Workshop
The job card should hold the keys.
Workshop job card software only works if VRM, bay, courtesy car, and money sit on the same job. Ready does not mean keys until the invoice is on the record.
The problem
Bookings live in a diary. Parts live on a pegboard. Courtesy keys live in a drawer. One loan car has two names on it by lunch, and the desk finds out when the second customer is already waiting.
Warranty is a group chat. Parts on order are a guess. Keys leave because someone is in a hurry, not because the job is paid. MOT slots clash with service work because the bay was never the object.
We put the job at the centre. MOT, parts, warranty, and the loan car live on it. The desk cannot release keys while the invoice is open. That is custom operations software — not another workshop diary with a parts tab.
What a custom system holds
- Job cards with VRM and bay status
- Courtesy cars that cannot be promised twice
- Parts on order as a gate, not a pegboard
- Warranty versus invoice on the same record
- Keys held until the job is paid
Questions
- What belongs on a workshop job card?
- VRM, bay, parts on order, warranty, courtesy car, and money. Ready does not mean keys until the invoice is on the record.
- How does a custom build start?
- A twenty-minute discovery call. We watch how work, stock, and money move — including the exceptions a template never modelled. Then a written scope. If a packaged product already covers it, we will say so.
- Where are you based, and who do you work with?
- Metalique Studios is a UK software company based in Chigwell, Essex. We build custom operations software for UK hire companies, workshops, field teams, and other ops-heavy SMEs — in the language those floors already use. See the UK page.
Where we work
If the MOT bay still runs on a diary and a key drawer, a short discovery call is enough to see whether a custom card is the right shape.