Fabrication Plan
§ 01 · Scenarios
Who this is built for

Three jobs on the floor,
no room for slop.

Fabrication Plan is built for shops with 3 – 50 fabricators running concurrent jobs — event & scenic, custom metal, print & signage. Read how real shops run a typical week on it.

On this page
01Event & Scenic — three clients, one weekend
02Custom Metal & Welding — steel by Monday
03Print, Vinyl & Signage — no Sunday-night texts
↓A day in the life
"What shop owners are saying
01
Event & Scenic Fab
110+ shops · 3 – 50 fabricators · avg 14 concurrent jobs
02
Custom Metal & Welding
CNC + welding · single-owner → 2-shift shops · material-heavy
03
Print, Vinyl & Signage
Large-format print · vehicle wraps · install crews in the field
§ 02 · Shop profiles
01
Event & Scenic Fab

Three jobs, three clients, one weekend.

Ironhand Scenic · Alexandria, VA
18 fabricators · 2 welders · 3 scenic painters

Embassy dinner Thursday, Capitol signage Friday, gala stage Sunday. Three clients, one owner, one crew. Before Fabrication Plan, the owner built the schedule in a shared spreadsheet and texted the crew by 11 PM Sunday. Now the crew sees the week on a tablet by the coffee pot — and the owner knew they were over capacity a week in advance, instead of Friday at 6 PM.

"I used to be the dispatcher. Now I'm the owner again."
Measurable wins
Concurrent jobs14 avg
Missed deliveries0
Owner scheduling time8h → 1h
Weekly board · 4 clients
M
T
W
T
F
S
S
Embassy
Dinner · Thu
Capitol
Signage · Fri
Gala
Stage · Sun
Capacity · 87%Conflicts · 0On track
What it costs
them today
57%

Of agencies lose $1K – $5K per month to unbilled scope creep — and event shops, with three concurrent clients, sit at the worst end of that range.

Change orders & scope
Source · Ignition · 2025
02
Custom Metal & Welding

Two welders, one CNC, and a PO that lands on time.

Northside Fab & Weld · Milwaukee, WI
2 welders · 1 CNC · purchaser + office manager
Materials vs schedule · this week
SKU
ON HAND
NEED
PURCHASE
HSS 2x2 · 11ga
▲14
32
PO-0412 · Tue
¼" A36 plate
8
6
—
MIG wire · ER70
22
18
—
Sch 40 · 1½"
▲2
18
PO-0415 · Mon
2 reorders queuedSaves 3.1 days lead

The purchaser used to find out a job had slipped when the steel showed up for a bay that was still running last week's job. Fabrication Plan shows material lead times against the live schedule — so when a project slips three days, she sees it before she places the PO, not after the coil lands.

"I stopped buying steel we didn't need yet. That paid for a year of seats in a month."
Measurable wins
PO cycle time−42%
Dead inventory−$8.4K/qtr
Resource conflicts−73%
What it costs
them today
42%

Of potential revenue steel contractors lose to unbilled change orders — the worst of any trade surveyed. Spreadsheet-bound estimating compounds it.

Change orders & estimating
Source · Procore · 2025
03
Print, Vinyl & Signage

Sunday-night rush jobs without the Sunday-night texts.

Red Branch Signs · Austin, TX
6 shop + 4 install · running 2 print queues

A large-format print queue, geofenced clock-ins, and a live job board so hours land on the right job automatically. The owner can look at a phone on Sunday night and see exactly which jobs are tight — and let the crew see it too, without texting them one by one.

"The installers see the route. I don't have to be the middleman."
Measurable wins
After-hours texts−91%
On-time installs98.2%
Time-to-invoice3.1 days
Install route · Tue
09:15
Barton Springs · Austin
En route
10:40
4201 N Lamar
Installing
12:05
Oltorf & S 1st
Queued
14:00
SoCo · Monument sign
Queued
4 jobs · geofenced clock-in+2.4 hrs saved
What it costs
them today
330,000

New welders, fabricators, and installers needed in the U.S. by 2028. Labor is the cost climbing fastest — and the one shops without live hours have least visibility into.

Real-time labor visibility
Source · AWS Workforce Data
§ 03 · Day in the life
Tuesday in April

What actually
happens on the floor.

A composite shift drawn from how real shops actually use the app. No stars, no magic — just nine small moments where Fabrication Plan is quietly doing its job.

06:45
· Crew
First fabricators clock in at the kiosk. Selfie verifies. Hours start against the job they picked.
07:15
· Owner
Checks the phone in the truck. Two jobs green, one amber. No fires.
08:30
· Schedr.
Drags Welder A from "Gala stage" to "Embassy dinner" — Gala is ahead of pace. Conflict badges flip green.
09:40
· Crew
Jose pulls HSS 2x2 off the rack — phone scan auto-deducts stock and bills it to the right job.
11:10
· Purch.
Sees the week slip 3 days on Signage — places the steel PO today instead of Thursday. Avoids $6.1K carrying.
12:30
· Crew
Lunch. Clock-outs auto-log. Photo-of-the-day from Bay 3 files against the job.
14:05
· Client
Client calls: "Can you do matte instead of gloss?" Change order logged. $410 diff auto-priced.
15:50
· Crew
Welder B runs long on the Gala bracket. Flags a conflict — the scheduler re-sequences in 30 seconds.
17:00
· Owner
Clock-outs roll. Payroll export for Friday queued up. No Sunday-night spreadsheet.
§ 04 · Quotes
From shop owners

Short notes from
people who own the floor.

"
I used to be the dispatcher. Now I'm the owner again.
Marta R.
Owner · Ironhand Scenic · Alexandria, VA
"
I stopped buying steel we didn't need yet. That paid for a year of seats in a month.
Jen D.
Purchasing · Northside Fab & Weld · Milwaukee, WI
"
The installers see the route. I don't have to be the middleman anymore.
Kofi A.
Founder · Red Branch Signs · Austin, TX
Every plan · every seat · every feature

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