Auto-applying SOPs (org-wide checklists)

Some tasks aren't tied to a specific service — they're part of how your shop runs every job. Day 1 walkthrough with the homeowner. Final punch list before final payment. Closeout cleanup. These are the rituals your crew does on every project, regardless of whether it's a half-bath remodel or a kitchen backsplash.

BidCraft handles this through the SOPs library: every SOP can hold a quick-scan procedure at the top and a checklist of tasks below. Flip the Auto-apply on sign toggle on the SOP and every task in its checklist fires automatically on every signed project from that point.

[!note] Owner/admin only. Crew can see and complete the tasks once they land on a project, but only owners and admins can create or edit SOPs themselves.

When to use an SOP checklist vs. a service task

Both end up as tasks on signed projects. The split is scope:

• Service tasks travel with a specific service. Demo old vanity lives on your demo service. Set tile field lives on your tile install service. The tasks only appear on projects that include that service.
• Auto-applying SOPs travel with every signed project, regardless of services. Walk site with homeowner on day 1, photograph all finished work for portfolio, send thank-you email with maintenance guide — these don't belong to any one service. They're how your shop operates.

If a task only makes sense for some kinds of work, it's a service task. If it makes sense for every job, it's an SOP-level task.

Building an auto-applying SOP

Open Tasks → SOPs in the sidebar (or /tasks#sops directly) and hit + New SOP. Give it a name (e.g., Day 1 Walkthrough) and create it.

Inside the editor you'll see two sections — both optional, but the value comes from using them together:

• The Procedure — a quick-scan markdown body. Who runs this SOP, when it applies, materials needed, common pitfalls. The bird's-eye view that lets the foreman skim it on-site.
• Tasks Checklist — the discrete actions that make up the work. Title, typical hours, optional scaling rule, required skills. Each item is shaped exactly like a service task — see Service tasks and execution checklists for the full breakdown of each field.

Above the task editor, flip on the Auto-apply on every signed project toggle. That's the switch that makes it standing.

Items in the checklist can chain together with an After picker — useful when, say, Final walkthrough should happen after Punch list complete. Dependencies fire when the checklist applies on a signed project.

Auto-apply on sign

The most important toggle. When Auto-apply on every signed project is on, every task in the SOP's checklist fires automatically the moment a proposal is signed. When it's off, the SOP just sits in your library as reference material — useful for crew to read but it doesn't generate tasks on its own.

Most contractors turn auto-apply on for two or three standing SOPs (open-the-job, close-the-job, payment-collection-ritual) and leave the rest as pure-procedure documents.

[!tip] Don't make every SOP auto-apply. A project that signs with 10 line items already gets 30+ tasks from service templates alone — pile 4 auto-apply SOPs on top of that and the project's task list becomes overwhelming. Keep auto-apply for the genuinely-every-job rituals.

What it looks like on a signed project

Once auto-apply is on, tasks from the SOP land in the project's Tasks tab under the General project tasks section at the top. They sit above the per-line task groups because they're project-scoped, not line-scoped — they get assigned, scheduled, and completed the same way as any other task. The parent SOP is automatically attached to each task so crew can tap a task and open the procedure mid-job.

See Tasks on signed projects for what the contractor and crew see post-sign.

A few starter SOPs to think about

• Day 1 Walkthrough — site walk with the homeowner, before-photos, material delivery check, access keys/codes, parking/dumpster confirmation
• Closeout Punch List — final clean, after-photos, walk-through with homeowner, balance-due conversation, warranty document delivery
• Project Kickoff Meeting — internal crew brief at the start of the week the job runs

Build the SOPs that match how your shop runs. Don't copy a generic list — the value comes from them being a fingerprint of your operating standard.

Next steps

• Author the service-level tasks that pair with these: Service tasks and execution checklists
• See how everything lands on a signed project: Tasks on signed projects