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Release Notes
What's new in Contractor Link — features, improvements, and updates.
April 2026
Start estimates for any client without waiting for a lead, import client addresses directly from CSV, and watch your logo and business info appear on every job form PDF. Plus the full Job Forms release: structured compliance documentation in your job workflow — fill out trade-specific forms, capture signatures and photos inline, generate branded PDF reports, and email them to customers or authorities. The Address Graph pre-fills known device details so forms get smarter every time you service a property.
Start an Estimate from a Client
New- • New Estimate button on every client detail page — pick a client and jump straight into the quote builder, no inquiry required
- • New Estimate button on the Jobs pipeline header with a client search/picker dialog for quick access from anywhere in the job flow
- • Estimates for walk-ins, repeat customers, or phone-in work — you no longer need to wait for an incoming lead to create a quote
- • The resulting job is created in Accepted status and pulls the client's primary address automatically
Branded Job Form PDFs
Improved- • Your logo now appears on every job form PDF — pulled automatically from your profile image
- • Header includes your company name, legal name, phone, email, business address, and license number
- • Accent color continues to theme the title, section dividers, and underlines
- • Complete a new form after today's update to see the new branding — no extra setup required
CSV Client Import — Address & More Columns
Improved- • Address fields now imported — street, city, state/region, and zip/postal code map into the client record
- • First name + last name columns combine automatically into the client name (no need to pre-merge in a spreadsheet)
- • More header aliases accepted: "email address", "mobile", "cell", "phone number", "street address", "postcode", and more — all case-insensitive
- • Unrecognized columns are logged rather than silently dropped, so you can tell if something didn't import
Job Forms — Structured Compliance Forms
New- • Fill out structured, trade-specific compliance forms directly from the job detail screen — no more paper forms or separate apps
- • Five pre-built templates: Backflow Prevention Test Report, Water Heater Installation Checklist, HVAC Maintenance/Tune-Up Report, Electrical Panel Inspection Report, and a trade-agnostic General Job Completion Report
- • Fields organized in logical sections with support for text, number, date, dropdown, yes/no, multi-line text, inline photos, and digital signatures
- • Auto-save — progress is saved automatically as you fill out the form, so nothing is lost if you navigate away
- • Multiple forms per job — attach as many forms as needed (e.g., a backflow test report + a general completion report on the same job)
Digital Signatures
New- • HTML5 Canvas signature pad — sign with a finger on mobile or a stylus on tablet, works with mouse on desktop
- • Capture technician signature (required) and optional property owner/manager co-signature on every form
- • Signatures are stored as PNG images in MinIO and rendered inline on the generated PDF report
- • Re-sign option if the first attempt isn't right — clear and redraw at any time before completing the form
PDF Report Generation
New- • One-tap "Complete & Generate PDF" creates a professional, branded report with your company name and accent color
- • PDF includes all form data organized by section, inline photos, digital signatures, and pass/fail color coding
- • Download the PDF anytime from the job detail page — reports are stored permanently
- • Email the PDF directly to customers, water authorities, or any third party from within the app
- • CC additional recipients when sending (e.g., send to the customer and CC the building manager)
Inline Photo Capture
New- • Capture photos directly within form fields — tap the camera icon to photograph device tags, gauge readings, or site conditions
- • Multiple photos per field with thumbnail gallery and remove option
- • Uses the same reliable presigned-URL upload pipeline as job photos
- • Photos are embedded inline in the generated PDF report
Address Graph Pre-Fill
Smart- • When opening a form at an address with existing equipment records, known fields auto-populate — manufacturer, model, serial number, location, and more
- • Pre-filled fields are labeled "(pre-filled)" so the technician can verify or update rather than re-entering from scratch
- • Every completed form feeds device data back into the Address Graph, making future visits faster for any contractor
- • The form gets smarter every time anyone services the property — this is the key differentiator over generic form tools
Pipeline Board Enhancements
Improved- • Jobs with completed forms now show a green badge with the form count on the pipeline board
- • Quickly see which jobs have compliance documentation attached at a glance
March 2026
New integrations, content creation tools, a smarter onboarding experience, improved mobile views, SEO enhancements, and quality-of-life improvements across the board.
