How It Works¶

Hardhat Flow organizes every project around a single, linear pipeline. Work enters the system as a Bid, advances to a Job when approved, generates an Invoice, and closes out when payment is complete. This page explains each stage, who controls the transitions, and what happens automatically.

The Full Lifecycle¶

New Bid
  └─► Bid Awaiting PO
        └─► Bid Approved ──► Job Created (automatic)
              └─► Ready to Start
                    └─► In Progress
                          └─► Completed / Needs Invoice
                                └─► Invoice Submitted
                                      └─► Partially Paid
                                            └─► Paid
                                                  └─► Workflow Complete

At any point an Owner can cancel a bid or job, and an Owner can reject a bid that has not yet been approved.

Stage 1: Bid¶

A bid represents a proposed scope of work with associated pricing and details.

Available to: Owner, Project Manager

Only Project Managers and Owners can create and edit bids. Accounting cannot create bids. Supervisors and Badge Workers have no access to bids at all.

Bid Statuses¶

Status	Meaning	Who sets it
New Bid	Freshly created, work in progress	Auto-set on creation
Bid Awaiting PO	Submitted and waiting for purchase order	Project Manager or Owner
Bid Approved	Client approved — triggers automatic Job creation	Owner only
Bid Rejected	Declined — no job created	Owner only
Bid Cancelled	Withdrawn at any time	Owner only

Only Owners can approve, reject, or cancel bids.

Project Managers can create and edit bids and advance them to Awaiting PO, but cannot approve, reject, or cancel.

Auto-Job Creation¶

When an Owner sets a bid to Bid Approved, Hardhat Flow automatically creates a Job linked to that bid. The job is set to Ready to Start and the assigned Project Manager receives an SMS notification. No manual step is required.

Stage 2: Job¶

A job represents active work being executed in the field.

Available to: Owner, Project Manager, Supervisor (assigned only), Badge Worker (assigned only)

Job Statuses¶

Status	Meaning	Who sets it
Ready to Start	Job created, not yet underway	Auto-set on bid approval
In Progress	Active field work	Project Manager or Owner
Completed / Needs Invoice	Work done, awaiting invoicing	Project Manager or Owner
Job Cancelled	Job halted	Owner only

Job Assignment¶

Each job has exactly:

One Project Manager — responsible for the job end-to-end
One Supervisor — oversees field execution
One or more Badge Workers — perform the work (also used as site escorts)

Change orders on the job detail page track approved add-on scope and amounts beyond the original PO. See Change Orders.

Stage 3: Invoice¶

Once a job reaches Completed / Needs Invoice, the Accounting team creates an invoice.

Available to: Owner, Accounting

Project Managers, Supervisors, and Badge Workers cannot create or edit invoices.

One invoice per job

Each job may have exactly one invoice. Multiple payments against that invoice are allowed, but you cannot create a second invoice for the same job.

Invoice Statuses¶

Status	Meaning	Who sets it
Invoice Submitted	Invoice sent to client	Accounting or Owner
Partially Paid	One or more payments received, balance remains	Auto-set on first payment
Paid	Full balance received	Auto-set when balance reaches zero
Workflow Complete	Final state — job and invoice fully closed	Set by system

Stage 4: Payment¶

Payments are recorded against an invoice by the Accounting team or Owner. Each payment reduces the outstanding balance. When the balance reaches zero, the invoice status advances to Paid and the system automatically sets the workflow to Workflow Complete.

Full Status Transition Reference¶

Bids¶

New Bid → Bid Awaiting PO → Bid Approved
                          → Bid Rejected   (Owner only)
        → Bid Cancelled   (Owner only, any time)
Bid Awaiting PO → Bid Cancelled (Owner only, any time)
Bid Approved    → Bid Cancelled (Owner only, any time)

Jobs¶

Ready to Start → In Progress → Completed / Needs Invoice
                             → Job Cancelled (Owner only)
In Progress    → Job Cancelled (Owner only)

Invoices¶

Invoice Submitted → Partially Paid → Paid → Workflow Complete

Status transitions are enforced server-side.

The API rejects any transition that does not follow the allowed sequence. Skipping statuses is not possible.