Frequently Asked Questions

Signing up takes less than 2 minutes. Visit archcenter.in/register, enter your firm name, email address, and create a password. You'll receive a verification email, and once confirmed, your 14-day free trial begins immediately. No credit card is required to start.

The free trial gives you full access to the Trial plan features: up to 3 active projects, 2 team members, 1 GB storage, client portal access, and file versioning. It lasts 14 days. When the trial ends, you can choose a paid plan or your account enters read-only mode — your data is never deleted.

Most firms are fully operational within 30–60 minutes. The setup wizard guides you through entering your firm's GST details, uploading your logo, configuring invoice templates, and inviting your first team members. We also have a getting-started video walkthrough in the help centre.

Yes. You can import clients and projects via CSV upload. Invoice history can be imported from a structured CSV template (available in Settings). If you're migrating from another platform and have a large dataset, our support team can assist with a custom data migration.

No installation is required. ArchCenter is a web-based application that works in any modern browser (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari). We also offer a Progressive Web App (PWA) that you can install on your phone or desktop for an app-like experience — including offline access to key features.

Subscriptions are billed monthly or annually via Razorpay. For monthly plans, you're charged on the same date each month. For annual plans, you pay upfront for 10 months and get 2 months free (effectively a 17% discount). A GST invoice is automatically generated for every payment.

Yes. Upgrades take effect immediately — you'll be charged a pro-rated amount for the remainder of your current billing period. Downgrades take effect at the start of your next billing cycle, so you retain access to your current plan features until then.

If a payment fails, we'll notify you by email and retry the payment automatically after 3 days. You'll have a 7-day grace period to update your payment details before your account is restricted to read-only mode. Your data remains safe throughout this period.

Monthly subscriptions are non-refundable once the billing cycle has started. Annual plans are eligible for a pro-rated refund within 7 days of the billing date — contact support@archcenter.in. The 14-day free trial means you can fully evaluate ArchCenter before committing.

No. All plan prices displayed are exclusive of GST (18%). GST is added at checkout as mandated by Indian tax law. Your subscription invoice will display the GST breakdown (CGST + SGST or IGST) and can be used for input tax credit if your firm is GST-registered.

Yes. ArchCenter generates fully GST-compliant invoices including proforma invoices, tax invoices, and credit notes. CGST/SGST is automatically applied for intra-state transactions and IGST for inter-state. Your firm's GSTIN, HSN/SAC codes, and place of supply are all included. Invoices are downloadable as professionally formatted PDFs.

Yes. ArchCenter integrates with Razorpay. When you send an invoice, a unique Razorpay payment link is generated. Your client can pay via UPI, net banking, credit or debit card, or wallets. Payment status updates automatically in your dashboard.

Open the invoice and click "Record Payment". You can enter the amount received, reference number, date, and select the payment method: Cash, UPI, Bank Transfer, Cheque, or Other. The invoice status updates automatically and the payment method is shown on the invoice record.

Yes. You can set a default currency (INR for most Indian firms) and choose different currencies per client or per invoice. GST is only applied to INR invoices.

Yes. Clients receive their own portal login separate from your team. They see only their own projects, files, invoices, and approvals. The portal is branded with your firm's logo and colours.

Yes. The built-in calendar shows all your tasks (due dates), meeting notes, invoice due dates, site logs, and project phases in one view. Switch between Month, Week, and Day views. You can also create custom events with a title, description, and colour label for reminders and firm-wide events.

Yes. The calendar has a custom events feature. Click "Add Event" or the "+" button inside any day to create a standalone event with a title, date, optional description, and colour. These are visible to all team members of the firm.

Yes. Team members can log hours against specific tasks and projects. You can set hourly rates per team member or per project. ArchCenter can generate an invoice directly from logged hours for the selected period.

Yes. Quotations sent to clients include an e-signature field. Clients can sign directly in their browser. Once signed, the quotation is locked and a signed copy is stored in the project files.

