Tradesperson App

Rochele Trades is the mobile app for the tradespersons (head tradespersons and their team members) who carry out Rochele jobs. It runs on iPhone and Android. Tradespersons use it to see the jobs assigned to them, accept safety hazards and the SWMS, clock in and out, upload progress photos, chat with the office, the project manager and the customer, and manage their team and compliance documents. Head tradespersons also download RCTIs and upload invoices for their advances.

Office staff do not use this app, but a lot of what appears in the web app (check-ins on the customer timeline, advance requests, signed hazards, expired capabilities, team members) starts here. This page explains the tradesperson’s side so the office can answer their questions and know where each action lands.

Naming

The web app and this guide say tradesperson and head tradesperson. The app was originally called the contractor app and a few of its labels and emails still say “contractor”. They mean the same people.

Availability and installation

• The production app is published as Rochele Trades on the Apple App Store and Google Play, and talks to rochele.cloud. A separate development build called Rochele Painting talks to the staging site and is only for testing.
• The app is English only. There is no language switch.
• The app needs the phone’s camera, photo library, microphone (for voice calls) and location while in use. Location is required to clock in and out.
• Push notifications are used for chat messages only.

Getting access and logging in

There is no self sign-up in the app. A tradesperson can only log in if a user record already exists for their mobile number, which happens in one of two ways:

1. Created by the office in the web app under Tradespersons or Team Members, with the tradesperson role.
2. Invited by their head tradesperson from the app (Settings > Manage Team, or the onboarding step Invite team members). The head tradesperson enters a mobile number and the server sends an SMS. If the number is already known, the SMS says they have been given access and to log in with their mobile number. If it is new, the SMS contains a link (valid for three days) to a short registration page asking for first name, last name, email and the mobile number, which must match the invited number. Completing it creates an active team member under that head tradesperson. A project manager can also add team members during a site visit from the iPad, which triggers the same invitation.

Login is by one-time code, not a password:

1. On Login with your phone number, the tradesperson enters their Phone number and taps Request Login Code.
2. They receive a six digit SMS code and enter it on the Verification screen, then tap Verify. A wrong code shows Invalid OTP.
3. Only users with a tradesperson role can log in; anyone else sees You are not allowed to login.

There is no forgot-password flow because there is no password. If a tradesperson cannot log in, check in User Management that their mobile number is correct and that they hold the tradesperson role.

Onboarding checklist and approval

The app does not have a separate “pending approval” state. Instead, new users see an App onboarding card on the Home screen with a progress count (for example 2/4 complete) and cannot clock in until the required steps are done. Attempting to clock in early shows Complete onboarding: You cannot be assigned jobs until you have completed the onboarding process. with a Do this now button.

Step	Who must do it	What it asks for
Profile Details	Everyone	First name, last name, email and photo. The phone number is fixed to the login number here.
Uniform	Everyone	T-shirt size (S to 3XL) and Pants size (waist in inches), so the office can order uniforms.
Sign the current agreements	Head tradespersons only	Read and sign each active agreement (the period contract). Signing captures a drawn signature and the phone’s location. See Agreements.
Invite team members	Head tradespersons only, optional	Send SMS invitations as described above.
Capabilities	Head tradespersons only	Upload the four mandatory documents (Public Liability, Work Cover, Period Contract and QBCC licence, see Capabilities) and any additional certificates or licences, each with an expiry date or This document does not expire. See Capabilities.

Skipping a required step shows a warning that no jobs can be assigned until it is done. Team members who are not head tradespersons do not have to provide the documents (ROCH-1082).

What the office sees: signed agreements appear under Agreements with the signature and date; uploaded documents appear on the tradesperson’s capabilities with expiry dates and drive the expiring and expired warnings and reminder emails covered in Tradespersons and KPIs scheduled tasks; new team members appear under Team Members against their head tradesperson.

Home

The Home tab shows, from the top:

• Warning banners when relevant: Documents Expired or Documents Expiring Soon (head tradespersons, with a link to update documents), Unsigned Safety Hazards (team members, listing the jobs still to sign), and Unsigned Agreements (head tradespersons, listing team members who have not signed, tap to call them).
• The App onboarding card until it is complete.
• Currently clocked in to: the job the person is clocked in to, with Clocked in from the start time, and buttons to Start Break / End Break and Clock Out. When not clocked in it shows You are not clocked in to any jobs and a Clock In button that jumps to the Jobs tab.
• Next Available Date (head tradespersons): the date their team is free for the next job, with Update. This is the same next available date the office sees on the Planning Board and that project managers can set from the iPad.
• Recent Jobs: the three most recent current jobs with their start date or completion date.
• Management (head tradespersons): Advances (“Download RCTIs and upload invoices”) and Materials (“View all job materials”).

