Pricing a health check

Summary

When a technician signs off a health check with Red or Amber items, the work needs a price before the customer hears about it. The Health checks list in the main menu shows every check waiting to be priced, and a count beside it tells you how many. Opening one takes you to the pricing view. It lists the Red items first, then the Amber, each with what the technician found. Items whose template item has a linked job arrive already priced at today’s price, so you check them and confirm. You price the rest by hand, or mark them No charge or Price to follow. You also write the wording the customer will read. Nothing you do here reaches the customer. The customer only sees the work once you send the report. See Sending a health check report to the customer.

Prerequisites

• To open the Health checks list you need the Access Work Orders permission. Owners, managers and service advisors have it by default. Technicians do not.
• To price a check you need the Manage Work Orders permission. Owners, managers and service advisors have it by default. Without it, rows on the list open the check itself and there is no pricing view.
• The check is signed off. A check still in progress cannot be priced. See Doing a vehicle health check.
• For labour priced by time, your garage has a default hourly labour rate in Settings > Finance > Labour & Time > Labour Rates. See Finance settings.

Steps

Finding checks to price: the Health checks list

1. Click Health checks in the main menu, just below Work orders.
2. The list opens on Awaiting pricing. A row of chips across the top switches between the lists below. Each chip shows how many checks are in it across the whole garage.
3. Type a plate, customer name or job reference into the search box to narrow every list. The chip counts follow your search.
4. Click a row to open it.

Chip	What it lists	Clicking a row opens
Not started	Customer jobs on site, or booked in for today, that have no health check yet. Booked jobs drop off once their appointment is complete or cancelled.	The work order
In progress	Checks a technician has started and not signed off.	The check
Awaiting pricing	Checks signed off in the last 14 days with at least one Red or Amber item, on an open customer job, whose report has not reached the customer yet.	The pricing view (or the check, if you cannot price)
Awaiting pricing, older than 14 days	The same, signed off more than 14 days ago.	The pricing view (or the check)
Sent, items still to price	Checks on an open customer job whose report reached the customer with at least one item still Price to follow.	The pricing view (or the check)

Each row shows the plate, the customer, the job reference, the job’s own status, the technician, the number of Red and Amber items and how long the check has been in that state, for example “Signed off 14 min ago”. Use the job status to spot a job you have already quoted.

Awaiting pricing shows the newest first, so a check signed off a few minutes ago is at the top. Tap Longest waiting first to turn the order round. The other lists show the oldest first.

The page refreshes itself every 30 seconds while it is open.

When a check leaves Awaiting pricing

A check stays in Awaiting pricing until one of these happens:

• its report reaches the customer (see Sending a health check report to the customer);
• the job is closed;
• 14 days pass, when it moves to Awaiting pricing, older than 14 days.

Pricing an item does not take a check off the list. Only a delivered report does. If you withdraw the report’s link, the check comes back.

A check with no Red or Amber item is never on this list, and neither is a check on an internal or sales preparation job.

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The count beside Health checks

If you can price checks, a number shows beside Health checks in the menu. It counts the checks in Awaiting pricing (the last 14 days only). It updates about once a minute on any page, without a reload.

• A ? instead of a number means the count could not be loaded just now. The list itself still works.
• If you can open the list but cannot price, you see the menu item with no number.

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Other ways into the pricing view

1. The sign-off alert. When a technician signs off a check with Red or Amber items, everyone who can price gets a pop-up reading, for example, “Health check complete: 1 red, 1 amber”, with the job and the vehicle. It stays on screen until you act on it. Tap Price the work. The technician who signed off is not alerted. You can switch the alert off for yourself in your notification settings, under Health check complete.
2. The work order. The Health check card on the work order page lists every check on the job. Click a check marked Signed off - awaiting pricing.
3. The check itself. On a signed-off check, click Price the work in the header.

If you missed the alert, the check is still on the Health checks list.

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Reading the pricing view

1. The header shows the vehicle, the customer, who signed the check off and when, the version, the mileage and Not sent yet. It also counts anything left to do, for example “2 items need a price”. Back to the check returns to the check. Vehicle history opens the vehicle’s service history in a new tab.
2. Below come the Red items, then the Amber items. Each item is a card in two halves:
   • Workshop only (“Not shown to the customer”): who recorded each verdict and when, any reason the technician gave for overriding a suggested verdict and the technician’s notes, word for word.
   • On the customer’s report: the photos, the readings, the wording the customer will read and the price.
3. Every Green, Not checked and Not applicable item sits in one closed row, for example “33 green, 1 not checked, 1 not applicable”. Click it to see the list.
4. The footer adds up the Red total, the Amber total and the Total. While anything still needs a price, each reads “so far”.
5. Send to customer sits at the bottom of the page.

