• Job forms & checklists Optional
  Build a checklist once (tune-up steps, install QA, safety checks) and matching visits grow it on the tech’s phone. Mark one required and the visit cannot be marked Done until it is finished.
  Where: Settings › Job Forms. Trio and up.
• Job stages Optional
  Your own workflow stages (Needs parts, Awaiting approval, Ready, In progress, Done) that run alongside the schedule status and show as a board on Dispatch.
  Where: Settings › Job Stages. Trio and up.
• Maintenance plans / memberships Optional
  Set a plan once (price, cycle, visit cadence) and FieldForge generates the visits and invoices, with optional autopay. Pairs with the member discount above.
  Where: Settings › Maintenance Plans. Trio and up.
• Recurring invoice auto-send Optional
  When a plan bills, either send the invoice straight to the customer or leave it as a draft for your review.
  Where: Settings › Maintenance Plans.
• Automatic late fees Optional
  Add a late fee (a percent, after a number of days) to invoices that go overdue.
  Where: Settings › Tips & Late Fees. Solo Pro and up.

An optional AI receptionist that answers your business line 24/7, quotes your fee, and books straight into your schedule. Turn it on only if you want it.

• Turn on the receptionist and set its rules Optional add-on
  Decide the greeting name, your service-call fee (and whether it is waived with a repair), an after-hours fee, a transfer number for when a human is needed, and whether it books automatically or leaves requests for you to confirm.
  Where: Settings › Front Desk. Owner.

Do these when you are up and running; none block your first invoice.

• QuickBooks Optional
  Sync paid jobs to QuickBooks Online automatically, or export a monthly accountant-ready CSV.
  Where: Settings › QuickBooks. Sync on all plans; CSV export Crew and up.
• Thumbtack & Angi leads Optional
  Turn your Thumbtack and Angi leads into booking requests that land in Dispatch, with the customer’s details already filled in.
  Where: Settings › Integrations.
• Free company website Optional
  Every company gets a one-page booking website built from data already in FieldForge. Pick your web address and publish.
  Where: Settings › My Website.
• Referral code Optional
  Earn a free month for every paid referral. Share your code.
  Where: Settings › Referral Code.
• Confirm your plan Optional
  Solo (free) to Fleet. Your plan sets your tech count and which features above are available. Upgrade any time as the crew grows.
  Where: Settings › Plan & Billing. Owner.