Remakes: When a Piece Has to Be Made Again

A glass piece arrives chipped, breaks on the cutting table or doesn't fit the opening. How to record a remake: why it happened, who pays, the vendor return for the fabricator's mistakes, and billing the customer when their own measurement was wrong.

Updated 53 minutes ago 14 views quality returns flat-glass remakes

Remakes: When a Piece Has to Be Made Again

Every glass shop remakes pieces. A unit arrives with a chip. A mirror cracks on the cutting table. A shower door is half an inch short because someone read the tape wrong. The glass is a loss either way; what matters is what you learn from it and who ends up paying for it.

The Remake button records all of that in one step. It keeps the original piece on record, starts a new one, sends the job back to scheduling for a return visit, and, depending on what happened, opens a return to the fabricator or puts the new piece on the customer's bill.

Where to find it

Remake is on the piece wherever the problem shows up:

  • the Glass step, once a piece has been ordered or cut (it arrived wrong or damaged);
  • the job's Shop step (it broke while cutting or edging);
  • the Install step (it doesn't fit, or it broke going in).

A problem that turns up after the job is closed, such as a seal that fails a year later, is a comeback, not a remake. Use Start a comeback on the job's … menu. See From first call to paid: a flat glass job.

Recording a remake

The Remake dialog asks:

Why?

  • Measured wrong
  • Fabricator error
  • Damaged in transit
  • Broke in the shop
  • Broke during install
  • Customer-supplied size was wrong

Who pays for it?

  • Our shop
  • The fabricator
  • The installer
  • The customer (billable)

Picking Fabricator error or Damaged in transit fills in The fabricator; Customer-supplied size was wrong fills in The customer. Change it if the facts say otherwise.

Corrected size. Leave it empty to make the same size again. If the size was the problem, enter the right one. A piece with a corrected size counts as measured.

Make it: Cut it in our shop (for glass you cut) or Order it again.

Notes: what happened, in a sentence. The next person to read the job will thank you.

Press Remake it.

What happens next

Say S1, the shower door from job #2318, arrives with a chipped corner:

  1. S1 is kept as a record, marked as remade, with the reason, who pays and its cost. It doesn't disappear and nothing is deleted.
  2. A new piece, S1-R1, is created with the same spec and any corrected size. From here on, S1-R1 is the piece the shop, purchasing and the installer work with.
  3. It's cut or ordered. A cut goes back on the shop cut list, marked Remake. An order goes to purchasing with the full cut spec, marked REMAKE of S1, and puts the job on hold as Waiting for Parts to Arrive.
  4. The visit is finished. If the remake came out of an install, today's visit is closed and the job goes back to scheduling, or to the shop first if the new piece is cut there. A return visit is booked the normal way.
  5. The job's timeline and notes record what happened: "S1 is being remade as S1-R1: Damaged in transit (The fabricator); sent to purchasing; vendor return opened."

Who pays, and what that does

Our shop, the installer or the fabricator. The customer pays nothing extra. The cost of the glass, at your cost per square foot, is recorded against the reason and against whoever was responsible, which is what the Performance page reports on.

The fabricator has one more option. For Fabricator error and Damaged in transit, tick Send the bad piece back to the vendor (opens a return) and enter their RMA number if they gave you one. A return is opened against the original purchase order, so purchasing can chase the credit. The re-order tells purchasing that the fabricator is replacing it at no charge. (This only works when the original piece was received on a purchase order, so receive your glass deliveries properly.)

The customer pays when their own measurement was wrong. The new piece is added to their final invoice at today's prices, marked (remake). If the final invoice already exists, the remake goes on an invoice of its own.

That's only fair if they agreed to it up front. When a customer gives you sizes, record them as Customer's size on the opening and approve the estimate in person: they sign the Customer-supplied sizes note, which says a remake caused by a wrong size is billable. With that signature on file, the conversation is short.

Seeing the pattern

Flat Glass → Performance shows remakes per 100 pieces, Why pieces were remade, remakes by who pays, and the cost of remakes, for any period. Read it once a month:

  • "Measured wrong" climbing? Retrain, or have a second person check measurements on big pieces.
  • "Broke in the shop" from one glass type? Look at how it's stored and handled.
  • "Fabricator error" mostly from one supplier? You have a conversation to have, with numbers.

Common mistakes

Ordering a replacement outside Suprata. Calling the fabricator and keeping the job as it was leaves the cost invisible, the return never opened, and the installer arriving with no record of which piece is the new one.

Charging the customer without their signature. If the customer's size was wrong but they never signed for customer-supplied sizes, you're arguing, not billing. Get the approval in person whenever sizes came from the customer.

Blaming the fabricator for a measuring mistake. Choose the reason that's true. The Performance numbers are only worth reading if the reasons are honest.

Forgetting the RMA. Fabricators credit returns they authorized. Get the number when you call, and type it in.

Remaking a whole set when one piece broke. Remake works per piece. If four of six panels are fine, remake the two that aren't.

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