Guides, best practices, and tips to help you get the most out of every module.
New to GlazeOps? Start here to set up your company and first project.
When you first register for GlazeOps, you'll create both a personal user account and a company account. The first user automatically becomes the company administrator with full access to all settings, user management, and company configuration. You'll get a 14-day Professional trial with no credit card required.
As an admin, navigate to Admin → Users → Invite to bring your team onboard. You can assign three role levels: Admin (full access including company settings and user management), Manager (project management and team coordination), and Member (standard access to assigned projects). Each invited user receives a welcome email with login credentials.
Head to Projects → Create New Project. Enter the project name, number, client information, contract amount, and schedule dates. Once created, you'll be taken to the project dashboard where all modules — submittals, procurement, schedule, daily reports, RFIs, change orders, punch list, and job costs — are ready to use.
Your company dashboard shows a bird's-eye view across all projects: active project count, pending submittals, upcoming deadlines, and recent activity. Each project also has its own dashboard with project-specific stats including financial summary, schedule progress, milestones, and module-level metrics.
Track opportunities, build estimates, generate proposals, and convert won bids to projects.
The bid pipeline tracks opportunities through stages: Tracking, Reviewing, Takeoff, Estimating, Pending Quotes, Bid Ready, Submitted, Won, and Lost. Use the kanban board to visualize your pipeline, drag bids between stages, and filter by priority, building type, or estimator. Starter plans can track up to 10 active bids; Professional and Business plans have unlimited pipeline capacity.
From any bid, go to the Takeoff tab to add quantity items with glazing-specific system types, dimensions, and glass specs. Then go to the Estimate tab — you can create an estimate from your takeoff (auto-populates line items) or start from scratch. Each estimate line has material (qty x unit cost), labor (hours x rate), and equipment breakdowns. The markup cascade applies overhead, profit, bond, tax, and contingency in order to calculate your total bid amount.
The Proposal tab lets you build a professional bid document. Add structured scope items with detailed spec descriptions, set exclusions, lead times, alternates, and terms. Click "Download PDF" to generate a branded proposal document. Use the Scope Library to save and reuse spec descriptions across bids. You can also clone an entire bid (including takeoff, estimate, and proposal) to save time on similar projects.
Mark a bid as "Won" from the bid detail page. A "Convert to Project" button appears that launches a wizard — review the pre-filled project details, budget lines from your estimate, contacts, and documents. One click creates the project with budget lines already mapped to cost codes. Your estimate becomes your project budget automatically. Over time, actual costs feed back into pricing history to make future estimates more accurate.
The Bid Analytics dashboard shows win rate overall and by GC, building type, and estimator. Track loss reasons, monthly bid volume trends, pipeline value forecasts, average turnaround time, and GC relationship rankings. The Estimate vs Actual report compares your estimates to real project costs for completed projects — the closed loop that makes every future estimate more accurate.
Everything about creating, tracking, and managing submittals.
Navigate to your project's Submittals tab and click "New Submittal." Enter the submittal number, spec section (e.g., 08 44 13 for Curtain Walls), description, and dates. Add line items for each product or material with manufacturer, model number, and quantity. You can attach multiple files including shop drawings, cut sheets, and product data in PDF, DWG, or image formats.
Submittals move through a clear lifecycle: Draft → Submitted → Approved / Approved as Noted / Revise & Resubmit / Rejected. When a submittal is submitted for review, reviewers can add comments, update the status, and upload response files. Each review is timestamped and tracked in the review history. If a revision is needed, a new revision is created while preserving the original for reference.
Export your complete submittal log as PDF or Excel from the submittal index page. Individual submittals can also be exported as formatted PDF documents suitable for sending to general contractors or architects. The PDF includes all submittal details, items, file references, and review history.
Managing materials, vendors, and deliveries.
Each procurement item tracks a material through its lifecycle: Identified → Quoted → Ordered → Partial Delivery → Received → Installed. Enter vendor information, PO numbers, costs, lead times, and delivery dates. The summary dashboard shows total items by status and flags late deliveries so nothing falls through the cracks.
Procurement items can optionally be linked to formal GlazeOps Purchase Orders for cost code allocation and committed cost tracking. This is entirely optional — you can continue using the text PO number field for external PO references (from Premier, QuickBooks, Sage, etc.) without changing your existing workflow.