Plumbing-7B — Custom Trade AI Model
New- • Custom fine-tuned 7B parameter model trained on 241 real plumbing manufacturer manuals, building codes, and trade textbooks — not a generic chatbot
- • Built on Qwen2.5-7B-Instruct with supervised fine-tuning on 45,287 QA pairs covering water heaters, fixtures, backflow valves, pumps, and more
- • Served locally on an NVIDIA RTX 4090 via Ollama with OpenAI-compatible API — no data leaves our infrastructure
- • Integrated into Ask CL — trade knowledge questions are automatically routed to the custom model for deeper, more accurate answers
- • Evaluated against Gemini 2.5 Flash on 52 hand-crafted plumbing questions across diagnostics, equipment ID, codes, and safety — competitive results from a 7B model
- • First in a series of trade-specific models — HVAC and Electrical coming soon
Ask CL — AI Business Assistant
New- • Chat with your business data — ask about jobs, invoices, schedule, clients, and inquiries in plain English
- • AI-powered intent classification routes your question to the right data source automatically
- • Contextual follow-up suggestions after each answer help you explore related information
- • Trade knowledge mode answers technical questions using AI expertise
- • Weekly summary gives you a snapshot of jobs completed, invoices sent, and new inquiries
- • Available from the sidebar and mobile menu — accessible from any page
Inquiry Inbox & Status Tracking
Improved- • Dedicated inquiry status field — each inquiry now has a single, clear workflow status (New, Requested, Follow-up, Accepted, Scheduled, Completed, Paid, etc.)
- • Automatic status sync — once a job is created from an inquiry, the inquiry status mirrors the job pipeline in real time
- • Improved dashboard tabs — New, All, Follow Up, Accepted, Declined, and Archived tabs now filter by inquiry status for accurate counts
- • Cleaner label system — labels (read, archived, trash) are now independent tags, separate from workflow status
QuickBooks Online Integration
Integration- • One-way sync of clients, quotes (as estimates), invoices, and payments from Contractor Link to QuickBooks Online
- • Configurable sync triggers per entity type — choose when data flows to QBO (e.g., on creation or when sent)
- • Activity log showing sync history with success/failure status and manual "Sync Now" button
- • OAuth 2.0 connection from Account settings — connect and disconnect at any time
Articles & Field Notes
New- • Create professional articles from completed jobs to showcase your expertise
- • AI-powered interview process — answer questions via text or voice, and AI generates a polished article
- • Article lifecycle with review before publishing: draft → interview → generating → review → published
- • Published articles available at shareable public URLs with cover images and SEO metadata
Job Closeout
New- • Structured closeout form when completing a job: outcome, customer rating, completion notes
- • Maintenance reminder scheduling for follow-up visits
- • Opt-in article creation from completed jobs — turn your work into shareable content
Recurring Jobs & Maintenance Contracts
New- • Set up repeating job schedules — weekly, biweekly, monthly, quarterly, biannual, annual, or custom intervals
- • Automatic occurrence generation up to 8 weeks ahead — jobs appear in your pipeline and calendar automatically
- • Full lifecycle management: pause, resume, skip next, cancel, and edit recurring schedules
- • End conditions: run forever, stop after N occurrences, or end on a specific date
- • Each occurrence is a full job with quotes, invoices, notes, photos, reminders, and Google Calendar sync
- • Recurring jobs tab on the Jobs page with status filtering (Active, Paused, All)
Contractor Directory
New- • Public browse page for customers to find contractors by zip code and trade
- • Geolocation support — "Use my location" for nearby contractor results
- • Search results show contractor profiles with service areas and ratings
Embeddable Widget
New- • Embed a service request form on your own website with a simple HTML snippet
- • Customizable brand colors (primary and secondary) to match your site
- • Copy-paste embed code from the Share page — widget handles the full request flow within an iframe
