How to use Resto-Rat
Everything from your first sign-up to managing collections, projects, photos and reports — in one place.
Two conventions apply throughout the app: the yellow Save icon in the upper-right black bar saves your changes (you'll be prompted if you forget), and any Delete cannot be undone — you'll always be asked to confirm first.
Overview
Resto-Rat has two major areas — Collections and Projects — and both hold assets. Whether it's a boat, a plane, a car or a bicycle, each is considered an asset. Think of a project as an asset under construction, and a collection as assets that are generally complete.
Collections can hold any kind of asset, and you can keep several — for example, assets you currently own, assets you once owned and have sold, and assets you'd like to acquire. Assets move easily between collections and can be deleted. Every project carries a status — Active, Potential, Planned, Dormant, Complete, or Cancelled — which works like a collection to organize your past, current and pending work. An asset in a collection can have discrete projects, and a completed project can be moved into a collection.
Collections are where you manage mostly-complete or investment-grade assets — photographs, key information, and maintenance activity. Projects are where you manage restoration work — budgeting and cost tracking, time tracking, planning upcoming activities, tracking parts and invoices, and keeping notes. Assets in both areas have full photo management.
Sign Up
To get started, enter your User Name, Email Address and Password and tap Sign Up. You'll land on the User Profile page under Settings — enter your information and add a photo of yourself. Under User Type, choose Asset Owner (Contributors are additional users you want to track in time-keeping or assign tasks to). You can also set a Cost Rate and Bill Rate if you'd like to value your labor. Tap the yellow Save icon to save.
Starting a Project or Collection
After establishing your profile, start a collection or create a project from the icons in the black bar at the bottom of the screen (or the buttons on the home screen).
Add a new collection
Create the collection first (Settings → Add New Collection, or Collections → Add New Collection). You'll enter a Short Name (shown in the upper bar — keep it short), a Long Name (used on reports), and a Description. Save it, then tap Add to Collection to add your first asset — either creating a new asset or adding one from an existing project. Asset Type is a critical selection: it determines the maintenance template, so confirm it when prompted on save. The asset's main screen has nine buttons across the bottom; a grey field is pulling data from another screen, the active button is orange, and a red Title button means the registration is expired. The Report button emails an asset report to you.
Start a new project
Tap Start New Project and create a new asset or add one from an existing collection. Again, Asset Type is critical — it loads the component and sub-component template — so confirm it on save. The project's main screen has six buttons across the bottom.
Components & Sub-Components
Projects use a structure of components and sub-components that Resto-Rat establishes automatically from the Asset Type. This breakdown organizes the project, orders parts, sequences activities, and tracks budget and time — and it's used across budgets, task planning, time tracking, parts and reporting. Tap the button in the upper-right of the project screen to see the Component Listing; tap any component to view or edit its sub-components. Add items with Add New Component or Add New Sub-Component. You can edit the structure at any time during the project.
Maintenance Activity
Any asset in a collection needs ongoing maintenance — an oil change, a periodic start-up, or renewing insurance or registration. Resto-Rat loads a standard set of activities for each Asset Type, which you can edit. Tap the button in the upper-right of the asset screen to see the Activity Listing: a red dot marks an activity past its expire date, green means you're up to date. Tap a listing to see the detail and reset it; notifications trigger on the planned date, and you can set the frequency (Weekly or Monthly) in your User Profile. Add items with Add New Activity.
Photo Management
Asset details are accessed by tapping the asset's thumbnail. On the Main Asset Screen, a small camera icon appears in the upper-right of the thumbnail. Tapping the thumbnail body opens the asset's Photo Gallery — tap a photo to view it full-screen, scroll with the arrows, and Share via email, messaging or social media.
Tap the camera icon to View Asset Gallery, Take a Photo, Add from Phone Gallery (up to five at a time), or Change Thumbnail. Enlarge a photo and tap the upper bar to edit Photo Attributes: designate it Before, In Progress, After, Reference or All; add a description, note, date taken and location; and assign it to a project and its component / sub-component. Save your changes.
Collection Buttons
The collection asset screen has nine buttons:
Make
Store the basic make and model data here — it's used to reduce keystrokes on other screens, so populate it early.
History
Capture manufacturer history, provenance and pedigree — units produced, production periods, special features, period advertising, and prior or unique ownership.
Awards
An award listing leading to a detail screen for each award's Event, Class and Date. Add with Add New Award; store award photos in the gallery.
Accreditation
Track each accreditation received — the agency, date and a description — and attach a scan or photo of the letter to the Asset Gallery.
Condition
Rate the asset on an industry-accepted one-to-six scale (the description fills in automatically) and set an Overall Condition: Survivor, Original, Driver, Restored, or To Be Restored. These feed the Valuation screen.
Valuation
Set your own valuation based on the condition rating — enter the Current Valuation, date and type (Appraisal, Market comparables, Owner stated, Price Guide, Auction comparables, or Web Search). A link to Hagerty's online valuation tool is built in. This feeds the Insurance screen.
Title
Store titling and registration data. Enter the Plate Expiration date — once it passes, the Title button turns red. Pair it with a Maintenance Activity to get a renewal reminder ahead of time.
Insurance
Track policy information; for stated-value policies the valuation pulls from the Valuation screen. Store a scan of your policy in the gallery, and tap through to Hagerty for an online quote.
Notes
Each note has a Title, Note, Date and Source (Phone, In-Person, Forum, or Other), plus a Note Class so it appears with the Project, the Collection, or Both. Notes travel with the asset from project to collection.
Project Buttons
The project asset screen has six buttons:
Budget
Build a high-level component budget or a detailed sub-component budget. Actual Labor (time × bill rate) and Actual Parts (from Invoices) roll up against your budget. Export to Excel with the Report button.
Tasks
Plan activities as a to-do list — Assigned To, Description, Scheduled dates and a completion toggle. Toggle between pending and all tasks, assign to contributors, estimate time, and outsource to a vendor. Export with Report.
Time
Log time per contributor — Day Worked, Hours and an Activity Description, tagged to a component. Use the Start/Stop timer to capture time automatically. Export with Report.
Parts
Build a parts list sorted by component — OEM and vendor part numbers, quantity, unit of measure and price per unit (the total calculates for you). Toggle Received on/off, assign a preferred vendor, and export with Report.
Invoices
Track vendor invoices — order dates, invoice number, part cost, vendor discounts, taxes, shipping and deductions roll up to the net invoice cost. Export by vendor with Report.
Notes
The same note functionality as collections — Title, Note, Date, Source and Note Class — captured during the build and carried with the asset.
Settings
Add Users
Add friends or employees who contribute to your projects so they can receive notifications and be assigned in Task planning and Time keeping. Enter their Name, Email and Phone, set a notification frequency (Weekly or Monthly), add a photo, and optionally a Cost Rate and Bill Rate. The added user receives a notification that they've been added to Resto-Rat.
Add Vendors
Add vendors for tracking invoices and part sources — Name, Website, Contacts, Email, Account Number and Address, plus a Tax Rate and Discount Rate that are applied to invoices. Tip: vendors often offer volume discounts, so getting organized and placing one large initial order can help Resto-Rat pay for itself.