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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:

  • Your work maps onto phases. "Install new duplex outlet" runs through rough-in, wire pull and trim. You set that on each piece of work in Settings → Catalog (its Phases, in order; see Catalog items, kits and work). This screen still calls those pieces of work scope items.
  • A new-construction bid opens with the phases its scope needs. Your estimator fills in who and how many hours instead of retyping the steps on every job. (A remodel is bid room by room instead, so its bid opens with rooms; phases are still there for labor that isn't tied to an item.)

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. Owners can change it; anyone else needs View settings to see it, or Change settings to edit it, given in People.

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 Add phase.

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, then press Enter or click away. It saves on its own.

Renaming only changes what it is called. Every piece of work 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 any of your work still runs through that phase, and tells you which. That is deliberate: removing it would quietly strip that step from every one of those pieces of work, and their bids would start opening one phase short without anything warning you.

Each row shows how many scope items depend on it ("3 scope items"), so you can see which phases are safe to remove before you try. To remove a phase that is in use:

  1. Go to Settings → Catalog and click Work (offered at site visit).
  2. Open each piece of work named in the refusal and untick that phase under Phases, in order. It saves as you click.
  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

Out of the box, work phases are owner-only. Estimators build bids using them but can't change the list unless an owner gives them Change settings in People.