Opening the view saves nothing. Each item shows a live preview until somebody changes it.

If the check found nothing to price, the page says “This check found nothing to price. Nobody was alerted, because there was nothing to alert about.” You can still add the vehicle’s other open advisories to the report.

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Checking a price from a linked job

When an owner or manager links a template item to a service (see Health check templates), a Red or Amber on that item arrives priced from the service as it stands today:

• A service with a base price gives a flat labour amount, shown as Fixed price with the job time underneath.
• A service with no base price gives labour by time: the service’s duration at your default hourly labour rate.
• The service’s parts list adds a line per part. Catalogue parts take their catalogue sell price. A part with no sell price, or a placeholder part, arrives as Needs a price. On a fixed-price service with parts included, the parts show as Included.

The line under the price reads “Priced from the linked job ‘Front brake pads’ at today’s price. Check it before you send.”

1. Read the figures.
2. If they are right, click Looks right. The line changes to “Priced from the linked job ‘Front brake pads’, checked by Chloe” with the time.
3. If not, click Edit the price and change it. The line then reads “Priced by Chloe” with the time.

Once anyone has saved a price on an item, it keeps that price. Opening the page again later never re-prices it, even if the service’s price has changed. To start again from the service, click Use the linked job’s price. If the price was entered by hand, Torqueflow asks first, because the hand-entered figures are replaced.

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Pricing an item by hand

1. Click Edit the price (or Price it on an item with nothing priced yet). The price editor opens.
2. Under Labour, choose one:
   • Time: enter the Job time (minutes) and pick a Labour rate, or choose Type a rate and enter your own hourly rate.
   • Flat amount: enter one amount for the labour.
   • No labour.
3. Under Parts, click Add a part. Click Pick from the parts catalogue and search by name or part number (type at least 2 characters), or type a Description, Quantity and Unit price yourself. A part with no unit price yet is Needs a price.
4. Enter every amount before VAT. The figure with VAT shows beside it as you type.
5. Click Save. Click Cancel to throw away everything you changed in the editor.

To empty the labour and every part line at once, click Clear the price. Torqueflow asks first. Nothing is saved until you click Save.

If you switch away from Flat amount, any part that was Included in the flat amount becomes Needs a price.

How labour is charged

Labour by time is charged the same way your invoices charge it, using your garage’s labour billing steps in Settings > Finance > Labour & Time. The price block shows what is billed and the job time underneath, for example “0.5 h” above “13 min job, billed in 30-minute steps”. A flat amount is charged as entered, with no steps.

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No charge, Needs a price and Price to follow

Every item ends up in one of these states. None of them stops you sending the report.

State	How it gets there	What the customer’s report shows
Priced	Every line has an amount.	The price
Needs a price	At least one line has no amount, or there are no lines. The item reads “Total so far”.	Price to follow
Price to follow	You clicked Leave the price to follow. The item reads “Price to follow, chosen by Chloe” with the time.	Price to follow
No charge	You clicked No charge. The lines stay, greyed out.	No charge

Needs a price and Price to follow look the same to the customer. The difference is for your team: Price to follow shows somebody chose it, so a forgotten item never looks deliberate. Editing the price clears the choice.

To undo No charge, click Remove No charge.

If an item’s price comes to 0.00, the card asks “This comes to £0.00. Mark it No charge instead?” Click Mark No charge, or leave it as it is.

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How prices and VAT show

• Unit prices show before VAT. Line totals, item totals and the footer show the amount with VAT.
• Every line says how it is taxed: “(inc. VAT)”, “No VAT” or “No VAT (exempt)”, for example an MOT.
• If your garage is not VAT registered, every figure shows without VAT wording.
• Once a person has priced a line, it keeps its VAT rate. A later change to your default VAT rate does not move it.

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Writing what the customer reads

Each item has a box labelled What the customer will read. This is the wording on the customer’s report. The technician’s notes stay inside the garage.

1. If the technician picked saved findings on the item, the box starts with those findings’ customer wording. Otherwise it starts empty.
2. Type or edit the wording. It can be up to 2,000 characters.
3. Click away from the box. It saves and shows Saved.

An item with no wording still goes on the report. The send confirmation lists any item without wording, so you can catch it.

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The vehicle’s other open advisories

Red and Amber items from earlier checks on the same vehicle are kept as open advisories. Below the items, the view lists any that are still open, in two groups. The section is hidden when there are none.