Address Graph — Equipment & Service History
New- • Every address builds up a living profile of equipment over time — water heaters, HVAC units, appliances, and more are automatically tracked
- • AI-powered extraction — after each inquiry conversation, AI identifies equipment details (brand, model, year, condition, location in home) and adds them to the address record
- • Returning customers see their known equipment when submitting a new inquiry — select relevant items instead of re-describing them
- • Share service history across contractors — customers can choose to share past service records from other contractors to give you full context
- • Contractors see an Address History panel on each inquiry showing known equipment, previous service timeline, and any history the customer shared
- • Equipment data persists at the address level — even if a new homeowner submits an inquiry, the equipment record carries over
Google Sign-In
New- • Sign in or register with your Google account — no separate password required
- • Works alongside traditional email/password authentication
Onboarding Trade Wizard
Improved- • Guided three-step trade setup: choose your trade, select services, and describe your work
- • AI-powered trade description generator — get a polished summary of your services in one click, or write your own
- • Searchable trade catalog with icons, plus a "Build My Trade" option that uses AI to create a custom trade if yours isn't listed
- • Per-service toggle with select all / deselect all — quickly configure exactly what you offer
Job Cancellation
New- • Cancel jobs from accepted, estimated, scheduled, or in-progress status with a reason
- • Cancelled jobs display a clear red banner with the reason and timestamp
- • Linked inquiry status automatically syncs to cancelled when a job is cancelled
Profile & Branding
Improved- • Redesigned profile editor with two-section layout — essentials grid with completion percentage and tabbed customization
- • Edit all essentials at once or save individual fields — per-field save with unsaved changes warning
- • Service availability flags — mark yourself as accepting emergency calls or offering same-day service, shown as badges on your page
- • Profile icon accents and improved branding controls throughout the contractor page
SEO & Structured Data
Improved- • Automatic JSON-LD structured data on contractor profiles — LocalBusiness, Service, GeoCircle, and FAQ schemas for better search engine visibility
- • Trade-aware schema mapping — your plumbing business shows as schema.org/Plumber, electrical as Electrician, and so on
- • Review and rating schema included when you have customer reviews, enabling rich snippets in search results
- • Browse page improvements with caching and back-navigation fix for smoother contractor discovery
Field Notes & Articles
Improved- • Image lightbox on published articles — click any image to view full-screen with print and share options
- • Share articles with native share or copy a formatted link with title and description to clipboard
- • Scheduled auto-generation — field notes from completed jobs can now be automatically queued for AI article creation
- • Article pages include HowTo and BreadcrumbList structured data for improved search visibility
Service Area Awareness
New- • Out-of-area detection — customers are warned when their location falls outside your service area before submitting an inquiry
- • Two clear options: find a closer contractor or continue with you anyway — reducing irrelevant inquiries
Mobile Experience
Improved- • Improved mobile dashboard with swimlane tabs (Pipeline, Prep, Active, Done) and compact inquiry cards
- • Job pipeline board adapts to mobile with tab navigation instead of horizontal scroll columns
- • Triage badges on mobile inquiry list — see elapsed time and distance at a glance with color-coded indicators
- • Scrollable Kanban columns on desktop with left/right arrow affordances for wider boards
February 2026
Our biggest release ever — Contractor Link launches with a complete suite of tools designed to help contractors manage their entire business from one place. From AI-powered customer inquiries to quoting, invoicing, scheduling, and a built-in CRM, everything works together seamlessly.
