Preview a Job, Start Prep, and Start Work

Clicking a job card in the Work view doesn't start anything. It opens a Preview panel from the right side of the screen so you can size up the job — read the history, call the contact, check the location — before you take it.

When you're ready, you have two ways to start, and they time different things:

• Start Prep — for the time before you're on the job: gathering parts, pulling manuals, driving.
• Start Work — for the job itself. This checks you in and makes the request yours.

Steps:

1. On the Work screen, click a job card. The Preview panel opens from the right. The Preview badge at the top is your reminder that nothing has started yet.
2. Review the job (see what's in the panel, below). Call or email the contact from here if you need to.
3. Click Start Prep if you're getting ready but aren't on site yet — or skip straight to step 5.
4. A red Preparing • 00:00:00 timer starts in the top-right of the panel. You stay in the preview.
5. Click Start Work when you're ready to begin. Equips checks you in, sets the request's status to In progress, and opens the working screen.

What's in the preview panel

• Title, SR number, and a Preview badge
• Priority and the request's description
• Location, as a link to the location record
• Main contact — name, phone number, and email, all clickable so you can reach out before you drive out
• AI Generated Summary — a plain-language recap of where the request stands and what happened most recently. Thumbs-up / thumbs-down icons let you tell Bricks whether the summary was useful.
• Job Notes (n) — click to expand. Each note shows the author, the timestamp, the organization, a visibility chip (Everyone or Internal), and an Automated Message chip when Equips wrote it rather than a person.
• View/Edit Service Request (top-left of the panel) — opens the full request record, with costs, checklists, time tracking, and the Options menu.

The bottom bar changes as you go

• Preview open: Tasks · Start Work · Start Prep
• Prep running: Tasks · Start Work · Stop Prep · Use Parts

Use Parts appears during prep so you can draw parts from inventory while you're still getting ready.

Stop Prep stops the prep clock and leaves the request untouched — use it if you get pulled onto something else. Start Work ends prep and moves you into the job proper.

Prep is optional. If you're already standing in front of the equipment, go straight to Start Work. Prep exists to capture travel and setup time that would otherwise go unrecorded.

Start Work is the point of no return for availability. Once you check in, the request stops being available for someone else to pick up, and the green Checked in banner follows you across every screen in Equips until you check out or complete the job.

Related articles:

• Use the Work View (For Technicians)
• Work a Job: notes, photos, parts, and status
• Pause a Job: Check Out, Stop Prep, and "on hold"
• Close a Job with the Complete Job wizard
• Review a Service Request