Help

How to use ConCal.

Plain steps, from your first slab to payday. Stuck on something not here? Email support@con-cal.net and a real person answers.

Getting started

Set up your defaults

Three steps the first time you sign in: your concrete and rebar, your prices and labor, and the terms that go on your proposals. Every new bid starts from these, and you can change them any time.

My Prices

Your own prices, never a price list from us. Fill in the Start here card first (concrete by the yard, rebar, labor), then the rest when you have time. ConCal warns you when a supplier price is getting old.

A tour of the desk

The desk is where your jobs, customers, crew hours and money live. Waiting on you lists what needs you today: bids to follow up, signatures, timesheets to approve.

Drawing and bidding

Draw your first slab

Draw the slab, type the real sizes on each side, and set the thickness. Yards, rebar and the bid fill in as you go.

Odd shapes

L-shapes, bump-outs and curves are drawn the way the job looks. Add cut-outs for drains or column block-outs and they come off the yards.

Footings, walls and columns

Add footings, walls, piers and stairs to the same job as the slab, so one bid covers the whole pour.

Rebar done right

Pick bar size and spacing. ConCal lays out the grid, adds laps by bar size, counts whole sticks to order and gives you a cut list.

Take off from the plans

Upload the plan PDF, pick the sheet, check the scale, then trace the concrete. Lengths, areas and counts can go straight onto the bid, and the takeoff report prints every sheet with its numbers.

Read the scale off a sheet

If a sheet does not set its own scale when you open it (common on scanned plans), tap Read the scale under Read the plans. Pick the scale for the drawing you are tracing, then measure one size you know. If anything is already traced on that sheet, use Calibrate instead.

Read the plans

Find the concrete pages in a big set, pull the concrete notes and specs into your job notes one at a time, and check your tracing against the sizes written on the sheet.

Catch it before it goes out

Before you send, the completeness check looks for things that are easy to forget, like the pump or the base rock, and compares the bid with your past jobs.

Land on your number

Check the price per square foot and set your final price. ConCal shows you if a number would put you below your cost.

Split one bid into options

Split a job into scopes of work (driveway, patio, sidewalk) so the customer sees the prices for each part. Add or deduct options for extras.

Templates and versions

Start a new bid from a saved job. Every save keeps a version, so you can look back or restore an older one.

The plant order

On a won job, the plant order lists the exact yards by mix, ready to call or send to the plant.

Sending and signing

Send the proposal

Send to customer sends your branded proposal by text or email. Download PDF gives you the same proposal as a file.

Signing on paper or online

The customer can review and sign on their phone, or you can print it and get it signed on paper. Either way the signed copy is saved on the job.

Changes after you send

Edit freely until it is signed. After it is signed, a change becomes a change order the customer signs, and the job keeps the original contract amount.

Won or lost

Mark each bid won or lost to see your win rate over time.

Running the job

The job page

Stages, the plan, progress and money for one job on one page.

The schedule

Put jobs on the calendar and move them when the day changes.

Send the job to the crew

The crew sheet goes to the foreman's phone with the plan, quantities and drawing. Your prices never go with it.

Photos and daily logs

Every photo and every day's log on the job, and a link to share the photos with a customer.

The job report

One page that sums up the job, ready to print or save as a PDF.

Your crew's phone

Join the crew by text

Text a crew member the join link. They tap it and they are in, no app store needed.

The crew sheet

The plan, quantities, drawing and the pre-pour checklist with a photo, on the foreman's phone.

Log the day

Trucks, who was on site, materials and photos, logged from the phone at the end of the day.

Clock in and out

The crew clocks in on their phone, even with no signal and even before a job is picked.

Hours and money

Timesheets and payroll

Missed punches are flagged and overtime is counted. Approve the week and download the payroll file.

Receipts and mileage

Snap a receipt and ConCal reads it onto the job. Log miles the same way. Download receipts in QuickBooks format.

Invoices

Deposit, progress and final invoices that follow the payment terms on the signed proposal.

Lien waivers

Make a lien waiver for a payment and have it signed on paper or online.

Bid vs what it cost

Close out a job and see labor and material against the bid, plus reports across all your jobs.

Helpers that save typing

Talk

Say a job, a note or a receipt out loud and ConCal writes it down in the right place.

Ask about your jobs

Ask a plain question, like your average labor cost, what you made on driveways this year, or who still owes you, and get the answer from your own jobs. Labor, cost and profit come from jobs you closed out.

Read a price sheet

Take a photo of a supplier price sheet and the prices go into My Prices for you to check.

Say the change order

Say what changed on the job and ConCal drafts the change order.

Read the batch ticket

The crew snaps the batch ticket and the day's log fills in.