Handbook

Gage sends you framing jobs priced from your own rates. You do the fabrication and deal directly with the builder; Gage charges you a fee on jobs you confirm. This page follows one shop from application to a delivered frame.

#Applying

The quickest way in is the setup flow at /welcome/fabricator: enter your email, click the link you are sent, and it builds your account while it explains how jobs reach you. If Gage sent you an invitation link after a conversation, use that instead; your shop is approved the moment you finish. The longer application form is at /fabricators/apply: company, contact, location, machines, the job sizes you take, and a photo of the facility that builders see against your quotes. You get a confirmation email at once. Gage reviews the application and emails you either way, usually within two business days.

You can sign in as soon as you apply, but nothing reaches builders until you are approved. Rates cannot be saved, you are not matched, and your estimator widget is not issued.

#Setting rates

Once approved, open Dashboard and set your rates. Three things are priced:

• Steel, per square foot of total floor area, as a low and high.
• Transport, per loaded road mile per truck. Gage estimates one truck per 1,300 square feet and road miles as straight-line distance times 1.25.
• Modeling, detailing and engineering, a flat fee by job size. You set where small becomes medium and medium becomes large.

Your shop ZIP is what routing measures distance from. Rates are a range; a builder's quick quote shows the range, and your firm quote later is your own number.

From the same form you can pause intake without losing your rates, and set the largest job you will take. A paused or over-capacity shop is never offered to a builder.

#How you get matched

A builder submits plans with a delivery ZIP. Gage prices the job against every approved shop that is accepting work and can take the size, and offers the builder the three nearest. Partners quoting through the API are routed to the single cheapest shop instead. Either way, the price is computed from your rates; nobody types it.

#A job, step by step

Each job is a project page in your portal under Jobs, with a thread where you and the builder can message. The builder is emailed when you write; you are emailed when they do.

1. Quick quote. The builder has seen your range and is deciding. Nothing to do.
2. Budget accepted. The builder said the range works. You owe a firm quote: steel, transport and MDE as real numbers, with notes. You are emailed at this point.
3. Final quote sent. The builder is deciding on your number.
4. Approved. The builder accepted. Your 48-hour confirmation window opens and you are emailed. Confirm from the job page: confirming charges the Gage fee to your card on file, and the job is yours once the charge goes through. If the window lapses, the job moves to the next shop and the builder is told.
5. In production. You have started. The builder is emailed.
6. Shipped. Mark it when the frames leave the shop. The builder is emailed. Skip this if your own crew delivers.
7. Delivered. Mark it once the frames are on site and signed for. The builder is emailed.

If a builder declines your range, the job closes on your side and you are told. If you need to step away from a job, remove it from your list: the builder is offered the other shops that quoted, or the job goes to the next shop that can take it, and they are told what happened.

#Reservations from partners

Some jobs arrive from a partner rather than a builder, with your shop already chosen and the price already computed. These show as Reserved. The partner's customer has not committed yet; nothing is owed and nothing starts. You are emailed the full job description so you can flag a capacity or pricing problem in the thread before it is triggered. When the partner triggers the build, it becomes an approved job under the same reference and the normal 48-hour window opens.

#Settings

• Accepting jobs pauses and resumes intake. It saves as soon as you flip it.
• Facility holds your name, city, state, shop ZIP and weekly capacity. Your machines are on your application; ask Gage to change them.
• Appearance is one light or dark choice for your dashboard, your estimator, and the project pages your customers see.
• Email notifications let you turn off mail about new leads, approved quotes, or builder messages. Approval and billing mail always arrives.
• Project focus tells routing which project types you prefer.

#The estimator widget

Every approved shop gets an instant-estimate form to put on its own website, branded as yours and priced from your rates. Customers upload plans or a model and see a price and a 3D frame in about a minute, and can save the estimate as a Gage project matched to you. It has its own page: Estimator widget.

#Fees

Gage charges you a percentage of the job value when you confirm a job. The rate is on the pricing page and on your Billing page in the portal.

Paying. Add a card once under Billing. It is saved on a Stripe page, so Gage never sees the number. When you confirm a job, the fee is charged to that card there and then, using any credit you hold first. If the card is declined, the job stays unconfirmed and you see why; replace the card and confirm again while the 48-hour window is still open.

If the builder does not go ahead. If a builder cancels after you confirmed and before you start production, the fee becomes credit toward your next job. If they go quiet, report it from the job page; if they confirm, or do not answer within 7 days, the same happens. The Fabricator FAQ has the details.