Card behavior modes
Standard, Scaling, Travel, Per Diem, and Recurring — what each one does to your hours, and when to reach for it.
Every install card has a Behavior that controls how its labor hours are determined. The behavior is always visible in the card library and in the project estimate tab as a colored left border and labeled badge — so you can tell at a glance what type of card you are working with without opening it.
| Behavior | Visual indicator | How hours are set | Best used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Gray border | Manual — you define exact hours in each Task's quantity ranges. Hours do not change unless you edit the card. | Any task where you have reliable historical data on how long it takes. The right choice for the majority of your library. |
| Scaling | Violet border | Scales in two steps. First, set how big the card is relative to the project — a percentage of technical hours, per project-day, a fixed amount, or tiered brackets — which gives the card's total hours. Then allocate that total across the card's tickets by percentage (e.g. PM 50%, Documentation 30%, Closeout 20%). A preview table shows the projected hours at different project sizes. Click Calculate when the card is added; change the scope and the card flags as stale until you Recalculate. | Project management, documentation, commissioning, and any task where effort scales with project size rather than a unit count. |
| Travel | Blue border | AI calculates round-trip drive time from your company address to the project site address. Requires the project to have a site address entered. | On-site travel, dispatch, and mobilization. Use one unit per planned site-visit day. |
| Per Diem | Amber border | AI looks up the GSA per-diem rate for the project ZIP code and pre-fills the daily rate. You enter the number of people and number of days on the project. | Multi-day field deployments away from home base where technicians require a daily meal and incidentals allowance. |
| Recurring | Green border | Carries a monthly recurring charge (MRC), a one-time setup fee (NRC), and a contract term, set in the card's Recurring Terms panel. The one-time setup labor is entered as normal Tasks. The recurring charges roll up into a separate Monthly Recurring / total contract value figure on the project — kept apart from the one-time project price. | Managed services, monitoring, and subscription offerings billed monthly alongside a one-time onboarding (e.g. managed firewall, endpoint management). |
Where to see the badges: Open Library → Install Cards to browse your library — every card row shows its behavior badge (with icon) next to the card name. The same badge and colored left border appear on each card in the Estimate tab of any project, so your whole team can see at a glance which cards drive themselves and which need manual quantities set.
Install options and option type
Every card has one or more options — scopes of work that carry their own bill of materials, labor tasks, and hours. The Option Type selector (visible in the card editor) controls how those options behave on the estimate:
| Option Type | How it looks on the estimate | When to use it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add-ons | A Base option is always included (no checkbox). Additional options appear as checkboxes beneath it — estimators tick any combination, or none. | One option is the core deliverable and others are upgrades or extras that stack on top. Most cards use this mode. | Conference Room AV — Standard: Base installation always included; Premium (dual displays + HDBT) is an optional upgrade. |
| Required Choice | Radio buttons labeled "Required — Choose One." No selection is shown as an error; the card is not complete until one option is picked. The Base row is hidden — only the named choices appear. | Mutually exclusive variants where a choice must be made. The whole card changes depending on the selection. | Access Point Installation: Estimator must choose Indoor or Outdoor — the product, labor, and checklist differ completely between the two. |
| Choice | Radio buttons labeled "Optional Add-ons." Estimators pick one option or leave them all blank. The Base row is hidden — choose a variant or skip it. | Optional variants where the decision may not be made yet, or where neither option may apply. | Display & Screen Mounting: Standard tilt mount or Premium articulating arm — or leave unselected if mount type has not been confirmed. |
The Base option — naming matters
In Add-ons mode, the first option named exactly "Base" or "Standard" is treated as the always-included scope. It does not appear as a checkbox — its labor and materials are automatically counted at the card quantity. Name it anything else and it will appear as a regular add-on, which is almost never what you want.
- Name your always-included option Base or Standard
- Name add-ons descriptively: Premium, High-Bay, Plenum, etc.
- Do not name the base option "Standard Config" or "Basic Install" — the extra words break the recognition and it will show as a selectable add-on
Choosing the right type: Ask yourself — "Is one option always included?" → Add-ons. "Must the estimator pick exactly one variant before this card is usable?" → Required Choice. "Should one variant be selectable but not mandatory?" → Choice.