Skip to content

Work phases

A work phase is a stage a job runs through: mobilizing, roughing in, pulling wire, trimming out, punching the list. Flow uses them in two places that matter:

  • Scope items map onto phases. "Install new duplex outlet" runs through rough-in, wire pull and trim. You set that under Settings → Scope items.
  • A bid opens with the phases its scope items need. Your estimator fills in who and how many hours instead of retyping the steps on every job.

So this list is the vocabulary every bid is built out of. It should be your words for your work.

Find it under Settings → Work phases. Only a tenant owner can view or change it.

The seeded phases are a starting point, not a standard

Your account is set up with seven phases — Mobilization / Site Setup, Rough-In — Conduit, Panel / Service Installation, Wire Pull, Device / Fixture Trim, Testing & Commissioning, Punch List / Closeout.

They came from one real electrical job's estimate. They are there so the bid builder works on day one. They are not a standard and they are not exhaustive. If your shop trenches, cores, terminates or commissions as its own stage, add it. If half of these describe work you never do, take them out.

Add a phase

  1. Click + Add a phase.
  2. Type the name as your crew says it — "Trenching", "Set & Grout", "Fire Alarm Terminations".
  3. Click Save.

The new phase goes on the end of the list. Move it where it belongs with the arrows.

Rename a phase

  1. Click Rename on the row.
  2. Edit the name and click Save.

Renaming only changes what it is called. Every scope item mapped to that phase stays mapped, and a bid you have already sent keeps the wording it went out with. You can safely rename "Rough-In — Conduit" to "Rough-In — EMT" without touching anything else.

Put them in your order

The order on this screen is the order your estimator is offered phases, and the order a new bid lists its labor lines. Use the ↑ and ↓ buttons on a row to move it one place earlier or later. The arrows on the first and last rows are switched off, because there is nowhere further to go.

There is no dragging — the arrows work the same with a mouse, a keyboard or a screen reader.

Remove a phase

Click Remove on the row.

Flow refuses if scope items still run through that phase, and tells you which ones. That is deliberate: removing it would quietly strip that step from every one of those scope items, and their bids would start opening one phase short without anything warning you.

Each row shows how many scope items depend on it, so you can see which ones are safe to remove before you try. To remove a phase that is in use:

  1. Go to Settings → Scope items.
  2. For each scope item named in the refusal, untick that phase and save.
  3. Come back and remove the phase.

Removing or renaming never changes a bid you've already sent

A bid stores the phase names it was priced with, not a link back to this screen. Rename a phase, reorder the list, or delete one entirely — every bid already built keeps exactly the phases and wording the customer saw.

Who can do this

Work phases are owner-only. Estimators build bids using them but can't change the list.