The gear icon opens Settings.

Jobs tab

The Jobs tab lists the current jobs (sub jobs) assigned to the tradesperson’s team, with a search box and a View past jobs link for completed and cancelled ones. There is no accept or decline step: the office assigns a tradesperson to a sub job from the Planning Board or job page (or a project manager assigns a small sub job from the iPad), the tradesperson receives their work order, and the job simply appears in the app.

Job screen

Opening a job shows:

• Important notes from the office as dismissible banners.
• A Clock In button (or the clocked-in strip with break and clock out controls). Hidden once the job is completed.
• Customer with Call customer (an in-app voice call through Twilio, so the tradesperson does not see or dial the customer’s number directly) and Message.
• Overview: address, starting date and the project manager.
• Status: the job status and percentage complete, plus Job Reports (the project manager’s reports, opened from the timeline) and Progress photos.
• Team Members on the job.
• Job Price (head tradespersons only): the quote price and the contractor price.
• Job Hours: hours logged against a target derived from the contractor price. Logged hours turn red once they exceed the target.
• Job Details: Site Photos, Documents, Materials, Colour Schedule (when one exists) and Hours Worked.
• Items: the job items, plus Notes, Global Specifications, Inaccessible Areas, Scope Exclusions and Site Risks when the quote has them.
• Safety: Safety Hazards, Safe Work Method Statement and Report an Incident.

Job statuses shown in the app are the same as in the web app: Pending Deposit, Deposit Paid, In Progress, On Hold, Completed, Ready to Schedule, Colour Consultancy Pending, Waiting Service Agreement, Waiting on Trades, Cancelled, Accepted and Paid. See Jobs for what each means.

Safety hazards and SWMS acknowledgement

Before anyone can clock in to a sub job, the safety hazards for it must be accepted:

1. Safety Hazards lists the hazards attached to the sub job (from the library in Safety Hazards, plus any added on site). The + button searches the library, and Custom Safety Hazard adds a new one with a name, three letter code and description.
2. Accept Hazards opens the sign-off screen: “Please complete the safe work method statement and sign off. No advances will be processed until this has been completed.” The tradesperson draws a signature. A head tradesperson can also Select team members so the acceptance is recorded for them and they are notified.
3. Once accepted the button reads Hazards Accepted and each hazard shows Accepted at the date.

The Safe Work Method Statement row opens the job’s SWMS PDF for reading. Team members who have not signed see the Unsigned Safety Hazards banner on Home, and tapping Clock In on an unsigned job takes them to the hazards screen first.

What the office sees: the sub job’s safety hazard status and signatures on the job page in the web app. The project manager’s own sign-off happens on the iPad (see iPad App). Advances for a sub job are held until the hazards are signed, which is why Suggested Advances can show a job that seems ready but has no advance.

Clock in, breaks and clock out

1. Clock In (after onboarding and hazard checks) opens Clock in to job with the job reference, a Start time defaulting to now, the phone’s Location (fetched automatically and required) and optional Progress photos. Tapping Clock In creates a labour timesheet entry and a check-in record for that team member on the job.
2. Start Break and End Break record break time as separate entries.
3. Clock Out opens Clock out of job with the start time, an editable End time, the location again and optional photos.

Clocking in and out both need a live internet connection and a GPS fix; there is no offline queue. A tradesperson with no signal cannot clock in.

What the office sees: the check-in appears on the job’s customer and internal timelines (painter name and check-in time), on the Job Map Team member checked-in layer, and counts toward the hours shown on the job in the app. Timesheet entries are stored against the sub job and team member; there is no dedicated timesheet screen in the web app, so hours are reviewed through the job and the tradesperson’s records.

Job items

Job Items shows every line item grouped by item and section, with All items and Assigned to me views. A head tradesperson can assign items to team members one at a time or with Bulk assign (ROCH-1069). Colour consultants can set the Colour on an item. Items are read-only otherwise: there is no “mark complete” in the app. Job progress percentages come from the project manager’s reports on the iPad.

