11 guide sections

Equipment Help

Track organization equipment, categories, QR codes, and field use.

Equipment is your organization's register of the plant and machinery you own, rent, or bring in through a subcontractor — one list shared by every project. Keep each machine's make, model, serial number, ownership, and paperwork in one place, print QR codes for the cab, and pick from the same list when crews log equipment on a Daily Log.

Start here

Common task recipes

  • Set up the register for the first time: Open Equipment Settings, select Add category for each kind of machine, open each category to add its Equipment Types and Equipment Fields, then go back to Equipment and select Add Equipment for each machine.
  • Record a rental: Select Add Equipment, set Ownership to Rented, choose the rental company as Supplier, and fill in Rental start and Rental end.
  • Tag the fleet with QR codes: In Equipment, tick the machines, open Actions, select Download QR codes, and print the PDF.
  • Retire machines that left the yard: Tick them in Equipment, open Actions, and select Archive selected.

Find your equipment

Open the equipment register

The register is the one list of every machine your organization tracks, across all projects. It's where you add equipment, look something up, and export the fleet list when the yard manager or the insurer asks for it.

  1. Leave the project you're in so the organization sidebar shows.
  2. Select Equipment. It sits just below Time Cards and above Global Reports. In the app, open the menu and find Equipment in your organization's tools list.

You'll see Equipment only when your role has Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets. Admin, Manager, and Employee have it by default. Constructable support can change that for a role; see Roles and Permissions. It doesn't depend on your package.

The grid shows one row per machine, sorted by number and then name. The columns are Number, Name, Category, Type, Status, Make, Model, Year, Serial number, Ownership, Supplier, Rental start, and Rental end, followed by columns for your categories' custom fields, listed in the column picker under Custom fields or under their section's title. Select a name to open that machine's page. Select a category to open its settings. Equipment without a category reads Uncategorized.

  • Search matches number, name, make, model, serial number, supplier, and custom field values.
  • Filter by Category, Type, Status, Ownership, Supplier, or any custom field.
  • Group by Category to see the fleet broken out by category.
  • Actions → Download as PDF or Download as CSV exports what's on screen.

Archived equipment is hidden until you tick Show archived in Actions. Archived rows offer only Unarchive.

Before anything has been added, the page reads No equipment yet with an Add Equipment button. On desktop and mobile web the header also has Equipment Settings, a shortcut to categories and types in Organization Settings. The app's header has only the + button for adding equipment.

You now have the whole fleet in one list you can search, filter, and export.

Add and maintain equipment

Add equipment

A new excavator showed up, or you're finally getting the fleet out of a spreadsheet. Add each machine once and it's available on every project's Daily Log, with the details your team actually asks about.

  1. Open Equipment and select Add Equipment. In the app, it's the + button in the header.
  2. Enter a Name. It's the only required field. Add a Number if you tag machines with fleet numbers.
  3. Choose a Category, then a Type within it. Type stays unavailable until you pick a category that has types, and changing the category clears the type.
  4. Set Status if you track availability: Available, In use, or Unavailable. Leave it blank if you don't.
  5. Fill in Make, Model, Year, and Serial number.
  6. Choose Ownership: Owned, Rented, or Subcontracted. For Rented or Subcontracted, Rental start and Rental end appear.
  7. Pick the Supplier from your organization's companies in the Global Directory.
  8. Fill in any custom fields the category adds. They appear after you choose a category, and required ones have to be filled in before you can save.
  9. Select Add Equipment.

A few rules are enforced as you go:

  • Numbers have to be unique. Reusing one shows An equipment with this number already exists.
  • Year takes a four-digit year from 1900 through next year.
  • Rental end can't be earlier than Rental start. If it is, you'll see Rental end cannot be before rental start.
  • Switching Ownership to Owned or clearing it drops the rental dates when you save.

Pro Tip: Make and Model suggest names already in your register as you type, and Model only suggests models that go with the make you entered. Picking the suggestion instead of retyping keeps "CAT", "Cat", and "Caterpillar" from turning into three filter values.

Suggestions are just a shortcut — type anything that isn't on the list and it's saved as entered.

The machine is now in the register and shows up in every project's Daily Log equipment picker.

Can I add equipment from a Daily Log instead?

Yes, if your role has Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets. Typing a new name in a Daily Log's equipment picker creates the machine with just that name. It lands in the register as Uncategorized, so come back and fill in the rest. See Log equipment on a Daily Log.

