Drops, devices and cable runs, from the floor plan to the patch panel

Everyday problems on a low voltage and security job

• Drop counts get redone by hand every time the furniture plan moves.
• Extra cameras the owner walks in and asks for get hung and never billed.
• Cable boxes and rack gear post to the shop instead of the job.
• Rough-in, terminations and testing get billed off a guess.

(Illustrative trade situations, not customer data or quotes.)

How it works

1. Take it off the plans: Count drops, cameras, readers and devices on the plan, and measure cable runs back to the IDF right on the sheet.
2. Buy it and post it: Put cable, rack gear and devices on a PO, and post the bills to the job.
3. Change it, bill it, close it: Write up added devices as change orders, bill rough-in, terminations and testing as their own lines, and check WIP.

Shop talk, Pinnacle talk

What you call it on a low voltage and security job, and where it lives in Pinnacle.

What's in Pinnacle

• Takeoff on the drawing. Open the plan set, measure lengths and areas, and count items right on the sheet. Every measurement becomes a quantity line in the estimate, so each number in your low voltage / security bid traces back to the drawing it came from. Trade tools are built to let you count devices and measure cable paths on the plan so low-voltage scope feeds the estimate Early access.
• Bid board to bid day. Every project you're chasing sits on one bid board, with its estimate attached. On bid day the final numbers are all in one place, and the bid you win carries straight into a live job.
• Assemblies and a parts library. Build an assembly once from your own parts and cost codes, then drop it into any estimate. Your shop's way of pricing work stays consistent from bid to bid.
• Live material prices. Material lines in the estimate carry live prices. Built to let you plug in your own price sources (supplier price files in CSV, supply houses or pricing services) from the admin area Early access.
• Cost control tied to the job. Purchase orders for devices, bills, AP and AR post to the job and its cost codes. Job cost shows what's committed and what's spent while the work is still going.
• Change orders and extras. Log added scope on the job and the sold number moves with it, so extras get billed instead of forgotten.
• WIP and job P&L. See where each job stands at month end without rebuilding it in a spreadsheet.
• The books. Journals, trial balance, P&L and aging sit in the same system as the jobs that feed them.
• Hours and payroll. Post crew hours (straight, overtime, double time) and run payroll from them. Built today for a single shop; payroll for any shop is designed into the platform Early access.
• AIA G702/G703-style pay apps. Build the pay app from the job you already set up, with the schedule of values right there.
• Insights. Making-and-spending charts, plus billed, leftover and job mix, pulled from your job files.
• Teams and job chat. Channels, meetings and files for the office and crews, and job chat that keeps the files and photos with the conversation.
• Project manager desk. One place for a PM to run their jobs.
• Secure sign-in. Multi-factor sign-in protects your shop's data.

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