A job is one piece of work — a bottom paint, an engine service, a haul-out. It holds two kinds of line item and nothing else: the parts you're selling to do the job, and the labor to complete it.
Service is in product beta. Everything described here is live and supported. Where a capability isn't built yet, we say so and give you the workaround we use with other yards.
Add a job
In the Jobs section of the work order, click + Add Job.
Pick a starting point:
From a template — search your library and select one. Each row shows the item count and an estimated cost for this boat. The job arrives pre-filled and you edit from there.
From scratch — click + Create new job from scratch and build it line by line.
Set the Name (required) and an optional Description.
Adjust the line items — use + Add Labor and + Add Parts to add, and the row actions to edit or remove.
Click Add Job.
Good to know: Started from a template and picked the wrong one? Click Change in the blue banner at the top of the form to go back to the picker. Your edits to this job will be cleared, so Dockwa asks first.
Add parts and labor
Each line item has four things: the item, the Rate, the Qty and an optional Notes field.
The rate defaults from the item and can be overridden on the job — useful for a negotiated price or a goodwill adjustment on a single boat.
Per-foot items fill their own quantity from the boat's length overall, so a per-foot bottom paint prices itself.
Notes print on the paperwork and appear under the line item, so use them for anything the customer or the tech needs to see — "customer supplied prop", "price honored from spring quote".
Move a job through its statuses
Job status is what drives everything else — the work order's status, the job progress bar on the list, and whether the job can be invoiced.
Not Started → In Progress → On Hold → Work Complete → Invoiced
Button | What it does |
Start Work | Moves the job to In Progress and stamps the work-started date on the work order. |
Hold | Pauses the job. You're asked why — the reason shows as a banner on the job so anyone can see what it's waiting on. |
Resume | Takes the job off hold and back to In Progress. A held job must be resumed before it can be completed. |
Mark Complete | Marks the work done and makes the job available to invoice. |
Reopen | Unlocks a completed job so you can edit it again. |
Hold is what most yards use when a job is waiting on parts. Record the part and the expected date in the reason and the whole shop can see it at a glance.
Editing is locked after completion
Once a job is marked complete, its line items lock and a padlock replaces the edit and delete buttons. Click Reopen to unlock it, make your change, then mark it complete again.
Heads up: An invoiced job is a different case. You can reopen it right up until the invoice is paid — doing so pulls the job's line items back off that invoice, and you generate a new one after your edit. Once the invoice is settled, the job is locked for good and changes have to go through a refund instead. See Invoice a work order.
Notes and the activity feed
Every job carries its own activity feed down the right-hand side, recording each start, hold, resume and completion with who did it and when. Click + Add Note to post a note at any point — the note lands in the feed alongside the status history.
This is the record you go back to when a customer questions a bill three weeks later,
so encourage the habit early.
Edit or delete a job
Rename or re-describe — the pencil icon on the job bar opens Edit Job.
Delete — the trash icon removes the job and every line item on it. This can't be undone, and isn't available once the job is complete or invoiced.
Not available yet
Assigning a technician to a job. Write the tech's name on the printed worksheet.
Technician time tracking and scheduling. Hours are tracked against the job, not against a person; scheduling happens outside Dockwa for now.
Running hours on a multi-day job. Log the total when the job is complete.
Job categories or departments. Not in this release.
Common questions
Can I charge more than one labor rate on the same job?
Yes. Add as many labor lines as you need, each pointing at a different labor item — a yard rate and a mechanical rate on one job is common.
Can I sell a part I don't have in stock?
Yes. Service doesn't check stock levels or stop you at zero; the item will simply show as negative in inventory.
What if a line item shows as inactive?
Someone has deactivated that item in Sales > Items. Reactivate it from the notice on the job, or remove the line and pick a different item.
Can I bill a subcontractor's work?
You can bill the boater in Dockwa and apply your margin on the quote. Paying the vendor happens in your accounting system — Dockwa doesn't manage subcontractor payouts or vendor insurance.