Where do the Category and Type choices come from?

From Organization Settings. See Organize equipment into categories and types.

Review and edit an equipment page

Every machine has its own page with its details, any extra sections its category defines, and its files — the operator's manual, the annual inspection certificate, the rental agreement. Open it from the register by selecting the machine's name, or by scanning its QR code.

The page has three parts:

  • Details lists everything from the add form, including Status as a badge and the rental dates for rented or subcontracted machines. Custom field values appear here too.
  • Any custom sections the category defines come next, each in its own panel. A section can be filled in once, or have an entry added each time — one per service visit, for example.
  • Attachments holds the machine's files. It reads No attachments until someone adds one.

To change the details, select Edit on Details, make your changes, and select Save Changes. Adding or removing attachments and filling in sections need the same permission. Archived equipment shows an Archived badge, and Edit goes away until it's restored.

On desktop and mobile web, Download QR code sits at the top of the page, and Archive or Unarchive is under Actions. In the app, all of these are in the menu in the page header.

Opening the page only takes View equipment and other material assets, which Admin, Manager, Employee, Subcontractor, Consultant, and Owner all have and which can't be changed. That's why a superintendent can scan a QR code and read a machine's details and files even when Equipment isn't in their menu. Without Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets, the page is read-only.

You now have one place to send anyone who asks about a specific machine.

Print QR codes for equipment

A QR code stuck in the cab means an operator, an inspector, or the rental company's tech can scan it and land on that machine's page — details, manuals, certificates — without hunting through a list.

For one machine, open its page and select Download QR code. For many at once:

  1. Open Equipment and tick the machines you want.
  2. Open Actions and select Download QR codes. The menu item shows how many you picked, and it stays disabled until you pick at least one.

You get a PDF with one letter-size page per machine: your organization's name at the top, the QR code, the machine's number and name, and the line Scan to open this equipment in Constructable.

Scanning a code opens that machine's page. Whoever scans it has to sign in to Constructable as a member of your organization.

Note: Download QR code doesn't appear on an archived machine's page. Unarchive it first if you need a new label.

You now have labels that link each machine to its record.

Edit several pieces of equipment at once

The rental company changed its name, or twelve machines need to move into a new category. Rather than opening each one, change them all from the register in one pass.

  1. Open Equipment and tick the machines you want to change.
  2. Open Actions. Under Bulk actions, choose Edit category..., Edit type..., Edit make..., Edit model..., Edit year..., Edit ownership..., or Edit supplier....
  3. Pick the new value. Leaving it blank clears that field on every selected machine.
  4. Select the save button, which shows how many items you're changing.

Note: The dialog warns that the bulk action can't be undone. It overwrites the field on every selected machine, so check your selection first.

A few things work differently from editing one machine:

  • Edit category... also clears the type on any machine whose type doesn't belong to the new category.
  • Edit type... only works when every selected machine is in the same category and that category has types. Otherwise the menu item is disabled and its tooltip says why — Every selected item needs the same category to edit type, or that the selected items have no category, or that the category has no types yet.
  • Edit ownership... sets the rental dates along with the ownership. Choosing Owned clears them.
  • If a bulk edit fails, nothing is changed — the message says All equipment remains unchanged.

Status and serial number aren't in the bulk menu. Change those on each machine's page.

You've now updated a whole group of machines with one save.

Archive and restore equipment

When a machine is sold, scrapped, or off-hired, archive it. It drops out of the register and out of every Daily Log equipment picker, but Daily Logs that already recorded it keep their entries.

  • For one machine, select the archive icon on its row in Equipment, or open its page and choose Actions → Archive. Confirm in Archive Equipment.
  • For several, tick them, open Actions, and select Archive selected.

To bring equipment back, tick Show archived in Actions. Then select the restore icon on the row, choose Unarchive on the machine's page, or tick several and select Unarchive selected. Unarchive selected appears only while Show archived is on.

Archiving can always be undone this way. There's no delete for equipment.

Why can't I reuse an archived machine's name from a Daily Log?

The Daily Log picker won't create a new machine with the same name as an archived one. It shows Equipment with this name already exists instead. Unarchive the old machine and pick it, or give the new one a different name.

Set up categories and fields

Organize equipment into categories and types

Categories are the big buckets — Earthmoving, Lifting, Generators — and types are the kinds of machine inside each one, like Excavator or Skid Steer under Earthmoving. Set them up before you load the register and the filters and groupings come out clean.

