Set up your shop in 5 steps

This guide walks you through the five things every shop should set up before writing real repair orders. Budget about fifteen minutes. You can change any of these later in Settings.

Step 1: Create your store

Your store is the physical location customers visit. During onboarding you will be asked for:

• Shop name and logo
• Address and phone number
• Business hours
• Time zone

If you run more than one location, add each as a separate store. Repair orders, inventory, and reports are tracked per store. See Shop Settings for managing multiple stores.

Step 2: Set your labor rate

Your default labor rate is the dollar amount you charge per billable hour. Pista multiplies this rate by the labor time on each job.

1. Go to Settings → Pricing.
2. Enter your default labor rate.
3. Optionally add tiered rates for diagnostic, electrical, or specialty work.

Labor times themselves come from MOTOR data, so your estimates stay accurate across makes and models. See Labor and MOTOR Data.

Step 3: Configure tax and fees

Sales tax and shop fees are set per store so your totals are correct from the first invoice.

1. Go to Settings → Tax and Fees.
2. Choose your state so Pista applies the right tax rules.
3. Add any shop supply or disposal fees you charge.

Pista ships with state-by-state tax rules, including which line items are taxable. Full detail is in Tax and Shop Fees.

Step 4: Connect parts suppliers

Connecting suppliers lets you search live parts pricing and order from inside a repair order.

1. Go to Settings → Integrations → Parts.
2. Select your suppliers and enter your account credentials.
3. Set a default parts markup under Settings → Pricing.

No supplier account yet? You can still add parts manually and connect suppliers later. See Parts and Suppliers.

Step 5: Invite your team

Bring your service writers and technicians into Pista so work can be assigned.

1. Go to Settings → Team.
2. Click Invite member and enter their email.
3. Pick a role:

Role	Can do
Owner	Everything, including billing
Service Writer	Write ROs, send estimates, take payments
Technician	View assigned jobs, run inspections, log time

Each person gets an email invite to set their own password.

You are ready

That is it. Head to the Job Board and click New Repair Order to write your first one. From there explore Repair Orders, Digital Inspections, and Messaging and Inbox as you go.