Price books and catalogs
Your own price book fills in the price on every line. Your suppliers' catalogs open like the printed copy, with your parts cart beside the page. And what your shop knows about a part is written down once and pops up wherever it's mentioned.
The intro, in words
From the supplier's page to the order
This is price books and catalogs in CrewBarn: your own prices, your suppliers' books, and what your shop knows about a part.
At Harlow and Finch, Dana keeps the prices and does the ordering, Kim books the calls, and Sam and Jo quote on site.
Your price book: Priced once
The service catalog holds the work Harlow and Finch charges for: labor, trip charges, inspections, each with its price, its cost, its tax and the unit it's sold by.
The product catalog holds the parts, with cost, price, tax and reorder point. Search aliases let the team find a service by the names customers actually use.
Your price book: The price fills itself in
On Mrs. Rivera's estimate, Sam presses Search catalog, types tank swap, and picks the water heater install. The price fills itself in.
She never sees the cost behind it. That's what CrewBarn works out the margin from.
The supplier's book: Their price book, on your shelf
Coastal Supply sends Dana their price book as a PDF. In Catalogs, she presses Add a catalog, chooses the file, names it, says who it's from, and presses Upload.
Its cover and page count are filled in for her, and the tabs come from the PDF's own bookmarks or contents page.
The supplier's book: It opens like the book
Wednesday, Jo is restocking valves. She presses the book button up top, from whatever page she's on, and picks Coastal.
It opens as a book: two pages side by side, turning like the printed copy, with coloured tabs down the edge. She presses the Valves tab, and it opens at page one twelve.
Order from the page: The cart beside the book
Jo presses Order, and the parts cart opens beside the book. It stays open while the pages turn.
In its search box, Part number or name, she types RV-34. The book turns to the best match, with the spot on the page lit up.
Under the box: three matches, page one twelve of two forty. Her shop's own valve comes up too: two available, six on hand.
Order from the page: Into the cart, from the spot
Enter steps to the next match, and Shift Enter goes back. She's on the right one, so she types four and presses Add four times RV-34.
The cart says: one part waiting to be ordered. Nobody picked a supplier. That's for whoever orders.
A build, like a handle set with its finish and size, would go in as one line instead.
Order from the page: Ordered at your price
Dana presses Order parts. The valve is there with who asked and which catalog page it came from. It costs the book's price, less her discount with Coastal.
She picks Coastal and presses Create purchase orders. The draft goes on Coastal's order. She places it, and sets the status to Ordered.
Order from the page: From the page, not a phone call
Jo never typed a part number twice, never called the counter to check a price, and never chose a supplier. The book, the cart and the order did that.
For an estimate: On the estimate at its sell price
Now the estimate branch. Mrs. Rivera's new water heater needs a valve kit. On her estimate's Parts panel, Sam presses Order from a catalog, and the book opens for that estimate.
He finds the kit and presses Add. It goes on the estimate at its sell price, and on the estimate's own order only for what the shelves can't cover.
That order shows Waiting on approval. Nothing is ordered until she says yes.
For an estimate: She says yes, the order is ready
Mrs. Rivera opens the estimate in her portal, approves it, and signs.
The parts the shelves can cover are held for her job straight away. The estimate's order turns Ready to order, and Dana places it.
For an estimate: Declined, and nothing ordered
If she had declined, the draft order would close by itself, with the reason on it. Nothing was ever sent to Coastal.
And if it had already gone out, CrewBarn doesn't cancel it behind anyone's back. It's marked, and Dana decides: cancel it with the vendor, or keep the parts as stock.
Reference cards: What the shop knows, written once
Jo explains this valve every other week, so she makes it a reference card. In the book she presses Cards, then the part number on the page.
The card opens ready to check: the number, the name, the catalog page, and the picture cut from the page. She presses Save, and it's live for the whole shop.
Reference cards: It lights up wherever it's said
Its numbers and names become flash words. When Mrs. Rivera texts that the relief valve is dripping, the words are underlined in Kim's messages.
Kim clicks, and the card opens down the side: stock, the suppliers with what they charged, and the catalog page, one press away. Add to cart asks for one.
And when a caller says RV-34, it lights up in the call's transcript too.
Reference cards: Customers can order from it too
If Dana's allowed to share a catalog, she turns on Share with customers. Bayside Property Group can then browse it in their portal, and send Harlow and Finch an order from it.
The whole tree: Page, cart, order
That's one part, start to finish: the book, the tab, the cart, the lit-up spot, Add, Order parts, and ordered.
And every branch had an answer: a build on one line, a part on an estimate held when she said yes, and closed when she said no, and a card that pops up wherever the part is named.
Prices fill themselves in, nobody retypes a part number, and the order goes to the right supplier at your price.
Price books & catalogs: Priced once, found anywhere
That's price books and catalogs in CrewBarn.
CrewBarn is in beta, and free for life for trades that help test it.
Your price book
The service catalog holds the work you charge for: labor, trip charges, inspections and the rest, each with its price, its cost to you, its tax, the unit it's sold by and its own labor warranty if you want one. The product catalog holds the parts and materials you sell or use, with cost, price, tax, reorder point, barcode and warranty days. Pick either onto an estimate, a job or an invoice and the price fills itself in. Customers never see your cost; it's how your margin is worked out.
Search aliases let your team find a service by the names people actually use. Discounts, like seniors or a seasonal deal, are set up once so everyone applies them the same way. Your cost model holds markups and minimum charges, and counts what your trucks and tools cost you, so your prices cover them. Got a supplier's catalog as a PDF? CrewBarn can turn it into a draft price book of services and products for you to check before anything is used.
Supplier catalogs that open like the printed copy
Add a supplier's price book or a manual as a PDF. It opens as a book, two pages side by side, with coloured tabs down the edge that open it at a chapter, like a printed catalog's. Tabs can start from the PDF's own bookmarks or contents page. Turn pages, type a page number, or zoom in on the fine print. Find searches every page for a part number or a word. The book button up top, or Alt C, opens any catalog without leaving the page you're on.
Order from the page
Press Order and the parts cart opens beside the book. Type a part number or what the part is, and the book turns to it with the spot lit up, while your own items come up with how many you already have. Step through the other matches with the arrows or Enter, and Add puts the part from that spot in the cart. A build, like a set with its finish and size, goes on one line. When the cart is for an estimate, a part can go on the estimate at its sell price and in the cart only for what your shelves can't cover. Whoever orders parts picks the suppliers later.
Parts off a catalog page cost what the price book says less your discount with that vendor, and sell at list, unless you carry the part with your own cost and price.
Reference cards and flash words
A reference card is what your shop knows about a part, written down once: what it is, the part numbers and names it goes by, what to know, its picture, and the catalog pages it's on. Make one by pressing a part number on a catalog page, or a whole page at a time. The words and numbers on a card become flash words: wherever they're written or said, in a call, a text or a note, they're underlined and open the card down the side, with stock, suppliers and the catalog page one press away.
Share a catalog with customers in their portal, if you're allowed to, and they can send you an order from it.
How it works
- Add your services and products, or import a supplier PDF as a draft price book.
- Add supplier catalogs as PDFs and set their tabs.
- Search the book from the parts cart and add parts as you read.
- Make reference cards from the parts you explain most often.
- Their flash words light up in calls, texts and notes.