Creating your account and your first project

In under five minutes, your company and your first project are up and running in Matterial. You can start from a template by project type (a starting budget and schedule ready to edit), import your budget from OPUS, or start from scratch. Here's how each path works.

1. 1

   Sign up

   Head to the home page and click “Get started.” Enter your company name and your email, and accept the terms. You can set a password or choose “Create the account without a password”: you get a link, and opening it takes you straight into setting up your company, in the language you brought over from the landing page (or your browser's; change it with the language selector at the top). If the email is mistyped, we tell you before sending anything. If you picked a plan on the landing page, you'll see it confirmed above the form, and once your company is set up we take you to activate it.

2. 2

   Tell us who you are and what your company does

   The welcome (guided or as a form) asks for your name and job title—that's how your team sees you in tasks, comments and invitations; change it anytime under the gear → My profile—plus your line of business, size and what you want to start with. Before your workspace is created you see which modules will be on (“Budgets and pricing” already includes Proposals and Clients, and “Schedule and progress”, the weekly client report); turn on the rest in Settings → Modules. You can go back to any question with “Back” or by tapping the answer.

3. 3

   If your business isn't building

   If you rent out equipment or run crane services, pick that line of business in the welcome. The tools for your business turn on (fleet, rentals, services, quotes and collections), you're not asked for a project, and you land straight on your own screen: Equipment or the service board.

4. 4

   Create your first project

   When you finish the welcome you move on to your first project. You have three paths: a template by project type, import from OPUS, or “From scratch”; and if all you have is an idea and a number, start in the idea phase. Before creating it you see a summary with the budget, the country and the currency.” If you close the page before creating it, you'll pick up where you left off when you come back to the welcome.

5. 5

   Option A — From a template

   Pick the project type and enter the floor area: the template builds the budget with line items that have a unit and quantity (m², m³, kg) calculated from the square meters, plus a schedule by stage. Without a floor area, each division goes in as a lump sum. Everything is editable.

6. 6

   Option B — From scratch

   Enter the project name, the client, and the dates. Then add line items to the budget and tasks to the schedule whenever you're ready.

7. 7

   Set your active project

   When you open a project, it becomes the “active” one across the whole platform: receipts, the site log, attendance, and reports all get saved to it until you switch projects.