Yes. Press ⌘K (or Ctrl+K on Windows) from anywhere in the app to instantly search across all your firm's data — projects, phases, tasks, milestones, invoices, quotations, clients, team members, vendors, purchase orders, drawings, expenses, site logs, calendar events, project files, document vault, and messages. All results are scoped to your firm.

Yes. On any task or invoice, you can add one or more reminders with a specific date and time. Choose to receive the reminder as an in-app notification or by email. Reminders are processed automatically in the background so you never miss a deadline.

Yes. From the Reports section, you can schedule any report — Project Summary, Invoice Ageing, Expense Summary, or Team Utilisation — to be emailed daily, weekly, or monthly. Add multiple recipients and ArchCenter will deliver the report automatically on schedule.

Any firm on a paid plan gets a unique referral link in their dashboard. When another firm signs up using your link and activates a paid plan, both your firm and theirs receive 30 extra days added to your current plan — automatically. You can track your referrals and rewards from the Refer and Earn page.

The BOQ module lets you create detailed cost plans for any project. Each BOQ is organised into sections (e.g. Civil Works, MEP, Finishing), with line items that have a description, unit, quantity, and rate. Amounts are auto-calculated (Qty × Rate). You can track each BOQ through a status workflow: Draft → Approved → Revised. Download a professionally formatted PDF with section subtotals and a grand total bar.

Yes. A project can have as many BOQs as needed — for example, separate BOQs for structure, interior fit-out, MEP, and landscaping. Each BOQ is independently managed with its own status, items, and PDF.

The site resources module provides two separate daily registers. The Labour Register records each worker's name, trade, hours worked, and hourly rate — the daily cost is auto-calculated. The Material Register records item name, quantity, unit, rate per unit, and supplier — the daily cost is auto-calculated. Both registers are tabbed in a single view with per-entry delete and combined cost totals.

From the Subcontractors section (firm-wide, not per project), you manage all your subcontractors in one place. For each subcontractor you can add contracts (linked to a project, with scope, value, start/end dates, and status) and invoices (amount, due date, and a status workflow: pending → approved → paid / rejected). You can see all outstanding amounts, update invoice status, and delete records as needed.

When you create a subcontractor, you can optionally set a portal password. With that, the subcontractor can log in at /subcontractor/login and see a clean read-only dashboard with their contracts (scope, value, dates, status) and their invoices (amounts, due dates, status). They cannot edit anything — it's purely for transparency and reducing back-and-forth on payment status.

No. Each subcontractor portal account is completely isolated — they see only their own contracts and invoices. The portal uses a separate session from the main app, so there is zero risk of a subcontractor accessing your firm's internal data or other subcontractors' records.

Compliance Checklists are per-project checklists for tracking regulatory, safety, legal, or quality requirements. Create a checklist with a title, category (e.g. Safety, Environmental, Legal), due date, and notes. Add as many items as needed. Any team member can tick off items directly from the checklist view — the checklist status auto-updates from Open to In Progress to Completed as items are checked. A PDF export is available for handover records.

Yes. Both modules have a PDF download button. BOQ PDFs include your firm's name and address, project details, all line items grouped by section with subtotals, and a grand total bar. Compliance PDFs include all checklist items with their status, who checked each item and when, and a completion progress summary bar.

ArchCenter integrates with Zoom (auto-create meeting notes from recordings), Slack (team notifications), MSG91 (SMS), WhatsApp Business API (client messaging), Google Drive (file sync), and Razorpay (payments). Outbound webhooks let you connect to any other tool including Zapier and n8n.

When a Zoom meeting ends and cloud recording is available, Zoom sends a webhook to ArchCenter. The app downloads the VTT transcript, converts it to plain text, creates a meeting note in the matched project, and attaches the transcript as a file. No manual action required. See the Zoom setup guide at /docs/integrations/zoom.

You need a Zoom Pro, Business, or Enterprise plan with cloud recording enabled. The free Zoom plan does not support cloud recording or webhooks.

