Skip to main content
Beech

Vendors and consultant requests

A practical guide for architecture studio workflows in Beech.

All guides

16 August 2026

Updated 16 August 2026 · Beech Product Education Team

Directory, four-step request statuses, log chase, stale alerts, and linking a consultant deliverable so drawings unblock themselves.

Intent: Explain vendors and consultant requests in a way that a new team member can follow without prior Beech context.

Who this helps: Architecture studio admins, managers, and contributors who need a repeatable operational workflow.

Vendors are the structural engineer, MEP, landscape, and anyone else outside the studio. Beech tracks the person, the request, the chase, and whether a drawing is allowed to proceed.

Directory and requests

More → Vendors. The directory is type, contact, and the internal coordinator. Types live in Firm settings → Vendor types. Admins and Managers add vendors; Contributors can view.

A vendor request is one deliverable — for example structural column layout for Block A. Create it from the project Work tab (Add Work → Vendor) or the Vendors page. Statuses: Requested → In Progress → Delivered → Closed. Expected delivery is when they should deliver; Log chase after you contact them to note what happened and set the next follow-up date.

Do not lose the chase

After each call or email, open the request and Log chase with a short note and optional next follow-up date. When that date passes with no new activity, the request is Stale, appears on Home (Vendors due / Today's work), and notifies the owner (or the directory coordinator if unassigned).

Block drawings on delivery

Set the vendor request as a drawing dependency. Until the request is Delivered, the drawing stays Blocked. When the consultant delivers, Beech unblocks automatically. The Vendors page sorts stale and overdue first; open requests also appear on Workspace.

If a construction sheet “cannot start,” check whether it is waiting on a consultant request rather than another in-house drawing.

Prerequisites

  • Confirm you can access the project and the page referenced in this workflow.
  • Collect any drawing references, due dates, and ownership details before you start.

Expected outcome

By the end of this workflow, your team has one visible, repeatable process and cleaner handovers.

Common mistakes and prevention

  • Mistake 1: Skipping context fields (owner, due date, status notes), which makes follow-up harder.

  • Mistake 2: Treating chat updates as source of truth instead of recording the update in Beech.

Troubleshooting checklist

  1. 1
    Troubleshooting step 1

    If a control is missing, verify your role has permission for the action.

  2. 2
    Troubleshooting step 2

    If results look wrong, check filters and refresh to confirm latest synced data.

Full reference: Vendors in the user guide

Related guides: Messages and project Chat

Next: explore related feature workflows.