  1. Open Organization Settings and select Equipment under Field. From the register, Equipment Settings goes straight there.
  2. In Equipment Categories, select Add category, enter a name, and save.
  3. Select a category's name to open its page.
  4. On Equipment Types, select Add type for each kind of machine in that category.

The categories list shows how many Types and Fields each one has. Drag rows to reorder the list. The same tools work on types inside a category.

Use the icons on a row, or Actions on a category's page, to Rename, Archive, or Delete:

  • Archive takes a category or type out of future choices. Equipment already using it keeps it, and you can unarchive it from Archived at the bottom of the list.
  • Delete is offered only on a category with no types, or on a type no equipment uses. The confirmation warns that it can't be undone. A category with types shows Categories with types can only be archived, not deleted.

Reaching this page needs Open organization settings as well as Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets. Admin, Manager, and Employee have both by default.

You now have the categories and types every machine is filed under.

Add custom fields to an equipment category

A crane needs a load chart date and a certification number. A generator needs kVA and fuel type. Custom fields let each category ask for its own details, so you aren't stuck with one form that fits nothing.

  1. Open the category from Organization Settings → Equipment.
  2. Select Equipment Fields.
  3. Select Add Field, enter a Name, and choose a Type.
  4. Turn on Required if equipment in this category shouldn't save without it.
  5. To group fields under a heading, select Add Section and give it a Title. Turn on Has many entries when people will add to it over and over — one entry per service visit or per inspection.

Number and Name are built in and can't be hidden.

Fields outside a section show up on the add and edit form once someone picks this category, and in Details on the machine's page. Sections appear as their own panels on the machine's page. Every field except those in a Has many entries section also gets a column and a filter in the register.

Note: Fields belong to the category. Move a machine to another category and it shows that category's fields instead.

Every machine in the category now asks for exactly the details you track.

Use equipment in the field

Log equipment on a Daily Log

The register is what your crews pick from when they record equipment on the day's log. Each machine is recorded once, the same way on every project.

In a Daily Log's Equipment section, select Add Equipment and open the Equipment picker. Machines are grouped by category, with Uncategorized last, and each one shows its type beneath the name. Search by name, number, category, or type. Archived machines aren't listed.

If your role has Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets, typing a name that isn't in the list creates a new machine with just that name.

The Equipment section appears only when Equipment Section is on in Organization Settings → Daily Log Settings. See Build the daily record for hours, inspection time, notes, and Repeat.

Every log entry now points to a real machine in your register.

Report equipment use across projects

When someone asks which jobs the excavators were on last month, or how many hours the lifts logged, the Equipment report in Global Reports answers it from every project's Daily Logs.

Open Global Reports and select Equipment. The card appears when Equipment Section is on in Organization Settings → Daily Log Settings. The report, titled Daily Logs - Equipment, lists each Daily Log equipment entry with Project, Date, Equipment №, Equipment Name, Category, Type, Usage Hours, Inspected At, Notes, and Maintenance. The bottom row totals Usage Hours for what's on screen.

Group or filter by Category or Type to see a whole class of machine at once. Entries for equipment without one are under Uncategorized or No type.

Note: Category and Type come from the machine's current settings in the register. Recategorize a machine and its past entries follow.

See Global Reports for saved views and exports.

You now have equipment usage across every project in one table.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot Equipment

Equipment is missing from the organization sidebar

Your role needs Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets. Without it you can still open a machine's page from a link or QR code, but not the register.

Equipment Settings doesn't show the categories

Categories live in Organization Settings, which needs Open organization settings on top of the equipment permission.

Type won't let me choose anything

Pick a Category first. If the category has no types yet, add some on its Equipment Types tab. For bulk edits, every selected machine needs the same category.

A machine won't save because of its number

Another machine already has that number. Search the register for it, including archived equipment with Show archived.

A machine is missing from the Daily Log picker

It's probably archived. Tick Show archived in Equipment, find it, and unarchive it.

Rental start and Rental end aren't showing

They only appear when Ownership is Rented or Subcontracted.

A category's custom fields don't appear on the add form

Choose the category first — fields appear once it's selected. Fields inside a section aren't on the form at all; fill them in on the machine's page.

I can open a machine's page but can't edit anything

That's view-only access. Editing details, attachments, and sections needs Add, edit, and archive equipment and other material assets.