You create an Incoming Webhook in your Slack workspace and paste the URL into ArchCenter. Once active, the platform posts notifications to your chosen Slack channel when key events happen. You can test it instantly from the Integrations page.

Yes. You need a verified WhatsApp Business Account with a phone number registered via Meta for Developers. You also need an approved message template, which Meta typically approves within minutes for utility-category templates.

MSG91 is an Indian SMS gateway for sending transactional SMS notifications to clients and team members. It is optional — you only need it if you want SMS alerts. Indian regulations require DLT registration for your sender ID and message templates before SMS delivery will work.

Webhooks let you send event data from ArchCenter to any external URL in real time. For example, when an invoice is paid, a JSON payload is sent to your endpoint. You can use this to trigger automations in Zapier, n8n, or your own backend. Go to Integrations, then Webhooks, to create and manage them. Each webhook has a delivery log so you can debug failures.

Step-by-step guides for every integration are available at /docs/integrations. Each guide covers prerequisites, exact steps to get credentials, and how to test the connection.

All ArchCenter data is stored on servers located within India, in compliance with Indian data localisation requirements. We use enterprise-grade infrastructure with daily encrypted backups retained for 30 days. Your files are stored in encrypted object storage with AES-256 encryption at rest.

ArchCenter enforces HTTPS/TLS for all data in transit. Passwords are hashed using bcrypt. Sensitive data such as API keys and payment credentials is encrypted at rest. We follow OWASP security best practices including CSRF protection on all forms, SQL injection prevention, and Content Security Policy headers.

Two-factor authentication adds a second layer of security to your login. After entering your password, you'll be asked for a 6-digit code from your authenticator app (Google Authenticator, Authy, 1Password, etc.). To enable it, go to Settings, scroll to the Two-Factor Authentication section, and click "Enable 2FA". A QR code will appear — scan it with your authenticator app, enter the code to verify, and you're done.

When you enable 2FA, ArchCenter generates 8 one-time backup codes. Store these securely (printed or in a password manager). If you lose access to your authenticator app, you can use one of these codes to log in. Each code can only be used once.

Yes. ArchCenter uses role-based access control. Admins have full access. Members can manage projects and tasks but cannot access billing or firm settings. Clients can only see their own projects, invoices, and files. Roles are assigned per user when you invite them.

Yes. You can delete individual projects, invoices, and files at any time. To permanently delete your account and all associated data, submit a deletion request from Account Settings or contact support@archcenter.in. Data is permanently purged within 30 days.

ArchCenter is designed to comply with India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) 2023. Our Privacy Policy details exactly what data we collect, how it is used, and your rights as a data principal.

Yes. ArchCenter is fully responsive and works on smartphones and tablets. We also offer a Progressive Web App (PWA) you can install from your browser on iOS or Android for an app-like experience with offline access to key features.

ArchCenter works in all modern browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. We recommend keeping your browser updated to the latest version for the best experience.

A REST API is available on the Agency plan. It supports all major resources (projects, tasks, invoices, clients, documents) with full CRUD operations and webhook delivery for real-time events. API access tokens are managed from Developer Settings.

Yes. Outbound webhooks fire when events happen (invoice paid, task completed, etc.) and can trigger automations in Zapier, n8n, Make, or your own backend. You can subscribe to specific events per webhook and view the full delivery log.

You authorise ArchCenter to access your Google Drive using OAuth 2.0. Files uploaded in ArchCenter can be synced to a designated Drive folder automatically. See the Google Drive setup guide at /docs/integrations/google-drive.

Yes. You can export invoices to CSV, export project reports, and export accounting data to Tally ERP (XML format). Client and project data can be exported from the Reports section.

All paid plans include email support with a 24-hour response time (Mon-Sat, 9am-6pm IST). Studio plan customers get priority support. Agency plan customers receive a dedicated account manager. Free trial users can access our documentation at /docs/integrations.