Design System & UI
Foundation- • Brand-new UI built with shadcn-svelte component library — buttons, inputs, dialogs, cards, tabs, and more, all themed with Contractor Link brand colors
- • Responsive layout system with sidebar navigation on desktop and bottom tab bar on mobile
- • TailwindCSS Plus patterns integrated across dashboard, inquiry detail, profile editing, and account pages
Contractor Onboarding
New- • Multi-step onboarding wizard: business basics, trades & services, service area, branding, and preview & publish
- • Save-and-resume — pick up exactly where you left off, even across sessions
- • Live preview of your contractor page as you build it
- • AI-assisted tagline and about section generation
- • First-inquiry prompt after publishing with shareable URL and profile link
Page Customization
New- • Accent color picker — choose from 10 presets or enter a custom hex color that cascades through your entire page
- • Hero image options: browse Unsplash stock photos, upload your own, or generate one with AI
- • Layout templates — Classic, Compact, Premium, and Editorial — each with a distinct look and feel
- • Section reorder and show/hide — drag sections up and down, toggle visibility, customize what visitors see
- • Custom content sections: photo gallery with before/after pairs, customer reviews, and FAQ accordion
Custom Domains
New- • Free branded URL included for every contractor (e.g., contractorlink.pro/yourbusiness)
- • Custom domain mapping — point your own domain (e.g., joes-plumbing.com) to your Contractor Link page
- • Automatic SSL certificate provisioning for custom domains
- • Step-by-step DNS setup guide built into the editor — no technical knowledge required
Maps & Service Areas
New- • Interactive service area maps powered by Mapbox — define your coverage area by drive time (15 to 90 minutes)
- • Service area displayed on your contractor page with a read-only map
- • Dashboard map view with color-coded pins showing inquiry locations by urgency
- • Proximity-aware address search for more relevant results
Address Intelligence
Smart- • Returning customer detection — purple "returning" badge on your dashboard when a customer has contacted you before
- • Address history panel showing known equipment and previous service timeline at any address
- • AI-powered context — when a returning customer reaches out, the AI assistant greets them by name and references their history
Client CRM
New- • Zero-entry client database — clients are automatically created from completed inquiries
- • Searchable client list with tag filtering (VIP, Commercial, Residential, Priority, and custom tags)
- • Client detail pages with contact info, service addresses, job history, and notes
- • CSV import to bring in your existing client list with automatic deduplication
Job Pipeline
New- • Kanban-style job board with 8 statuses: Inquiry, Accepted, Estimated, Scheduled, In Progress, Completed, Invoiced, Paid
- • Jobs auto-created when you accept an inquiry — zero data entry required
- • Job detail page with status stepper, schedule editor, notes, and before/after photos
- • Job templates — save common configurations and apply them when accepting inquiries
- • Mobile-optimized with 4 swimlane tabs (Pipeline, Prep, Active, Done)
Quoting
New- • Full quote builder with inline-editable line items (labor, material, other), live totals, and tax calculation
- • Saved line items library — build a reusable catalog of your common services and materials
- • Professional PDF quotes with your branding and accent color
- • AI-suggested pricing — one click generates line items based on the job context
- • Customer approval flow — send quotes via email/SMS, customers approve or decline from a branded page
Invoicing
New- • One-click invoice creation from an approved quote
- • Invoice builder mirroring the quote builder — edit line items, tax, notes, and payment terms
- • Professional PDF invoices with your branding, delivered via email with PDF attachment
- • Invoice dashboard with stats (outstanding, paid this month, overdue) and status filtering
- • Manual payment recording with method tracking (cash, check, bank transfer)
Calendar
New- • Month, week, and day calendar views built on top of your job schedule
- • Set your availability windows per day of the week — unavailable times shaded on the calendar
- • Quick-schedule from inquiry acceptance — set a date and time right when you accept
- • Drag-and-drop rescheduling on desktop with 15-minute snap and conflict detection
- • Two-way Google Calendar sync — see your personal events alongside jobs, changes sync both ways
Notifications & On-My-Way
New- • Automatic appointment reminders — email sent 24 hours before, SMS sent morning-of
- • "On My Way" button — sends your customer an SMS with your live ETA based on GPS and driving directions
- • Smart reminder scheduling — only sends once per appointment, handles reschedules correctly
Ready to Try These Features?
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