--- title: "Project Management for Custom CNC Shops | OpenSpindle" description: "Schedule, track, and deliver custom fabrication projects on time. Gantt timelines, phase tracking, and payment milestones built for custom CNC shop workflows." canonical: https://openspindle.com/features/projects --- # Run Every Job to Profit Start from fully customized project templates, track real-time labor, and see exactly which jobs make you money. ## Why Projects Slip and Margins Disappear When time and tasks are not linked to projects and cost codes, contractors miss early warning signs and mis-price future work. - **Missed deadlines pile up:** Shops rely on whiteboards, spreadsheets, or memory to track jobs which makes it hard to know what is done, what is late, and who is overloaded. - **Labor costs stay invisible:** Paper timesheets and generic time trackers do not tie hours to specific tasks or jobs which turns job costing into guesswork and hides real labor costs. - **Margin discovered too late:** No clear view of job-level profit means you only find out you lost money after the job is closed and paid. "We finished a $30k casework job and thought we made money. Then we added up the hours and realized we lost $4k in labor alone." -- Owner, 8-person custom millwork shop ## Project Management in 30 Seconds From first contact to closed deal, every step stays in one place. 1. **Start from a template:** Pick a pre-built workflow or build your own customized template. Generate all standard stages and tasks in a few clicks. 2. **Assign tasks to people and stations:** Send work to specific staff or machines, set due dates, and see workload across the shop. 3. **Staff log time:** Each person starts, pauses, and completes tasks on their phone so time is tied to the exact job and step. 4. **Watch profit in real time:** Labor hours, material usage, and machine time roll into job costing and show whether the job is on track or bleeding margin. ## What This Gets You - **No more chasing timesheets:** Time is captured in the flow of work, not days later from memory. - **Clarity on every job:** At a glance, see status, who is on what, and where bottlenecks are. - **Job-level profit visibility:** Know which job types, clients, and templates are actually profitable and adjust pricing or process accordingly. ## Everything Included Core functions and shop workflows, purpose-built for make-to-order manufacturing. - **Project templates:** Pre-built task lists for cabinets, casework, and trim that you can customize. - **Task assignment:** Assign tasks to staff, crews, or machines with due dates and priority. - **Mobile time tracking:** Staff log time directly to tasks and jobs from phones or tablets. - **Job costing view:** Labor, materials, and machine time roll into a live profit and loss view per project. - **Progress tracking:** Visual boards or timelines showing each stage from design to install. **Shop workflows covered:** - Standard cabinet kitchen job: Template with design, cut, assemble, finish, and install stages. - One-off custom casework: Added review or approval steps for unique specifications. - Multi-phase trim package: Crews move between stations across several units. ## Works With Project Management connects seamlessly to the rest of your OpenSpindle workflow. - [CRM](https://openspindle.com/features/crm.md): Turn approved RFQs into projects with one click. - [Invoicing and Cost Library](https://openspindle.com/features/invoicing.md): Project milestones drive milestone invoices and pull in actual costs. - [Equipment Management](https://openspindle.com/features/equipment.md): Assign tasks to machines and view project impact of downtime. ## Ready to See Which Jobs Make Money? Join shops using OpenSpindle to run every job to profit. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is project management in OpenSpindle? Project management in OpenSpindle is a job-level system for millwork and fabrication shops that ties task assignments, real-time labor tracking, and cost data together into one view. Owners can see each job's status, who is working on what, and whether the job is on track to hit its margin target, without chasing timesheets or running post-job spreadsheets. ### Can I customize the project templates for my shop? Yes. OpenSpindle includes pre-built templates for common millwork jobs such as cabinets, casework, and trim, and you can add, remove, or edit tasks to match your exact process. A kitchen cabinet job might include design, cut, assemble, finish, and install stages, while a one-off casework job might have extra approval steps for unique specifications. ### How do staff track their time on projects? Staff use a simple task interface to start, pause, and complete work from a tablet, phone, or computer. Time is automatically tied to the right job and task the moment they tap in, so there is nothing to enter later and no paper timesheets to collect. Hours roll directly into job costing without manual transfers. ### Can I see profit per project in OpenSpindle? Yes. Project management connects to your cost library and time tracking so labor hours, material usage, and machine time all roll into a live job-level profit and loss view. You can see whether a job is on track or bleeding margin before it closes, not after the customer has already paid. ### How long does it take to set up OpenSpindle project templates? Most shops build their first working template in a single session using the pre-built starting points for common job types. You pick a base template, adjust the stage names and tasks to match your process, and save it. New projects launched from that template generate all stages and task assignments in a few clicks rather than starting from scratch each time. ### Can multiple team members be assigned to the same project at the same time? Yes. A single project can have different tasks assigned to different staff, crews, or machines running simultaneously. An operator might be finishing while another is assembling, and both sets of time log independently to the same job. You see the full picture of who is on the job and how labor hours are accumulating across all active tasks. ### How does project management connect to invoicing in OpenSpindle? Project milestones map directly to billing milestones in the invoicing module. When a stage like material ordered or production complete is marked done in the project, the corresponding milestone invoice can be sent without re-entering any information. This keeps billing aligned with actual progress and reduces the lag between work done and money collected. ### What types of shops benefit most from OpenSpindle project management? Custom millwork shops, cabinet makers, casework fabricators, and CNC fabrication shops running make-to-order jobs benefit most. If your work involves multiple stages, multiple people, real materials, and a need to understand profitability at the job level rather than only at the company level, the system is built for your workflow. ### Does OpenSpindle project management work on mobile? Yes. Staff access their task queue and log time directly from a phone or tablet. The mobile view is designed for quick in-the-flow interactions: start a task, pause it, mark it complete. No navigating complex menus. Managers and owners can check project status and costs from any device without being at a desk. ### How is OpenSpindle different from using a spreadsheet to track jobs? Spreadsheets track what happened after the fact. OpenSpindle shows what is happening right now. Labor is logged to tasks in real time as work moves, costs update automatically, and the profit view on any job is current to the last clock-in. You stop discovering margin problems after the job closes and start catching them while you can still do something about it.