A crew needs a machine that you do not have on the job. An equipment request records the need, finds a fleet unit or asks rental vendors for quotes, and turns the quote you accept into a PO, all on one record.
An equipment request gives the office one record for each machine a job needs, from the first ask to the PO. Without it, someone calls three rental yards, writes the prices on a notepad, and emails a PO when the boss agrees. Nobody can see later who quoted what.
With Gearflow, you write the need once. You use a unit from your own fleet, or you send one request for quote (RFQ) to the rental vendors you pick. The vendors reply by email. Their quotes come back onto the request, you accept one, and Gearflow sends the PO.
This page covers the request up to the PO. What happens after the PO (the rental agreement, check-in, call-off and transfers) is on Equipment rentals.
The Equipment list in the left navigation shows one row per request. Tabs sort the rows by where the request is in its life. Each working tab shows a count.
All — every request. The list opens here. No count.
Requested — Open, Quote requested and Quoted: the requests that wait for a sourcing decision.
Sourced — PO requested and Asset assigned.
Scheduled — a vendor or a fleet unit has the work, and the unit is not on site yet.
While a request waits on vendor quotes, a small ring shows after the status badge. The ring fills as vendors answer and changes to a check when all of them have answered. Hover over it to see N of M vendors answered, with the vendors under Answered and Waiting on.
The columns are the date, Status, Job, Unit, Source, Associated, Requester, Owner, POC and Last activity. The date column changes with the tab: Request date on most tabs, Start and Days on rent on On rent, and Start and End on History. Cost code is off by default. Use Show columns to show, hide or move columns.
Source shows where the unit comes from: Fleet, Rental or RPO. It is not on the Requested tab.
The filter chips are Status (on tabs with more than one status), Business unit, Job, Unit, Source, Category, Unassigned and Owner. Department and On the request are hidden by default. Use Show filters to change which chips show.
Search equipment requests finds a request by its text.
Export (the download icon) opens a dialog that downloads a CSV of equipment request data for billing. Pick the status, the business units, the jobs and a week range, and choose whether to count weekends. Click Download CSV.
People who source equipment can select rows with the checkboxes. The bar that opens offers Rent assets, Create mobilization, Change status and Delete.
Rent assets sends one RFQ to the same vendors for every selected request. It works only when every selected request is Open. See Send one RFQ for many requests.
Create mobilization needs an assigned unit on every selected request, and one job location for all of them. See Mobilizations.
Delete asks you to confirm: Delete the selected equipment requests? This can't be undone.
Open the + menu and pick Create equipment request. The screen Create equipment opens with one box: What equipment do you need, for which job, and for how long? Speak or type.
Type the need, or tap the microphone (Record a voice memo) and say it. Gearflow reads what you wrote or said and fills the request.
Gearflow asks about what is missing. The Questions button shows how many questions are open. The questions are: Which job?, Where is it?, What type of equipment?, Who is it for?, Who is the job contact?, When does it start?, When does it end? and How many? Answer each one in the panel, or by voice.
The request shows as a card with a Draft badge. The badge changes to Ready to submit when every required answer is in. Click Submit.
Use + Equipment to add a second machine to the same ask. Gearflow confirms Equipment request created and opens the new request. Its status is Open.
The required fields are the job, the location, the equipment type, the requester, the job contact, the start and end dates, and the quantity.
Enter manually on the composer opens the form, also titled Create equipment. The form also opens when you start a request from a mobilization, a maintenance request or a parts request; it is prefilled from that record. On a blank form, Try the new experience goes back to the composer.
The form asks for the Business unit, Job, Requester, Job contact, Subscribers, Location and Cost code (optional).
For each machine it asks for the Asset category, Quantity, the preferred make and model, the attachments needed, the specifications, and the Start date and End date. Add asset adds another machine. Notes is last.
The end date must be at least one day after the start date.
Click Send request. Gearflow makes one request for each unit of quantity.
A Ticket opens in the same composer. When the Ticket shows that a crew needs a machine, Gearflow suggests an equipment request as a draft card under Requests. Check it and click Submit.
Who may create: the user's role decides it. A user who may only file Tickets cannot create an equipment request. Your account admin sets roles in Settings → Users.
