Fabricator FAQ

#The flow, start to finish

1. A builder submits plans near you. Gage prices the job from your rates and offers it to the nearest shops that can take it. Nothing is owed.
2. The builder picks you and accepts the price range. You review the drawings and submit a firm final quote from your job page. Still nothing owed.
3. The builder approves your final quote. Approving is a commitment on their side: they type their name, agree to the Terms of Use, and confirm they intend to go ahead with you and expect you to contact them about a deposit. You are emailed straight away, and you have 48 hours to confirm.
4. You confirm by paying Gage's fee. Press Confirm & Pay on the job page. The fee is charged to your card on file, using any credit you hold first. Only a successful payment confirms the job.
5. The job is yours. The builder's contact details appear on the job page, you both get a confirmation email, and the builder sees your company name. Arrange the deposit and schedule directly with them.
6. Build and deliver. Start production, mark it shipped, mark it delivered. The builder is told at each step.

If you do not confirm within 48 hours, the job goes to the next nearest shop and the builder is told. Nothing is charged.

#Getting your own customers' jobs

#How do I make sure a customer I found ends up with my shop?

Gage ties a project to your shop only when it starts from your estimator. There are two ways in:

1. The estimator on your website. Paste the code from Widget once. Every estimate and saved project from it is yours.
2. Your Gage link, buildwithgage.com/estimate/…. It opens your estimator as a page on Gage, so it works without a website. Email or text it to customers, or put it on quotes and social. Copy it from your dashboard or the Widget page.

Projects from either skip the routing: they come straight to you, at your rates.

#Can I just tell customers to submit their plans on buildwithgage.com?

Not if you want the job. Plans submitted on buildwithgage.com without your link are routed to the nearest shops that can take them, and that may be another shop. Send your link instead.

#What if I turn my estimator off?

Your website's estimator and your Gage link both show that estimates are paused, and ask the customer to contact you directly. Turn it back on from the Widget page.

#Production and scheduling

#How are production and ship dates worked out?

Set your weekly capacity on the Production page: the floor area you fabricate in a typical week. Your confirmed jobs line up in order, and each gets a projected production week and ship week from that capacity and the jobs ahead of it. The builder sees the same dates on their project page, and partner apps like Ekstra get them by webhook, so nobody has to call to ask. When your queue moves, their dates move with it.

#Can I change the order, or promise a date?

Yes. Move jobs up or down on the Production page, or promise a start week for a job; a promised week is kept and the rest of the queue fills around it.

#What is the checklist on each job?

What has to be true before fabrication: deposit received, drawings approved, delivery window agreed, site ready for delivery. The builder (or the partner app) ticks their items, you confirm the deposit. A job gets dates once every item is done, and keeps its place in the queue meanwhile.

#Does my backlog affect new jobs?

Yes. With a capacity set, your estimates quote your real lead time instead of the default 21 days. You can set a limit, say 8 weeks, beyond which Gage stops sending you new network jobs until the queue clears. And when two shops are close on price, the one with open weeks gets the job.

#Paying Gage

#How much is the fee?

Your plan's rate on the final quote you submitted: 1% on Basic, 0.7% on Premium, 0.5% on Enterprise. On a $50,000 frame at Basic that is $500. The fee is worked out by Gage from the quote on record, and shown before you pay.

#Why do I pay when I confirm, rather than when the job is delivered?

Confirming is when the job becomes yours: the builder's contact details, the approved quote and the full job file open up at that moment. Paying then is what keeps the job with the shop that committed to it, instead of whoever calls the builder first.

#How do I pay?

Save a card once under Billing. It is held by Stripe; Gage never sees the number. When you confirm a job, the fee is charged to it there and then. Your builder pays you however you agree between you: Gage never touches the builder's money.

#My card was declined. What happens?

The job stays unconfirmed and you see the bank's reason. Replace the card under Billing and press Confirm & Pay again. The 48-hour window keeps running, so do it promptly.

#Do I get a receipt?

Yes. When you confirm, Gage emails you what was charged to your card and what came from credit.

#Is there a monthly subscription?

Yes, when you choose a plan. Basic is $99 a month and Premium $349, billed monthly to your card through Stripe; Enterprise is set up with our team. Choose, switch or cancel under Billing. Switching adjusts your next bill for the rest of the month, and a cancelled plan runs to the end of the month you paid for. Nothing is refunded for part of a month. Your plan also sets your fee rate on completed sales.

#Do I need a plan?

For instant estimates, yes. The estimator on your website and your Gage link price customers instantly on a plan, from $99 a month (Basic). Without one they still take the customer's upload and send it to you as a lead, with their drawings, through a quote form; they just do not show a price. Gage network jobs never need a plan: you pay the job fee when you confirm one, and that is all.

If a plan payment fails, instant estimates stay on for 30 days while you update your card under Billing.

#Is there a limit on estimates from my own estimator?

Basic includes 25 instant estimates a month from the estimator on your website; Premium and Enterprise have no limit. Only estimates that were priced and shown count: failed uploads, designs sent for review and jobs Gage sends you never do. Your dashboard warns you when 5 are left. At 25, instant prices pause until your month resets on your plan's date, but customers still leave their details and each request reaches you as a lead by email, with their drawings, so you never lose one.

#When a builder does not go ahead

#The builder cancelled after I paid. Do I get my fee back?

Yes, as credit. If the builder cancels before you start production, the fee you paid on that job is added to your Gage credit, and it pays your fee the next time you confirm a job, before your card is charged. You get an email saying so, and your balance is shown under Billing.

#The builder has gone quiet, or told me they are not going ahead. What do I do?

On the job page, press Builder not going ahead? and say what happened. Gage asks the builder to confirm:

• If they confirm they are not going ahead, the project closes and your fee becomes credit.
• If they do not answer within 7 days, the same happens.
• If they say they are still going ahead, the job stays open and you are told, so you can pick it back up with them.

You can report a job once, after confirming and before starting production.

#What if the builder pulls out after I started production?

There is no credit once production has started. By then you should hold the builder's deposit; agree with them what happens to it, as you would with any customer.

#Why credit, and not money back?

Credit keeps the fee working for you on your next job, and it means nobody gains anything by reporting a job as cancelled that was really built outside Gage. Credit does not expire while your account is open.

#Can I just remove a paid job from my list?

Not from the menu. Removing a job hands it to the next shop, and your fee would be lost. Use Builder not going ahead? on the job page instead, or email support@buildwithgage.com if something else has gone wrong.

#I cannot take a job after confirming it. What happens to the fee?

Email support@buildwithgage.com. Walking away from a job you confirmed leaves a builder who approved your quote without a shop, so these are handled by a person, case by case.

#More

• Handbook: applying, rates, and a job step by step.
• Pricing: the plans and their rates.
• Anything else: support@buildwithgage.com.