Module 01

Onboarding

From a blank account to a project that's ready for its first issuance: creating your account, the setup steps, plans and the trial, your team, the tour, and your first project.

1.1 · Account

Creating your account

Email verification is a 6-digit code entered in an amber banner; it expires after 15 minutes. Google and Microsoft accounts verify automatically. Verification doesn’t block setup, but creating a project and uploading require a verified email.

1.2 · Setup

Getting set up

Two screens, then you’re in.

A professional acknowledgment. LODE reads sheet numbers and titles from title blocks automatically. The read is not infallible — verifying assignments in Batch Review is the licensed professional’s responsibility. “I understand — continue”.

You. Your name; your role — Architect, Contractor, Construction Manager, or Other (a profession, not a permission level); and either an optional firm name, which creates a shared workspace you own — you become Owner and hold billing — or a pre-checked “Join {Firm}” card when your email domain is claimed. Users joining an existing team skip plan selection.

1.3 · Plans

Plans & trial

Every account starts a Solo trial automatically: 30 days · 1 project · 1 seat · Solo features · no card (paid Solo allows 3 projects).

Plans are capacity, not capability — with one exception: how deeply DOC can read. Spec-aware questions are Field and up; “Ask about a drawing” and asking about a region of a sheet are Studio and up. Everything else is capacity.

	Solo	Field	Studio
Monthly	$49	$199	$599
Active projects	3	15	30
Seats	1	5	Unlimited
Storage	100 GB	500 GB, firm-wide	2 TB, firm-wide
DOC (AI) messages	500 / user	300 / seat	4,000 firm-wide

Annual billing saves about 16%. Studio currently carries an early-adopter price of $399/mo for the first 25 firms — join at that price and you keep it for as long as you stay subscribed. Need more room? $25/mo adds 1 project and 20 GB, right from Settings › Usage. Larger firms: MOTHER LODE — contact sales.

1.4 · Team

Team & roles

Manage your team from Settings › Team & Organization. Three roles: Owner — billing and ownership · Admin — team and projects · Member — all projects, no team management. Change a person’s role from their row on that card; ownership moves with Transfer ownership.

Capability	Owner	Admin	Member
Billing & subscription	✓	—	—
Invite / remove members, change roles	✓	✓	—
Create projects	✓	✓	✓
Upload & send issuances, approve in Batch Review, Set in Stone (on projects you are assigned to)	✓	✓	✓
View, mark up, measure, comment on team projects	✓	✓	✓

Invites expire in 7 days; seat limits apply when you send the invite. Auto-join domain: claim your firm’s email domain so future signups join automatically (gmail.com and similar are excluded). People outside your firm — consultants, owners, contractors — never need a seat: they work through review links and share links.

Note

Transferring ownership does not move the subscription — plan the handoff.

1.5 · First landing

The product tour

6 steps, replayable from Settings:

1Stop working from the wrong drawing2Start with a project3One file per issuance4Always know what’s current5Set the record in stone6Mark up. Share. Know.

Most screens also show a two- or three-step hint the first time they open — Files, Planning, CA, Logs, the viewer and more. Replay them from Settings › Help.

A dismissible Demo project card offers a practice project to explore before touching real work.

1.6 · First project

Your first project

Only the name is required (unique within your firm). Optional details: number, type, client, address, project manager, program, budget, and a starting phase for projects joining mid-stream — earlier phases are marked as before LODE.

A brand-new dashboard hands off to Module 02: “No issuances yet. Create your first issuance to start tracking revised drawings, specs, and narrative in one place.” — and New issuance is the button that starts it.

← Guide home Module 02 · Issuing Files →