Choices and decisions
Getting tiles, sanitaryware and door furniture decided before they hold the job up — and having a record of it when they didn't.
Updated 16 September 2026
Every job stalls at least once on a choice nobody made. The builder needs the sanitaryware decided before the plumber first-fixes; the client does not know there is a deadline until it has passed; and the fortnight the job lost is somehow the builder's fault, because nobody can show otherwise.
The Choices tab is that conversation, written down and dated. It is the same tab on both sides — your client sees what they have to decide, you see what you are waiting on.
Asking for a decision
- 1
Say what needs deciding
“Bathroom sanitaryware”. “Which way should the study door swing?”. In the client's words, not the spec's.
- 2
Put a date on it
The one field worth filling in. A decision with no date is a request; a decision with a date is a deadline, and BuildFlow will chase it.
- 3
Say why that date
“The plumber first-fixes on the 20th and needs the waste positions.” It is the difference between a nag and a reason, and clients answer reasons.
- 4
Add the options
At least one, and BuildFlow won't send it without. Each one takes a name, a price where there is one, a supplier, a product reference and a photo.
- 5
Send it
Nothing reaches your client until you do. Up to then it is a draft only you can see.
Even a yes-or-no question needs its options written down
“Which way should the door swing?” with nothing under it is the request that sits unanswered for a fortnight. The same question as “opens into the study” / “opens into the hall” gets answered in ten seconds, and leaves a record that means something. BuildFlow requires the options for exactly this reason.
Three fields worth the extra ten seconds
| Field | Why |
|---|---|
| A photo | Nobody picks a tile from a product code. Add one to each option and the decision arrives days sooner |
| Product reference | “The grey one” becomes a phone call to the merchant and a week's delay when the wrong pallet turns up |
| This is the one I'd fit | Clients ask “what would you do?” every single time. Answering in advance saves a week. Only one option can carry it |
What your client does
They see the options side by side with the photos and prices, tap one, and can add a note. You are told straight away. They can change their mind right up until you mark it ordered — after that the pallet is on a lorry and the choice is fixed.
You cannot choose for them
The choice is the client's, and BuildFlow will not let a builder record one on their behalf — the same rule as a variation approval. A decision you ticked yourself proves nothing, and proving something is the entire point of dating it.
Allowances, and choices that cost more
Link a decision to a provisional sum in your scope of works and BuildFlow works out whether the choice lands over or under it. A client who picks a £2,600 worktop against an £1,800 allowance gets no sudden surprise; you get a line offering to raise the change for the £800.
Offering, not raising. They have not agreed to pay the difference by choosing — you may be absorbing it, the allowance may have included fitting, the price may be stale. BuildFlow notices; you decide.
The chasing
Two days before the date, both of you get a nudge. Past the date, the decision shows as overdue on your dashboard, on the project, and on your client's own screen.
- Your client is told a decision is holding the job up, and which one.
- You are told it is still with them, so you are not left assuming it was handled.
- Move the date and the chasing starts again from the new one. A rescheduled decision that never got chased is the failure this is built to avoid.
Two days, not on the day
A nudge on the morning something is due arrives after the evening somebody could have dealt with it. Two days is enough to get to a showroom at the weekend.
What the record proves
Once a decision is made, BuildFlow keeps the date it was needed and the date it arrived. That gives you a sentence nothing else in the app can produce:
“Chosen 9 days after it was needed”
This is the only answer a builder has when the job ran over and somebody asks why. It is shown to you, not to your client — both dates are on their screen either way, so nothing is hidden, but a client opening their own project to a tally of how late they have been is a client who stops opening it. Use it in a conversation, not as a poster.
Who can see what
| Drafts | Sent and decided | Can choose | |
|---|---|---|---|
| You and your admins | Yes | Yes | No — it is the client's |
| Your client | No | Yes | Yes |
| Employees and subcontractors | No | No | No |
Site staff cannot see the chosen tile — yet
Options carry prices, and what you quote a client for a tile is not the tiler's business, so Choices is limited to the two parties to the contract. The cost is real: a tiler cannot look up which tile was chosen. The right fix is to publish the choice — name, supplier, reference — to the specification everyone can read, rather than opening the prices. That is not built yet; for now, put it in the task.
In the handover pack
Every settled choice, with supplier and product reference and the date it was decided. It is the page a homeowner comes back to in five years when a tile cracks and they need to order one more.
Habits worth having
- Set them all up at the start. Ten minutes at the kick-off meeting covering tiles, sanitaryware, worktops, paint, door furniture and flooring buys back a fortnight over the job.
- Work backwards from the lead time. The date you need it by is the delivery date minus the lead time, not the day the trade turns up.
- Two or three options, not eight. A shortlist gets answered; a catalogue gets postponed.
- Always mark your pick. It is the question they were going to ask anyway.
- Mark it ordered. It closes the decision, fixes the choice and tells your client the thing is actually coming.
Which plans have it
Basic and above, with the rest of the contract features.