Add vendors through Admin → Vendors with contact details, categories, and notes. Vendors can be selected when creating procurement items or purchase orders. Categories help organize suppliers by type — glass, aluminum, hardware, sealants, etc.
Budgets, purchase orders, timecards, expenses, and financial dashboards.
Navigate to Admin → Cost Codes to manage your company's cost code library. GlazeOps includes pre-built glazing templates covering CSI Division 08 codes (curtain wall, storefront, entrances, windows, skylights), specialty glazing (glass railings, shower enclosures, mirrors, partitions), and general conditions. Import a template to get started quickly, then customize codes for your specific needs.
Under a project's Job Costs tab → Budget, select cost codes from your library and assign budgeted quantities, unit costs, and total amounts per line. The budget builder shows category subtotals (labor, material, equipment, overhead) and flags any mismatch with the contract amount. Budget lines can be locked after approval to prevent accidental edits.
Create formal purchase orders with vendor selection, cost code allocation per line item, tax pre-fill from the project default rate, and an approval workflow. Approved POs automatically record committed costs in the job cost ledger. POs can be generated as professional PDFs with your company logo for sending to vendors. The receiving module tracks partial and full deliveries, and vendor invoices convert committed costs to actual costs.
Record daily timecards per employee per project with cost code splitting, overtime calculations, and automatic rate selection. Set up standard and prevailing wage rates in Admin → Labor Rates. For prevailing wage projects, GlazeOps automatically applies the correct rate with burden and fringe tracking. Use the crew timecard view for bulk entry by a foreman.
The Job Cost Dashboard gives you a single-pane-of-glass view of your project's financial health: budget vs. committed vs. actual vs. forecast, by cost code and by category. Drill down into any number to see the underlying transactions. The company-level financial dashboard shows profitability across all active projects.
Schedule of Values, AIA-style billing, and payment tracking.
Under Job Costs → Billing → SOV, create your Schedule of Values by adding line items with descriptions and scheduled values. You can build the SOV from your project budget cost codes or create custom line items. Each SOV line can have its own retainage percentage, or it will use the project default.
Each billing period represents one Application for Payment. Enter work completed and materials stored this period per SOV line item. GlazeOps auto-calculates previous totals, percent complete, balance to finish, and retainage. The system warns you about potential over-billing.
Generate professional Application for Payment (G702) and Continuation Sheet (G703) PDFs with your company branding. These follow the standard AIA format that every GC recognizes — project info, contractor details, financial summary, and detailed SOV with all standard columns. Download or email directly to the GC.
Building and managing project schedules.
Create tasks with names, date ranges, assignments, and priority levels. Tasks can be organized hierarchically — parent tasks contain subtasks, letting you build a work breakdown structure. Set dependencies between tasks to ensure proper sequencing. Track progress as percentages and update task status from Not Started through In Progress to Completed.
The interactive Gantt chart visualizes your entire project timeline. Switch between day, week, and month views. Task bars show duration and progress. Dependency lines connect related tasks. A "today" marker helps you see where you are in the schedule. Use the Gantt view for presentations, coordination meetings, and progress reviews.
Documenting daily field activity.
A good daily report documents: weather conditions and temperature, crew count, work performed (be specific about locations and scope), materials used, equipment on site, visitors, any delays or issues encountered, and safety observations. Use the "Copy from Previous Day" feature to speed up entry when conditions are similar. Attach photos to provide visual documentation of progress and any issues.
Each daily report can be exported as a professional PDF document. The PDF includes all report fields, attached photos with captions, and your company branding. Use these PDFs for record-keeping, general contractor submissions, or dispute documentation.
Managing service calls, repairs, and one-off jobs outside of projects.
Work orders are for jobs that don't warrant a full project — service calls, repairs, warranty work, small installations, inspections, and maintenance. They live separate from projects in the sidebar and have their own streamlined workflow without submittals, RFIs, schedules, or change orders. If a job needs those tools, create a project instead.
Navigate to Work Orders in the sidebar and click "New Work Order." Enter a title, select the type (Service Call, Repair, Replacement, Warranty, Maintenance, Installation, Inspection, or Other), set the priority, and optionally link to an existing client. If the client is already in your system, selecting them auto-fills the contact and site address fields. You can also enter walk-in contacts directly without a client record.