Materials

Materials shows the materials recorded for the job in the web app (requisition number, vendor, price, order details) with a total. Tradespersons cannot add materials from the app; the office records them under Materials, and material spend is deducted when advances are calculated.

Progress photos and advance requests

Progress photos lists the tradesperson’s progress reports. Submit progress report requires at least one photo, allows a comment (head tradespersons) and has a Request advance toggle. The screen warns that photos are visible to the customer on their job timeline.

What the office sees: the report appears on the job’s internal and customer timelines under job progress photos, showing who submitted it and their profession. The project manager receives the email Progress Photos Submitted. If Request advance was on, the timeline entry shows Advance requested: Yes with a Process Advance button, and the PM also receives Request Advance for Job #REF. Processing creates the advance that then flows through Pending Advances and Advances Sent.

Incident reports

Report an Incident is a four step form (incident details, injured person, the business notifying, and the notifier with two signatures including the project manager’s). On submit the office receives the incident report email with a PDF, and the report is stored against the job’s documents.

Messages

The Messages tab is only shown to head tradespersons and to team members the office has allowed to message (the Messages permission on the team member). It lists the tradesperson’s current jobs with an unread count, and each job has up to three conversations:

• Rochele Head Office
• The Project Manager (shown by name)
• The Customer (shown by name), with a phone icon to call them through the app

Messages can be text or photos. These are the same conversations the office sees in Message Centre and on the job’s Messages tab, and the project manager sees on the iPad. New messages arrive as push notifications; the app icon badge shows how many jobs have unread messages.

Timesheets

The Timesheet tab shows a date range picker, Total hours logged and one row per team member with their hours. Tapping a member shows their entries by day. An entry (Time Log) shows the job, date, start, end, total hours, the clock-in location on a map and any photos. Entries can be edited (Edit Time Log: date, start time, end time; the end must be after the start) or deleted.

Timesheets are created only by clocking in and out. There is no manual entry and no submit or approval step; the hours are recorded as soon as the tradesperson clocks out.

Settings, team and profile

Settings (gear icon on Home) contains:

• Manage Team (head tradespersons): the team list with each member’s last clock in. Head tradespersons can invite new members, edit a member’s profile, toggle Active (deactivating removes their app access) and Messages (allow chat with the office and customers), and Remove from team. Changes appear under Team Members. The Messages permission is only set from the app.
• Your Profile: name, phone, email and photo.
• Security: a change password screen. It is not functional, because login is by SMS code; ignore it if a tradesperson asks.
• Capabilities: the same document screens as onboarding, with expired and expiring badges.
• Contact Us: opens an email to the office and the app developers with the subject “Rochele Trades - support request”.
• Clear Media Cache, the version number and Log out.

The bell (Notifications) tab is currently empty; all notifications arrive as push notifications and in Messages.

Where each action lands in the web app

Tradesperson action	Where the office sees it
Sign agreement	Agreements response with signature
Upload or update a document	Tradesperson capabilities, expiry reminders (Capabilities)
Invite or remove a team member	Team Members
Set next available date	Planning Board
Accept safety hazards	Sub job hazard status on the job page; advances released
Clock in / out	Customer and internal timeline check-ins, Job Map, hours on the job
Submit progress photos	Job timelines, email to the PM, Report Gallery
Request advance	Timeline Process Advance button, email to the PM, then Advances
Upload invoice against an RCTI	Advances Sent marks the invoice as uploaded
Send a message	Message Centre and the job’s Messages tab
Report an incident	Email to the office and the job’s documents

Tips and gotchas

• “I can’t clock in” is almost always one of: onboarding not complete, safety hazards not accepted, location services off, or no signal. Check those before looking at the job assignment.
• Only head tradespersons see prices, advances, materials and team management. A team member asking about an advance should speak to their head tradesperson.
• If a team member cannot see Messages, their head tradesperson needs to turn on the Messages permission for them under Settings > Manage Team in the app. Head tradespersons always have it.
• The invitation link in the SMS expires after three days. Resend the invite if the person waited too long.
• Renaming or deactivating a capability requirement in Capabilities changes what every head tradesperson must upload.
• Photos in progress reports are shown to the customer. If a tradesperson uploads the wrong image, remove it from the timeline in the web app.