Pistonlog ships with sensible defaults — you can create a jobcard the second you sign in. But a 15-minute pass through these settings up front makes everything downstream smoother. Set these once and the rest of the system aligns to how your garage actually runs.
The setup checklist
Garage info
Garage info — name, logo, address, phone, VAT number. These appear on every customer invoice, estimate, and email. Set them once, never set them again.
Pricing defaults
Pricing — your default hourly labour rate, parts markup, and VAT rate. Sets the autofill on every new jobcard.
Working hours
Working hours — when your workshop is open. Drives the calendar's bookable slots.
Workflow statuses
Workflow statuses — the columns on your kanban board. Defaults are Booked In / In Progress / Awaiting Parts / Ready for Collection / Completed. Edit or rearrange to match how your garage thinks about stages of work.
Invite your team
Inviting your team — add the people who'll work here.
Connect Square (optional)
If you want to take card payments, connect Square. Skippable.
Set up reminder templates (Pro/Enterprise)
Reminders — at minimum, an MOT reminder. Automatic reminders are a Pro feature; reminders are scheduled at jobcard completion and sent by a daily cron.
What you can skip for now
- Custom roles — the four defaults (Owner / Manager / Reception / Technician) cover almost everyone
- Vehicle spec fields — useful but not blocking
- Inspections setup — if you're on the Pro or Enterprise plan, you'll come back to this once you've used the basics for a week or two