Enter your costs (materials, labor, other) and a markup percentage — the sale price auto-calculates. Or type the sale price directly and the markup reverse-calculates. Tax rate supports 3 decimal places (e.g., 8.375%) and applies to materials and other costs by default. Check "Tax labor" if labor is taxable for that job. The total price, tax amount, and profit all update live as you type. Once the work is done, record the invoice number, amount, and payment status.
Work orders follow a clear lifecycle: Draft → Scheduled → In Progress → Completed → Invoiced → Closed. You can transition status from the detail view or the table row dropdown. Attach before, during, and after photos on the edit page — useful for documenting damage, work performed, and final results. Export individual work orders or the full log as PDF for your records or customer documentation.
Recording and tracking project meetings.
Navigate to your project's Meeting Minutes section and click "New Meeting." Record the meeting date, type (coordination, OAC, safety, pre-install, etc.), location, attendees, and discussion notes. Add action items with responsible parties and due dates so nothing from the meeting falls through the cracks.
You can record meeting audio directly from your browser using the built-in recording feature. The audio is sent to AssemblyAI for speech-to-text transcription with automatic speaker identification. Once the transcript is ready, you can have it processed by AI (powered by Anthropic's Claude) to generate structured meeting notes, summaries, and action items — saving you from having to type everything up manually.
Before recording any meeting, make sure you have consent from all participants. Many states and jurisdictions require all-party consent before recording conversations. It is your responsibility to comply with applicable recording laws. Any information spoken during a recorded meeting will be transmitted to third-party AI services (AssemblyAI and Anthropic) for processing.
Action items created from meeting minutes are tracked with assignees, due dates, and completion status. This ensures accountability and gives you a quick view of what decisions were made and what follow-up is needed after every coordination or OAC meeting.
Managing material stock levels on your projects.
The inventory module lets you track material stock levels with receipt, issue, and adjustment transactions. Track what's been received on site, what's been installed, and what's remaining. This is especially useful for large glazing projects where you need to account for glass panels, framing members, hardware, and sealants across multiple deliveries.
Communicate with your team in real time.
Click the chat icon in the bottom-right corner to open the team chat panel. Your company has a General channel by default, and project-specific channels are created automatically when a project is added. Send messages, use emoji reactions, edit or delete your messages, and see who's online. The unread badge keeps you updated on new messages.
Your built-in glazing AI assistant.
Lux is an AI-powered assistant built into GlazeOps that specializes in the glazing and glass industry. You can ask Lux about glass specifications, installation best practices, sealant compatibility, weight calculations, standard references, and more. Lux can also help draft RFIs, submittal cover letters, and daily report descriptions. Click the purple lightning bolt button in the bottom-right corner of any page to open Lux.
Lux is trained to answer glazing and construction-related questions. Examples include: glass weight calculations, specification references, installation questions, sealant compatibility, code requirements, and help drafting project documents. Lux will politely redirect you if you ask about unrelated topics.
Lux is an AI tool and can make mistakes. Always verify critical specifications, calculations, and code references against manufacturer data and project documents before relying on them. Lux is a reference tool — not a substitute for professional engineering advice or life-safety decisions.
Yes. Your Lux conversations are private to your account. Other team members and company administrators cannot view your AI assistant conversations. Your messages are sent to Anthropic's AI service for processing but are not used to train AI models. Only the text of your chat messages is sent — no personal information, project data, or files.
Get the most out of GlazeOps with these pro tips.
When setting up job costing, import one of the pre-built glazing cost code templates rather than creating codes from scratch. The Basic Glazing template covers ~40 codes for most commercial projects, while the Comprehensive template offers ~75 codes with granular breakdowns. You can always add or remove codes after importing.
Before diving into project procurement, take 10 minutes to add your regular vendors to the vendor directory. This saves time when creating procurement items and purchase orders, and keeps contact information consistent across projects and team members.
Establish a naming convention for submittal descriptions, procurement items, and schedule tasks before your first project. Consistent naming makes searching, filtering, and reporting much more effective as your project count grows.
Before every coordination meeting, export your submittal log, procurement status, and schedule as PDFs. These professional documents make a strong impression and ensure everyone is working from the same information.
We're here to help. Reach out and we'll get back to you quickly.