Working with the pipeline
Every project sits in exactly one pipeline stage, from first call to final payment — on the project itself, on the board, and in every list. The stages are yours to shape. XBuild advances projects automatically on a few built-in events, and on plans with automations you can add your own. On the Business plan, Headquarters by XBuild adds operations: pipeline stages, tasks, work orders and crews, and project finances. Compare what each plan includes in Plan comparison. If you don’t see this feature in your account, contact support@x.build.1. The default stages
New accounts start with Lead → Inspection → Estimating → Proposal Sent → Won → In Production → Complete, plus Lost for jobs that don’t land. Each stage carries optional sub-statuses:
A sub-status clears whenever the project changes stage.
2. Customize your pipeline
You must be an XBuild Administrator to change these settings. Open Settings → Workflow, which holds your pipeline stages, sub-statuses, and automations:
Archived stages keep history. Projects already in an archived stage keep it — shown with “(archived)” and still reachable from the project list — but no project can be moved into it and the board shows no column for it. Archived stages, sub-statuses, and lead sources can be restored where your account shows a restore control; otherwise, ask an administrator to restore an archived stage. To repurpose a stage, renaming it is usually simpler.
Guardrails: the pipeline always keeps at least one regular stage and one end stage (like Complete or Lost), and holds up to 20 stages with up to 30 sub-statuses per stage — archived ones count.
3. Use the board
The Projects page has a list/board toggle, on the web app and in the mobile app. The board shows one column per active stage, in pipeline order and stage color, with a card per project — name, client, created date, value, open-task count, and the owner’s initials. A Proposal or Claim tag on the card says which kind of work the project holds. Columns show their most recent 25 projects first; the count in the column header reads “25+” while there are more to load. Drag a card to another column to move the project to that stage — the same move as the stage control on the project’s page. Like any stage change, it clears the project’s sub-status; pick a new one from the stage control on the project’s page. Card order within a column isn’t saved. Empty columns fold into a slim lane; click one to expand it.Filter the board
Three controls sit beside the toggle:- All stages — narrow the board to a single column.
- All / Proposal / Claim — show only projects that hold a homeowner proposal, or only projects that hold an insurance proposal. A project with no proposal yet matches neither, so it drops off the board under either choice (the list view’s Proposal and Claim filters still show it). This filters the cards already on the board, so a column’s count reads “matches among what’s loaded”; dragging pauses while it’s on.
- All trades — show only projects tagged with a trade.
The board on mobile
In the mobile app, tap the list/board icons beside the search box on Projects. Columns scroll sideways — the next column peeks in from the right — and each column scrolls down on its own, loading more projects as you near the bottom. The same three filters live behind the filter button as Stage, Type, and Trade; active filters show as pills you can remove one at a time. Pull down on any column to refresh the whole board. The mobile board is for looking, not moving: tap a card to open the project, and change its stage from the stage bar on the project page. The app remembers which view you last used, so a board-first team lands on the board every time they open Projects.4. What XBuild advances automatically
Every company has these built-in moves:
On plans with automations, XBuild also starts you with a suggestion: when a work order is dispatched, it suggests moving the project to In Production for someone to confirm.
The rules the automation lives by:
- It never overrides you. Once you’ve set a project’s stage by hand, automation leaves it alone unless the move is clearly forward from where you put it.
- It only moves forward. A project already at or past the target stage stays put. It never moves backward, and never out of Complete or Lost.
- It respects your customizations. Rename or recolor these stages freely — automation follows the stage, not the name. Archiving a target stage turns that move off while the stage stays archived (the archive dialog warns you).
Your own automations
On plans that include automations, Settings → Workflow also holds automations: when something you choose happens on a project, move it to a stage or create a task. A stage move can happen on its own or as a suggestion someone on your team confirms. Automated moves follow the same limits as the built-in ones: they only move forward, never out of Complete or Lost, and never into an archived stage. A move made by an automation — built-in or your own — is recorded as done by automation, and shows that way in the project’s Activity tab where your account has it.5. Troubleshooting common issues
- A project moved stage and nobody on the team did it. A built-in move or one of your automations did it — for example, drafting the first proposal moves a project to Estimating. Where your account has the project Activity tab, the move is marked there as done by automation. On plans with automations, change or turn off the rule in Settings → Workflow; on other plans the built-in moves always run.
- I published a proposal but the project didn’t move to Proposal Sent. The project was already at or past that stage, you had set its stage manually, or Proposal Sent was archived — any of those stops the automatic move. Move it by hand.
- A project shows a stage marked “(archived)”. The stage was archived after the project entered it. Move it to an active stage from its page or leave it as a record.
- I can’t drag a stage where I want it in Settings. Complete, Lost, and any other end stage must stay after the regular stages — a drag that breaks that snaps back.
- I can’t drag a card between columns on my phone. Dragging is web-only. Open the project and move it from the stage bar; the board refreshes when you come back.
- I don’t see the list/board toggle on Projects. The board comes with pipeline stages, which are on select plans — the toggle appears once they’re enabled for your company. If your plan includes them and the toggle is still missing, contact XBuild Support.
- The Proposal / Claim filter shows a smaller count than the column had. That filter only sorts through the projects already loaded in the column. Load more first if you want to see every match in a busy stage.
- The Claim filter shows nothing, but the list’s Claim filter has projects. The board’s Claim filter keeps only projects that hold an insurance proposal; the list’s also shows projects that have no proposal yet. A project also needs a pipeline stage before it appears on the board at all — an insurance project that was never given a stage shows in the list but on no column. Open it and set its stage from the stage bar.
- I want to delete a stage entirely. Stages archive rather than delete, so past projects keep their history. For a stage created by mistake and never used, archiving has the same practical effect. If you archive a stage by mistake, ask an administrator to restore it.
- Two people edited the pipeline at once and one edit didn’t stick. Concurrent edits are detected — the later save is asked to reload and retry rather than overwriting the first. Reload and make the change again.