Designers, the installer, and the office sign in with the email and password Patrick set up. The first sign-in asks for a new password. Forgot password makes a one-hour reset link when email is configured. If email is not set up, Patrick sets a temporary password from Team.

Team is where Patrick adds a person. The roles are admin, designer, installer, and office. A new person sees the temporary password once and changes it at first sign-in.

Start a job and fill the business name, job number, decision maker, mobile for proof texts, email, and site address. Add a sign for each product. Upload the customer's logo files and a straight-on site photo. A JPEG or PNG logo is traced to vector on upload, and the proof uses that trace.

A proof stays blocked until every sign has one hard width, one hard height, and that straight-on photo. Letter copy needs a cap height and a length. A logo needs a width and a height.

On intake, type the business name. Matches from a CSV or a connected POS show under the field. Pick one. Design Root fills the company, decision maker, phone, and email when those boxes are still empty, and it fills the site address from the install or ship address. If there is no ship-to, it uses the billing address. That address is what the sign-code check uses.

• Allowance uses lease frontage, square feet allowed per foot of frontage, max percent of wall width, and the longest backplate panel.
• Electrical, for a lit sign, asks whether a dedicated circuit is within 6 feet and whether there is access behind the wall.
• Copy is line 1 and line 2, each with a cap height and a length, plus the logo width, height, and the space between the logo and the letters.
• Colors are the letter or face color, trim cap and returns, and the backplate or cabinet color.

In CoreBridge:

1. Report Library → Report Viewer.
2. Choose Contact List Export (or Active Customers).
3. Include company, contact name, phone, email, billing and install/ship addresses.
4. Run and Download the CSV.

In Design Root:

5. Settings → CoreBridge card → Choose CSV.
6. Check the preview/field map and fix any column that landed wrong.
7. Import; re-imports skip duplicates.
8. On intake, type/pick the customer to fill company, decision maker, phone, email, and install address (which feeds the sign-code check).

Why this helps: no retyping and fewer typos, the address is ready for the sign-code check, the phone is ready for text-code proof approvals, a repeat customer is one click, and a re-import does not create a duplicate.

File upload only for now. Live sync needs the CoreBridge paid V3 API package and a token, and it stays off until that is configured. Saving a token does not call CoreBridge.

The first time an admin opens Design Root, setup asks for the shop, then Connect your POS or CRM. Skip for now leaves it disconnected and does not ask again. The same step is always on Settings. Only an admin can see or change it. A customer on the phone portal cannot open it.

One connection is stored for the shop. The key is encrypted. After you save, the screen says a key is saved and does not show the key again. Type a new value to replace it, or Disconnect to clear the connection. Imported customers stay in intake after a disconnect. Test connection says in plain language whether it worked. It does not print the key. CSV import does not call out. CoreBridge never calls CoreBridge.

• CSV import. Upload a spreadsheet and map the columns. This is separate from the CoreBridge card.
• CoreBridge. CSV import is ready on its own card. The API option stays off until a paid V3 package and a token are configured, and Design Root still does not call CoreBridge.
• Inbound webhook. A secret URL. A JSON POST creates customers. Test connection adds one sample customer locally.
• REST API. An https address with an API key, a pasted token, or OAuth client credentials. Private addresses are refused.
• HubSpot, Square, Monday.com, Salesforce, and QuickBooks. Each uses that vendor's token and can fill company, contact, phone, email, and the install address when the record has them.
• Streak. Imports the box name and notes. Map those onto company and contact.

The field map sends their column names onto Design Root fields. Picking a match on intake fills company, decision maker, phone, email, and the install address when those boxes are still empty. That address is what the sign-code check uses. A generic CSV row and a CoreBridge row for the same customer are one record: match the CoreBridge id when it is present, then company plus email or phone, then company plus address.

ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, and JobNimbus are coming soon. Those cards stay off, and no call is made.

A design proof places the customer's art on the site photo at the measured size. It is full resolution and it is not a pixel trace. Text edits are set in type. Day and Night switch the same view. The full building view is that photo with the sign on it. The elevation next to it carries the dimensions.

Approving the design proof does not build the production file. The job moves to Approved, print art pending. Print art — real fonts, a logo trace with an overlay check, and cut lines — is a later step.

Every elevation, night view, and download carries this footnote: *Renderings are approximate. Actual installed size and placement may vary by approximately 2". That is a disclaimer, not a test the survey has to pass.

• Intake to the first proof: under 5 minutes.
• A single-logo job: under 2 minutes.
• A revision: about 2 minutes. A revision or a simple edit stops at 5 minutes.
• A first complex proof stops at 10 minutes.

If a proof hits its stop, the job is flagged Needs attention for Patrick. The shop queue lists those jobs first, with the reason. The proof still records how long it took.

The city check runs for building signs (channel letters, dimensional letters, and lightbox cabinets), pole signs, and monument signs. Door and window vinyl, interior wall graphics, panels, banners, yard signs, and props show No permit required and do not block Send to customer.

On a building, pole, or monument sign, Send stays off until the install address is on the job and Check sign code matches the current proof. A missing address, a stale check, or a size change blocks Send. Warn and note flags do not. The result is labeled Advisory. Zoning, overlays, and the landlord can be stricter.

The whole wall on that elevation can hold the sign. A height drawn on the photo, including a window slot, is a scale reference. It is not a maximum sign height.

• Needs attention. Proofs that hit the time stop, for Patrick.
• Designer review. A revision the app would not apply on its own.
• Approved, print art pending. Design proofs the customer approved. Vector print art is still to build.
• Approved. Signs that already have the artwork file.

A revision that changes color, copy, or size stays inside the allowance and can be applied on the proof. Three client revisions are included on a sign. A change to illumination, mounting, electrical, fonts, or new artwork goes to designer review and shows in the shop queue as With designer. Open that row to work the version.

On the proof, type the customer's full name — first and last — and approve that version. A single name is not enough. Someone on the team can type the name. Pablo never approves and never sends the proof.

Approving stores the typed name. If every sign is approved and print art is not on the sign yet, the job status is Approved, print art pending. The customer's mobile gets a text that the design is approved and print art is next. That text has no price and no date. The approve button does not build a PDF.

When an artwork PDF is attached to the sign, the customer portal shows Download artwork PDF. That file is three pages: dimensioned art with the colors, the art alone, and the full-building drawing. Print art, with a real trace and cut lines, is still the later production file.

Pablo P. is the proof helper on the shop screens. He answers from the current sign: size, colors, copy, the allowance checks, how many included revisions are left, and what happens after approval. If someone describes a change, he drafts the sentence. They press Use this request, then they still submit the revision.

He does not approve, he does not send the proof, and he does not give a price, a date, or an install time. He hands those to Patrick Winn by name, unless Shop settings names someone else. The line is that he will pass it to that person, and that person will follow up.