Every lift with its folio: from the phone call to the payment, nothing lost on the way
Quote from the rate card on the first call, dispatch the day crane by crane, seal billable waiting with signed times, and collect with due dates in sight.
The Services module is the control tower of a crane or operated-machinery company. Every service is born with a folio the moment the phone rings: client, machine with its photo, destination with a real address, and a price from the rate card — per hour, per lift or per kilometre, with night and Sunday surcharges applied automatically. The quote travels as a branded link the client accepts from their phone, no account needed. On the day of the lift, the operator seals departure, arrival and start with real times; the ticket closes with hours, an on-screen signature and billable waiting itemised; and collections turns the ticket into an invoice with credit days and an overdue traffic light. In the end, every service knows its cost and its margin.
What problem it solves
A crane operation usually lives in three places that never talk: the dispatcher's notebook, the operator's WhatsApp and the owner's memory. Prices are quoted off the cuff and the same lift gets billed differently depending on who answers; arrival time and waiting hours are argued without evidence; the paper ticket gets lost between the site and the office; and the invoice goes out days later, when the client has moved on. Nobody knows for sure which lifts made money and which broke even — or lost — after fuel, operator and tolls.
How it works
Capture the service on the call
Client, machine, origin and destination with a real address, date and time. The rate card resolves the price by modality — distance is computed to the captured address — and if the lift falls at night (10pm–6am) or on Sunday, the surcharge lights up before you confirm.
Send the quote as a link
The folio travels over WhatsApp with your logo and itemised lines with tax. The client views and accepts from their phone, without creating an account.
Dispatch and seal the times
The Dispatch view shows the whole day crane by crane. The operator marks from their phone: left base, arrived on site, started the lift — whatever sits between arriving and starting is waiting billable to the client, with signed times.
Close the ticket and collect
Real hours, who received, and an on-screen signature. Billable waiting goes in as its own itemised line. In Collections, the ticket becomes an invoice with credit days, and the traffic light shows what is coming due and what is overdue, per client.
What's included
- An operations table that handles thousands of services: folio, client, machine with photo, status and total
- Full-day dispatch, crane by crane: gaps and overlaps at a glance
- Rate card per machine type and modality: per hour, per lift, or per kilometre with computed distance
- Automatic night (10pm–6am) and Sunday surcharges, visible before confirming
- Quote with folio as a branded public link: the client accepts without an account
- Operation seals with real times: left base, arrived on site, lift started
- Client-billable waiting with evidence: enters the ticket as an itemised line
- Closing ticket with real hours and an on-screen signature
- Collections with invoice, credit days and an overdue traffic light per client
- Costs per service (fuel, operator, tolls) and margin per lift and per client
- A record per service: log, lift requirements, photos and documents
How a crane company runs on the inside
The price comes from the rate card, not the mood of the day
The first call defines the business: the client wants a price now, and quoting off the cuff means the same lift gets billed differently depending on who answers. The rate card settles that once: per machine type you define the rate per hour, per lift or per kilometre, and when the service is captured the price builds itself — the distance is computed to the destination's real address, not by eye.
Surcharges stop being a negotiation: a lift that falls between 10pm and 6am, or on a Sunday, switches its surcharge on automatically and shows it before confirming. The dispatcher can still adjust the final price by hand, but everyone starts from the same base.
The quote is born with a folio and travels as a branded link: itemised lines, tax computed to the cent, and a button to accept from the phone. No PDF attachments, no account, no friction.
- Rates per machine type: hour, lift or kilometre
- Distance computed to the destination's real address
- Night and Sunday surcharge themselves, visibly, before confirming
- Quote with folio, branded link and no-account acceptance
Billable waiting is charged with evidence, not with arguments
The classic dispute of the trade: the crane arrived at 9, the work front was ready at 11, and the client refuses to pay those two hours. Without evidence, the loudest voice wins. Here the operator seals three moments from their phone — left base, arrived on site, started the lift — and every seal lands in the service log with a real time.
What sits between arriving and starting is waiting billable to the client, and the system computes it by itself. When the ticket closes, that waiting enters as its own line — "Billable waiting — 2 h × rate" — itemised in the client's link. Not a surprise charge at the end: an explained line, backed by sealed times.
The ticket closes with real hours, who received, and an on-screen signature. The paper slip that used to vanish between the site and the office no longer exists: the ticket IS the record.
- Three seals with real times: departure, arrival, lift start
- Waiting between arrival and start computes and bills itself
- On-screen signature: no paper to lose
- The client sees the waiting itemised in their link, not as a surprise
Collections and margin: knowing which lifts make money
Invoicing days later kills collections. Here the closed ticket becomes an invoice on the spot, with the client's credit days, and the Collections traffic light shows what is coming due and what is overdue — the collection call comes from a list, not from memory.
On the other side of the margin sit the costs: every service records fuel, operator, tolls and per-diems — several compute themselves from the cost rates you configure — and compares them against what was billed. The answer to "did this lift make money?" exists per service and per client.
And since the machine is the same one from the Equipment module, everything crosses over: the service takes its photo and availability from the asset's record, and worked hours feed the same history.
- The ticket becomes an invoice with credit days, instantly
- Overdue traffic light per client: collections come from a list
- Costs per service and margin per lift and per client
- Integrated with Equipment: same machine, same record
One scenario per profile
The phone rings at 7:40. They capture client, machine and destination while talking; the rate card proposes the price with the Sunday surcharge lit. The quote link goes out over WhatsApp before hanging up, and the client accepts five minutes later.
Marks "left base" when rolling out and "arrived on site" at 9:05. The work front is not ready: the waiting clock runs on its own. At 10:40 they mark lift start, and at the end they close the ticket with the hours and the site manager's signature on their phone screen.
Opens Collections on Monday: two invoices come due this week and one is already overdue — the calls come from that list. In margin per client they discover a frequent client's lifts break even because of tolls, and adjust the kilometre rate.
Who it's for
Works with the rest of Matterial
Coming from another tool?
Frequently asked questions
How is the per-kilometre price computed?
You capture the destination's real address and the distance is computed from your base; the machine type's kilometre rate does the rest. The proposed price can always be adjusted by hand before sending the quote.
Are night and Sunday surcharges automatic?
Yes. A lift scheduled between 10pm and 6am, or on a Sunday, switches its surcharge on by itself and shows it before you confirm the service. One rule, the same for every dispatcher.
What is billable waiting?
The time between the crane arriving on site and the lift starting — usually because the work front was not ready. Since both moments are sealed with real times, that waiting is billed as an itemised line, with evidence.
Does the client need an account?
No. The quote and the lift tracking travel as branded public links. The client opens, views and accepts from their phone.
Can I see the margin of each service?
Yes. Every service records its costs — fuel, operator, tolls, per-diems — and compares them against what was billed. Margin exists per lift and per client.
How do collections work?
The closed ticket becomes an invoice with the client's credit days. The traffic light shows outstanding, coming due and overdue, per client, and the collection call comes from there.
Does every operator count as a plan user?
No. The Crane operator role doesn't take a user seat: they open their day's jobs and the ticket from their phone, without rates or margins. Even on the Free plan with all your users taken, you can invite them. The dispatcher, who quotes with prices, does take a user.
Does it integrate with the Equipment module?
Yes: it is the same fleet. Equipment is the asset's record (hour meter, maintenance, cost per hour); Services is the commercial operation with an operator. The service takes the machine's photo and availability from its record.
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