Open the request and click Browse sourcing options. The sheet shows your own fleet first, then the rental vendors. Only people who source equipment see this button, while the request is Open, Quote requested or Quoted.
Fleet options lists your units for the asset category, the best matches first. Search fleet units… finds a unit by number. Each card shows the unit's current job, or Unassigned. Pick a unit and click Assign unit. The request goes to Asset assigned, and its source is Fleet. To move the unit to the job, use Create mobilization on the request.
Under Request quote type:, pick Rental or RPO (rental purchase option). Click Next.
On Compose message, edit the message if necessary. Under Sending to:, tick the contacts at each vendor, or use ＋ Add contact.
Click Send request.
The request goes to Quote requested, and its source is Rental or RPO. Gearflow sends each vendor its own email thread. The message lists the business unit, the job, the equipment, the dates, the delivery site, the job contact and your notes. It ends with Can you deliver by the start date.
To ask the same vendors about many open requests, select them in the list and click Rent assets. The Bulk add vendors page opens and shows how many requests you selected.
Search for vendors with Search vendors, contacts... and click the contacts you want.
Click Commit.
Gearflow sends each contact an RFQ for each selected request and confirms Quote requests sent to vendors.
When a vendor replies with a quote PDF or image, Gearflow reads it into a quote on the request. The request goes to Quoted.
The Sourcing section shows one card per vendor. A card shows the quote total and rate, or Waiting on quote. When your account has its own rate for the asset category, the section shows Your internal rate so you can compare. Click View all to see the vendors that are not selected.
When a vendor sends a quote another way, click Add quote on its card. Upload the file with Select PDF, type the Total and click Add quote. The file is necessary. Gearflow reads the document and fills in the line items.
Click View quote on a card. The sheet Review equipment quote shows the vendor, the type (Rental or RPO) and the pricing lines with their rates and totals.
When Gearflow could not read the whole document, Complete quote asks you to fill the gaps. You cannot accept an incomplete quote.
To change the numbers, use Edit type or Edit pricing. The Edit quote sheet lets you change the vendor, the total, the line items and the notes. Click Save changes.
To refuse a quote, click Decline, pick a reason (Too expensive, Not available in time, Located elsewhere, No longer needed or Other), and click Continue. Then edit the message under Let the vendor know and click Decline and send.
Click Accept on the quote. If the request has no unit yet, Gearflow asks you to Select or create a fleet unit to continue. Then pick how to get the PO: How would you like to proceed with the PO?
I'll enter the PO myself — type the PO number and click Review message. Check the recipients and the Message to vendor, then click Send to vendor. The request goes to Scheduled.
Request PO from user — pick the colleague who issues the PO and click Send request. The request goes to PO requested. When the PO number is known, click Send PO on the request to send it.
When other vendors are still open, Gearflow asks: N other vendors are still open. Tell them why they were not chosen. Pick Price, Availability, Other or Don't tell the vendors. You cannot send until you pick one.
A vendor that sent a quote gets "We went with another vendor this time", with the reason if you gave one. Its quote is declined.
A vendor that did not quote gets "We went with another vendor, so we no longer need a quote."
The message does not name the winning vendor or the price.
To take back an award, open the accepted quote and click Cancel award. See Equipment rentals.
Teams that kept equipment requests in a spreadsheet can load them in one step. Account admins open Settings → Import. The page is Equipment request importer.
On the Template tab, click Download template. The tab lists the required and optional columns. The required columns are Job #, Company Code #, Department Code #, Equipment Type, Fleet Unit # or Serial #, and Requested By. Description is optional.
Fill the template and export it as CSV (one file, 10 MB at most).
On Spreadsheet import, click Import from a spreadsheet and upload the file.
Import history lists each upload with its file name, status, upload date, who imported it and the results. Retry import runs a completed or failed import again.
Equipment is not parts. Equipment requests are for machines: excavators, dozers, loaders, trucks. Parts have their own request and RFQ flow.
Equipment request or maintenance? A rented unit that breaks is a maintenance request, not a new equipment request. Gearflow knows the rental vendor from the equipment request.