Materials requests buy countable construction materials for a job; tool requests get a crew the tools it uses and returns. Both work like a parts request: the same sourcing, orders and receiving.
A part goes on a machine. A pipe fitting goes into the job and is used up. A torque wrench goes to a crew and comes back. Each needs a different record after it arrives, but all three are bought the same way. Materials and Tools use the parts request flow, so a buyer learns one way to source, and each kind keeps the record it needs.
Who sees them. Gearflow turns on Materials and Tools for an account, each on its own. Each needs parts to be on too. When on, Materials and Tools show in the main menu beside Parts.
A materials request is a parts request for materials: many lines, each one a material from your account's materials register or a free-text line. Each tracked material has one stock unit (for example feet, each or boxes) and a Code or MPN.
Open Materials in the main menu. The list and the request drawer work as on Parts. See Parts requests.
Import a takeoff. On a materials request, Import takeoff reads a takeoff document into request lines for you to check before anything is written. A row that matches a tracked material's code becomes that material; other rows become free-text lines. Every row of the takeoff is accounted for: a row Gearflow could not turn into a line is listed as skipped, with the reason.
On the Inventory page, Stock material adds a material to a stock location. To load the whole catalog at once, use Import materials. See Inventory.
Materials do not use shelf minimums and maximums. A yard can serve several jobs, so a shelf level cannot say which job runs short.
A job's Materials tab (open the job from Schedule) shows one row per material the job requested or used: requested, quoted, ordered, received, used and on hand, and what is left to order as a quantity, a percent and dollars. Above it, the job's committed spend shows against its not-to-exceed value.
From the schedule you can:
Change orders. When a job's scope changes, make a material change order: cut what the job no longer needs (at most what is left to order), add what it now needs, and say why. The schedule's numbers move. Quote lines that were cut stay visible as superseded, and canceling them contacts nobody. Each change order has a print page to send as backup to the owner's representative.
A tool request is a parts request for tools: many lines, each pulled from a yard or bought from a vendor. Open Tools in the main menu. Sourcing, orders and receiving work as on Parts.
A tool can be Tracked by serial number, so you know which unit went to which crew. Stock one with Stock a tool on the Inventory page, counted or tracked by serial. On the item page, a tracked tool lists its units by serial and who has each one.