1. On this customer’s record lists advisories raised while this customer owned the vehicle, or already sent to them. Click Add to report to put one on this report. It gets its own card, priced from its linked job where there is one.
2. Other open advisories on this vehicle “(may have been advice given to a previous keeper)” is for reference. To put one on this customer’s report, click Raise for {customer}, then Raise. This adds an open advisory to the vehicle’s record and puts it on this report.
3. An advisory on the report shows On this report and Remove from report. Removing it leaves the advisory open on the vehicle. If someone entered a price or wording for it, Torqueflow asks first.

If today’s check looked at the same item again:

• Found OK today: the advisory stays off this report and the list says so. It stays open on the vehicle’s record.
• Red or Amber today: the report shows the item once, as today’s finding, with “First advised on” and the date.

Advisories do not close by themselves yet. There is no way to close one by hand.

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When two people price the same check

Two people can work on one pricing view at the same time. If a colleague saves a price or wording on an item after you opened the page, your save does not overwrite theirs. The card shows “Dave changed this price at 10:42. Here is theirs.” with your own figures beside it. Click Use mine instead to save yours, or Keep theirs.

Expected Outcome

• Every Red and Amber item shows a price, No charge or Price to follow, chosen by a name.
• The header no longer shows “items need a price”.
• Linked-job prices you have checked read “checked by” your name.
• The items carry the wording you want the customer to read.
• The check stays on Awaiting pricing until you send the report and it reaches the customer.

Troubleshooting

Problem: There is no Health checks item in the menu. Cause: Your role does not have Access Work Orders. Technicians do not have it by default. Fix: Technicians find their checks on the job card’s Checks tab. If you need the list, ask your owner to change your role in Roles and Permissions.

Problem: Clicking a check opens the check, not the pricing view, and there is no count in the menu. Cause: Your role does not have Manage Work Orders, so you cannot price. Fix: Ask an owner, manager or service advisor to price it, or ask your owner to change your role.

Problem: A check I have already quoted is still under Awaiting pricing. Cause: A check only leaves the list when its report reaches the customer, its job closes or 14 days pass. Pricing it, or quoting the job some other way, does not count. Fix: Send the report, or close the job when the work is done. The job status on the row shows which checks are already moving.

Problem: A check is not on Awaiting pricing although the technician signed it off. Cause: It has no Red or Amber item, its job is closed, it is not a customer job or it was signed off more than 14 days ago. Fix: Look under Awaiting pricing, older than 14 days, or open it from the Health check card on the work order.

Problem: Labour shows the job time but no rate, and reads Needs a price. Cause: Your garage has no default hourly labour rate. Fix: Set one in Settings > Finance > Labour & Time > Labour Rates, or pick or type a rate in the price editor.

Problem: The price block says “Your default labour rate is £0.00.” Cause: Your default hourly labour rate is set to zero. Fix: If that is not intended, change the rate in Settings > Finance > Labour & Time > Labour Rates.

Problem: A card says “A labour rate changed in settings after this page was opened, so this price was not saved.” Cause: Someone changed a labour rate while you were pricing. Fix: The page now shows the current rates. Make your change again.

Problem: A card says “The linked job’s price has changed since this page was opened.” Cause: The linked service’s price changed while you had the page open. Fix: The card shows today’s figures. Check them again, then click Looks right or edit the price.

Problem: A line reads “Tax settings could not be read, so these prices exclude tax (VAT).” Cause: Torqueflow could not read your VAT settings when it saved the price. Fix: The price is saved without VAT for now. Your next save fills the VAT in. If it keeps happening, check Settings > Finance.

Problem: A rate in the editor reads “(rate no longer in settings)”. Cause: The labour rate this line uses has been deleted from your settings. Fix: The line keeps the rate it was priced at. Pick a current rate if you want to change it.

Problem: A part search says “More than 20 matches. Keep typing to narrow it down.” Cause: The search shows the best 20 matches only. Fix: Type more of the name or part number. Words can be in any order.

Notes

• Nothing here reaches the customer. Prices, wording and advisories you add stay inside the garage until you send the report.
• Technicians never see prices. The pricing view, the count and the word “pricing” are hidden from anyone who cannot price.
• The 14-day window only affects the count. A check signed off more than 14 days ago still reads Signed off - awaiting pricing on its own work order.
• Photos show as they will on the report. The photos on a card are the ones the customer will see. Choosing which photos go on the report is not available yet.
• Advisories found on the check are kept on the vehicle. They appear here on later checks, not on the vehicle’s page.

Permissions

Action	Who can do it
Open the Health checks list	Access Work Orders (Owner, Manager and Service Advisor by default)
See the count beside Health checks and get the sign-off alert	Manage Work Orders (Owner, Manager and Service Advisor by default). The technician who signed off is never alerted.
Open the pricing view, price items, write wording and add advisories	Manage Work Orders
Link template items to services	Manage health check templates (Owner and Manager by default). See Health check templates.